134 Relating to: releases of customer information by municipal utilities.

  Date of enactment: February 26, 2014
2013 Assembly Bill 496   Date of publication*: February 27, 2014

* Section 991.11, Wisconsin Statutes : Effective date of acts. "Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor's partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication."

2013 WISCONSIN ACT 134

An Act to amend 196.137 (2) (intro.); and to create 196.137 (2) (ap), 196.137 (4), 196.137 (5) and 227.01 (13) (zv) of the statutes; relating to: releases of customer information by municipal utilities.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

Section 1 . 196.137 (2) (intro.) of the statutes, as created by 2013 Wisconsin Act 25 , is amended to read:

196.137 (2) Prohibition. (intro.) A municipal utility may not release customer information to any person except with the consent of the customer obtained on a form specified under sub. (4) , or except to any of the following:

Section 2 . 196.137 (2) (ap) of the statutes is created to read:

196.137 (2) (ap) In connection with a real estate transaction or appraisal of real property, a real estate broker or salesperson licensed under ch. 452 or an appraiser certified or licensed under ch. 458.

Section 3 . 196.137 (4) of the statutes is created to read:

196.137 (4) Consent form. No later than the first day of the 2nd month beginning after the effective date of this subsection .... [LRB inserts date], the commission shall specify a form for a municipal utility to obtain a customer's consent to the release of customer information.

Section 3m . 196.137 (5) of the statutes is created to read:

196.137 (5) Customer postcards. A municipal utility that sends a billing statement to a customer on a postcard does not violate the prohibition under sub. (2).

Section 4 . 227.01 (13) (zv) of the statutes is created to read:

227.01 (13) (zv) Specifies the form required under s. 196.137 (4).

Section 5 . Initial applicability.

(1) The treatment of section 196.137 (2) (intro.) of the statutes first applies to consent obtained on the effective date of this subsection.

Section 6 . Effective dates. This act takes effect on the day after publication, except as follows:

(1) The treatment of section 196.137 (2) (intro.) of the statutes and Section 5 (1) of this act take effect on the first day of the 2nd month beginning after publication.