85.21 Specialized transportation assistance program for counties.

(1) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to promote the general public health and welfare by providing financial assistance to counties providing transportation services for seniors and individuals with disabilities, and to thereby improve and promote the maintenance of human dignity and self-sufficiency by affording the benefits of transportation services to those people who would not otherwise have an available or accessible method of transportation.

(2) Definitions. In this section:

(a) “Copayment" means the fee imposed on a person for the use of the specialized transportation service.

(b) “County proportionate share" means the amount allocated to a county under this section which is based on the total amount appropriated for purposes of this section during the current fiscal year multiplied by the ratio of the number of seniors and individuals with disabilities in the county to the total number of seniors and individuals with disabilities in this state and which provides for a minimum base amount for each county, as determined by the department.

(c) “Designated service area" means that area to be provided specialized transportation service for any fiscal year.

(e) “Eligible applicant" means any county or agency thereof.

(f) “Human service vehicle" has the meaning given in s. 340.01 (23g).

(fg) “Individual with a disability" means any individual who, because of any temporary or permanent physical or mental condition or institutional residence is unable without special facilities or special planning or design to use available transportation facilities and services as effectively as individuals who are not so affected.

(ft) “Senior" means any individual age 65 or over.

(g) “Specialized transportation service" means a transportation system, either publicly or privately owned, which provides to seniors or individuals with disabilities general or special service on a regular and continuing basis in a designated service area.

(3) Administration. The department shall administer the specialized transportation service assistance program and shall have all the powers necessary and convenient to implement this section, including the following powers:

(a) To receive and review county plans for specialized transportation service assistance under this section and to prescribe the form, nature and extent of the information which shall be contained in the county plans. County plans may also include specialized transportation services to persons age 55 or over.

(b) To determine the county proportionate share in accordance with a generally accepted statistical methodology and practice.

(c) To make and execute contracts with counties to ensure the provision of specialized transportation service. Payments under such contracts to eligible applicants shall not exceed the county proportionate share, except as supplemented under par. (e) or (f). A contract under this section shall require the county to make a matching contribution of 20 percent of the contract amount and to furnish information determined necessary by the department for periodic program monitoring and year-end auditing and evaluation. A contract may permit a county to hold aids received under this section on or after July 2, 1983, in trust, according to rules promulgated by the department, for the purpose of providing services authorized under this section or of acquiring or maintaining equipment used for services authorized under this section or both. All aids held in trust, as well as any accumulated interest, not expended for the authorized purposes, shall be returned to the department for deposit in the transportation fund. Nothing in this paragraph entitles a county to any investment interest accumulated prior to the time the aid payment is actually received by the county.

(e) If any county fails to apply to the department for its entire county proportionate share by January 1 of any fiscal year, the department may distribute the remaining amount by supplemental application and supplemental contract with other counties.

(f) Notwithstanding the determination of county proportionate share under par. (b), to make supplemental payments under contracts to eligible applicants under this section. The department shall make supplemental payments under this paragraph to ensure that payments to any eligible applicant for calendar year 1994 and for each calendar year thereafter are at least equal to payments made to the eligible applicant for calendar year 1992.

(3m) Service prohibitions.

(b) Notwithstanding ss. 111.321, 111.322, and 111.335, and subject to par. (bm), no specialized transportation service that is operated by a county or that contracts with a county for services under this section may do any of the following:

4. Employ as an operator of a human service vehicle any person who the specialized transportation service knows or should have known does not meet the requirements for a school endorsement specified under s. 343.12 (7) and (8) and any rule established by the department under s. 343.12 (7) and (8).

5. Employ as an operator of a human service vehicle any person who the specialized transportation service knows or should have known does not possess a valid operator's license issued under ch. 343 or by another jurisdiction that authorizes the operation of any human service vehicle to be operated by that operator.

7. Employ as an operator of a human service vehicle any person for whom the specialized transportation service has not obtained an operating record as required under par. (dm).

10. Employ as an operator of a human service vehicle any person who has not, within the previous 24 months, been fully trained in the proper use of all passenger restraint systems available in the human service vehicle operated by that operator.

(bm) Notwithstanding par. (b) 4. and 7., a specialized transportation service that is operated by a county or that contracts with a county for services under this section may employ as an operator of a human service vehicle any person holding a valid school bus endorsement under s. 343.12 that was issued or renewed within 4 years prior to employment.

(d) Notwithstanding ss. 111.321, 111.322, and 111.335, prior to employing any person, other than a person holding a valid school bus endorsement under s. 343.12 that was issued or renewed within 4 years prior to employment, as an operator, a specialized transportation service shall obtain from the records maintained by the department of justice, and the department of justice shall provide, a criminal history search of the person. Notwithstanding ss. 111.321, 111.322, and 111.335, if the person who is the subject of the criminal history search is not a resident of this state, or if at any time within the 3 years preceding the date of the search that person has not been a resident of this state, the specialized transportation service shall make a good faith effort to obtain promptly from any state in which the person is a resident, or was a resident within the 3 years preceding the date of the search, information that is equivalent to a criminal history.

(dm)

1. Every specialized transportation service that is operated by a county or that contracts with a county for services under this section shall, prior to employing any person, other than a person holding a valid school bus endorsement under s. 343.12 that was issued or renewed within the previous 4 years, as an operator of a human service vehicle, obtain the person's operating record from the department under s. 343.24 or, if the operating record has already been obtained by another entity, from that entity if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the operating record obtained from that entity is accurate and was furnished by the department to that entity not more than 2 months previously.

2. No later than every 4 years, every specialized transportation service that is operated by a county or that contracts with a county for services under this section shall obtain, in the manner provided in subd. 1., an updated operating record for any person employed as an operator of a human service vehicle by the specialized transportation service.

(4) County plan provisions; copayments.

(a) The county may establish the transportation of seniors and individuals with disabilities to medical, nutritional, and work-related activities as the priority for the specialized transportation services.

(b) Specialized transportation services may at the discretion of the county be open to the general public on a space-available basis.

(c)

1. The county shall either require a copayment by the user of the specialized transportation service or provide the user with an opportunity to make a voluntary contribution to the cost of the service.

2. The county shall establish the amount of copayment if copayment is required and shall recommend an amount for a voluntary contribution if an opportunity to make a voluntary contribution is provided. The county shall establish the method by which the copayment or voluntary contribution is collected from the user.

3. The county shall collect and incorporate into the county plan data regarding the purposes and activities for which individuals use the specialized transportation services.

4. A county may exempt a user from payment under subd. 1. if an emergency exists, if the user does not have the economic resources to make a payment or if the user is not competent to make a payment.

(d) A county may not use aids provided under this section to support the regular route services of an urban mass transit system receiving state aids under s. 85.20. A county may use aids provided under this section to support subsystems of urban mass transit systems that provide special services to seniors or individuals with disabilities.

History: 1981 c. 20 ss. 1220m, 1221, 1221m, 1233m, 1234; 1981 c. 93; 1983 a. 27, 189; 1985 a. 29; 1987 a. 27; 1991 a. 239; 1993 a. 16; 2003 a. 297, 327; 2005 a. 147, 438; 2015 a. 55.