State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
Madison
To Whom It May Concern:
Acts, Joint Resolutions and Resolutions deposited in this office have been numbered and published as follows:
Bill Number Act Number Publication Date
Assembly Bill 144137March 30, 2006
Assembly Bill 536139March 30, 2006
Assembly Bill 912140March 30, 2006
Assembly Bill 29143March 31, 2006
Assembly Bill 133144March 31, 2006
Sincerely,
Douglas La Follette
Secretary of State
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
Madison
March 17, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The 1983-85 budget act,
1983 Wisconsin Act 27, created the Community Integration Program (CIP) for Residents of State Centers under s.
46.275. The intent of this program "is to relocate persons from the state centers for the developmentally disabled into appropriate community settings with the assistance of home and community-based services and with continuity of care. The intent of the program is also to minimize its impact on state employees through redeployment of employees into vacant positions." S.
46.275(5m) requires the Department to submit a report to the Joint Committee on Finance and to the Chief Clerk of each house of the Legislature describing the program's impact during the preceding calendar year on state employees, including the Department's efforts to redeploy employees into vacant positions and the number of employees laid off.
The 2003-05 biennial budget provided for the phasedown of long term care services at Northern Wisconsin Center and the placement of residents in community settings. Southern and Central Wisconsin Centers continued to relocate individuals under the CIP program as well during CY05. For the period of January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2005, 68 center residents were placed into the community. In this same period, calendar year 2005, 51 employees were redeployed to vacant positions and 133 employees were laid off.
Sincerely,
Helene Nelson
Secretary
Referred to committee on Aging and Long-Term Care.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
February 28, 2006
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
At your request, we have completed a review of the number of University of Wisconsin (UW) System employees convicted of felonies, as part of a comprehensive evaluation of UW System personnel policies and practices approved by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. That evaluation will be completed later this year.
A989
Using Department of Corrections' felony data and UW System's payroll data, we identified 40 felons employed by UW System in September 2005 and under state supervision in November 2005. UW-Madison employed 27 of the 40 felons we identified, including 4 who are incarcerated.
Section
111.321, Wis. Stats., generally prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of arrest or conviction record, but under s.
111.335(1)(c), Wis. Stats., employment can be terminated when a conviction is substantially related to the circumstances of an individual's job. The decision to terminate is typically determined by an internal investigation. Because UW institutions were unaware of most of the 40 felons and could not provide complete information on how many internal investigations had been conducted, we have recommended that internal investigations be conducted to determine whether the convictions of any of the felons we identified are substantially job-related and any action is appropriate.
Terminating employment is often a lengthy process. In February 2006, the Board of Regents approved changes to expedite the termination of faculty who are convicted of serious criminal misconduct. We have recommended that it also clarify its termination process for academic staff and discuss the process for classified staff.
Finally, we found great variation in how UW institutions conduct background checks of candidates for employment. We have recommended that the Board of Regents promulgate uniform policies to identify the types of jobs for which background checks should be conducted.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by UW System during the course of our review.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
