Against suspension of the rules for 3rd reading of Senate Bill 202
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best wishes,
John Steinbrink
State Representative
65th Assembly District
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February 17, 2012
Patrick Fuller
Assembly Chief Clerk
17 West Main Street, Suite 401
Madison, WI 53703
Dear Chief Clerk Fuller:
Please add my name as a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 572, relating to tax credit programs administered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
Sincerely,
Joseph Leibham
State Senator
9th Senate District
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee
February 15, 2012
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The Medical College of Wisconsin respectfully submits a revised 2009-2011 Biennial Student Enrollment Report. This report should replace the 2009-2011 Biennial Student Enrollment Report submitted on October 19, 2011.
Prepared according to the statutory requirement under section 13.106, this report covers the period ending June 30, 2011.
In November 2011, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau brought to our attention a precipitous decline in the number of Wisconsin resident students who have been accepted to MCW since 2005 and requested an explanation of this trend. Though the Medical College had recognized this decline as an inevitable result of reduced capitation, we appreciated attention placed on a particularly sharp decline in the 2010 census reporting numbers. Therefore, when preparing our response to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, we conducted a comprehensive internal examination of admission data, reports and processes.
Through a coordinated approach with our Office of Internal Audit, with leadership from our Office of Academic Affairs, the audit did find some discrepancies between the data we provided in the October Biennial Student Enrollment Report. On December 1, we notified the Legislative Fiscal Bureau of this examination and pending revised report.
The revised final report is now enclosed and submitted for record with the following changes:
2009-2010 Reporting - Reasons for change to Page 4
• Reported Native Hawaiian in the Native American group versus the Pacific Islander group
• Typo (extra digit) in the Pacific Islander Table
• Report for calculating Total Applicants was miscalculated by one - Corporate IT rectifying data
A816
2010-2011 Reporting - Reasons for change to Page 5
• Reported Native Hawaiian in the Native American group versus the Pacific Islander group
• Report for calculating Total Applicants was miscalculated by one
• Residents Active group: one foreign student was double counted
• Accepted In-State totals: initial report missed some groups in the original count; manual tracking and system generated reports have been reconciled and revised count of 140 has been verified and approved by Director of Admissions. Revised process includes a reconciliation step between the report produced from the system and the manual reporting procedures.
The Medical College is committed to encourage and incentivize Wisconsin students to stay in Wisconsin for their medical training. Significant process improvements are being implemented to ensure accuracy for future reporting, and the Medical College is embarking on new models of community medical education expansion that will, we believe, be an innovative and exciting opportunity for Wisconsin medical students.
Thank you for your attention to this revised report and please do contact me if additional information or explanation is required.
Sincere regards,
Kathryn A. Kuhn
Vice President of Government and Community Relations
Medical College of Wisconsin
Referred to committee on Colleges and Universities.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health Services
Madison
February 17, 2012
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The Department of Health Services is pleased to provide this annual report of hunger in Wisconsin, as required under s.
49.76.
There are various Department of Health Services programs available to families needing supplemental food. The following information provides a historical perspective on participation and funding levels of these programs.
The FoodShare Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) benefit payments and individual participation have grown steadily. FoodShare, as an entitlement program, is available to all eligible recipients.
The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) Nutrition Program is a discretionary program with limited funding, as allocated annually by Congress. There has been sufficient funding to serve all of the people applying for WIC; there are no waiting lists.
The WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is also a discretionary program with very limited funding. The Department serves as many families as possible each year within the available funds. The Program may use unspent carryover funds from previous years to cover higher participation levels when funding is decreased.
Families may also acquire emergency foods through food pantries and programs such as The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). There are two types of commodity foods in TEFAP. Entitlement foods are based on the state's annual federal allocation. Bonus foods are offered to states as available from USDA.
Definitions of food security are developed by the federal government. Individuals classified as having very low food security have reported multiple indications of reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns due to inadequate resources for food.
There are many child nutrition programs administered through the Department of Public Instruction that contribute immensely to family food security, including school meals, summer feeding programs, child and adult care food programs, among others. Community partners will continue to work cooperatively to address the many facets that affect family food security and align with Wisconsin implementation plans that include:
• The Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 and the Wisconsin Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity State Plan work to improve rates of breast feeding initiation and duration, as well as, improve access to healthy and affordable foods through grocery stores and farmers' markets.
• Ending Hunger in Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Food Security Consortium promotes strategies representing the four "legs" of the food security table:
1. Support and promote programs and activities that improve family economic security
2. Support and promote programs and activities to improve access to affordable and healthy food
3. Support improved access, funding and participation in federal nutrition programs
4. Strengthen the emergency food assistance agencies, programs and network
These successes and challenges indicate the need for continued commitment of the Department to fight hunger in Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
Dennis G. Smith
Secretary
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
