(1) DEFINITION. In
this section, "local agency" means a child care administrative agency,
excluding an agency in a county having a population of 500,000 or
more.
(2) IDENTIFYING FRAUD. The
department shall provide an incentive payment to a local agency for identifying
fraud in the child care subsidy program on the part of a child care provider if
all of the following apply:
(a) The local
agency investigates the child care provider by doing any of the following:
1. Conducting site visits.
2. Collecting and reviewing the provider's
attendance and billing records.
3.
Interviewing persons of interest.
4. Gathering supporting case
information.
(b) The
local agency's investigation finds that the child care provider intentionally
submitted false, misleading, or irregular information to the department or
failed to comply with the terms of the child care subsidy program and failed to
provide to the satisfaction of the agency or the department an explanation for
the noncompliance.
(c) The local
agency calculates and establishes the amount of the overpayment made to the
provider as a result of the provider's actions under par. (b).
(d) The local agency's actions in pars. (a)
to (c) result in the department, in conjunction with the local agency,
withholding payments to be made to the child care provider under s.
49.155(7m) (a) 2, Stats.
(e) The withholding of payments under par.
(d) is upheld in the final review under s.
DCF 201.07
or the provider does not request a review or appeal.
(f) If directed by the department, the local
agency requests the district attorney to consider criminal prosecution of the
child care provider.
(3)
PAYMENT AMOUNT.
(a) The department shall
determine the amount of an incentive payment earned by a local agency under
sub. (2) by multiplying all of the following amounts:
1. The statewide average monthly subsidy
payment per child in the preceding fiscal year.
2. The average monthly number of children for
whom payment was authorized to the provider under s.
DCF 201.04(2g) in the 12 months before
the local agency or the department withheld payments under sub. (2) (d). If
payment was not authorized to the provider for all of the preceding 12 months,
the average monthly number of children for the number of months that payment
was authorized.
Note: Section
DCF 201.04(2g) was repealed by CR 18-088.
Corrections will be made in future rulemaking.
3. 1.5 months.
(b) An incentive payment earned by a local
agency for identifying fraud in the child care subsidy program under sub. (2)
by a single child care provider may not exceed $25,000.
(c) A local agency may earn more than one
incentive payment per year if the local agency identifies fraud in the child
care subsidy program under sub. (2) by more than one child care provider in
that year.
(4) USE OF
INCENTIVE FUNDS. A local agency that has earned an incentive payment may
request that the department distribute the funds for any of the following
purposes:
(a) The local agency's child care
fraud contract with the department for the following year.
(b) The local agency's current child care
fraud contract with the department if the request is made in the first half of
the contract term.
Note: Contracts with counties are based on a
calendar year and contracts with tribes are based on a federal fiscal
year.
(c) Any purpose that
is consistent with the state plan under
42 USC
602 for the use of federal funds under the
Temporary Assistance to Need Families program under
42 USC
601 et seq for the time period when the
funding is distributed if the state plan has been approved by the federal
administration for children and families.
Note: The currently-approved state plan is
available on the department's website, http://dcf.wisconsin.gov, by clicking on
About Us/Department Programs/Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families.
(d) If pars. (a)
to (c) do not apply, any purpose for which funds under the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families program may be used under
42 USC
601
et seq if the federal
administration for children and families approves an amendment to the state
plan under
42 USC
602 that allows that
purpose.
