Wednesday, November 30, 2011
One-Hundredth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Tuesday, November 29
, 2011.
Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Risser added as a coauthor of
Senate Bill
305
.
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Read first time and referred:
Senate Bill 310
Relating to: brownfields redevelopment grants.
By
Senators
Shilling, Taylor and Risser; cosponsored by Representatives Doyle, Bewley, Berceau, Vruwink, Zepnick, Jorgensen, Staskunas, Ringhand and Fields.
To committee on Economic Development and Veterans and Military Affairs.
Senate Bill 311
Relating to: voter intimidation or suppression, authorized activities at or near polling places, and providing a penalty.
By
Senators
Taylor and Risser; cosponsored by Representatives Berceau, Bewley, Pocan, Hebl, Turner, Roys, Sinicki, Grigsby and C. Taylor.
To committee on Transportation and Elections.
Senate Bill 312
Relating to: veteran preference points.
By
Senators
Taylor, Schultz, S. Coggs and Vinehout; cosponsored by Representatives Jorgensen, Spanbauer, Berceau, Bewley, Clark, Fields, Pasch, Sinicki, Turner, Vruwink, Young and Zepnick.
To committee on Economic Development and Veterans and Military Affairs.
Senate Bill 313
Relating to: relinquishing custody of a newborn child.
By
Senators
Lazich, Olsen, Grothman, Holperin and Galloway; cosponsored by Representatives Kooyenga, Turner, Milroy, Spanbauer, Jacque, Thiesfeldt, Ballweg, Stroebel, Craig, Brooks and Doyle.
To committee on Public Health, Human Services, and Revenue.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Senate President
November 30
, 2011
The Honorable, the Senate:
Pursuant to Senate Rule
46 (2)(c), I am writing to inform you that I have directed the following proposal(s) to be withdrawn from committee and rereferred. I have obtained the consent of the appropriate standing committee chairperson and the chairperson of the committee on Senate Organization.
Senate Bill
251
, relating to
school district debt service aid and making an appropriation, withdrawn from joint committee on Finance and rereferred to committee on Education
.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL G. ELLIS
Senate President
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State of Wisconsin
Board of Commissioners of Public Lands
November 25, 2011
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Greetings, and welcome to the 2009-2011 two-year portrait of Wisconsin's oldest state agency, established in the State Constitution in 1848. In the midst of today's economic challenges, the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) is proud to have continued to generate strong Trust Fund earnings for our beneficiaries, boosted timber revenue and public access to Trust Lands, and improved online availability of historical land records. We have made these contributions to the people of Wisconsin while funding agency operations without a penny of general tax revenue.
BCPL continues to prudently manage Trust assets and generated its third largest earnings in agency history. The 2011 public school library aid distribution totaled $33.6 million. For many school districts, these funds represent most or all of their K-12 school library budgets, and this biennium's aid was enough to cover t he cost of over two books per child.
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Many communities around the state continued to take advantage of the stability and dependability of our loan program (described on page 16), but demand declined in 2011 as public projects were postponed due to concerns regarding government spending and debt levels. To address this drop in loan demand, BCPL reallocated a significant percentage of its investment portfolio to state and municipal bonds. While loan balances were down from our December 2010 record of $726 million invested in communities throughout Wisconsin, the program still boasts an outstanding balance of $576 million. The BCPL State Trust Fund Loan Program remains the most important investment option available for BCPL managed Trust Funds.
In addition to generating revenue for school libraries, the agency manages nearly 77,000 acres of land which remain from over 10 million acres originally granted by the federal government and Wisconsin's earliest days as a state. In 2006, the agency was granted land bank authority (see page 25) to prevent forest fragmentation, increase public access and keep our forests producing timber and jobs in a sustainable manner. In the 2009-2011 biennium, the agency used this authority to sell 2,768.26 acres of non-productive and ecologically sensitive lands to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for permanent protection and subsequently purchase a comparable amount of land for increased timber productivity. These purchases will keep valuable forests producing timber income for our beneficiaries for years to come. Since Land Bank Authority began, timber producing lands have increased by 10% and public access to BCPL lands has increased by over 16%. In spite of a significant drop in timber prices, the BCPL increased timber revenue earnings by approximately 3% to a total of $1,004,623.10.
Our land records archive provides a rich source of historical information and paints a colorful picture of Wisconsin's early settlement. This biennium we focused on document preservation and outreach. Federal land patents to the State of Wisconsin, dating from 1855 to 1869, were sent to the Wisconsin Historical Society for cleaning and flattening. The conservation work performed on these patents helps to stabilize the documents so they can be digitized, indexed and added to the on-line archives collection.
In an effort to increase public awareness of our land records collection, presentations were given to various organizations including surveyors, registers of deeds, and librarians. These presentations have resulted in requests from publishers, historical societies, and individuals for information about these rare documents.
As we celebrate all of these accomplishments, we are mindful of carrying on Wisconsin's pioneering commitment to public education. On behalf of today's Commissioners and the agency's dedicated staff, thank you for your confidence in us as capable stewards of the lands, moneys, and records we hold in trust for all of Wisconsin's citizens.
Sincerely,
Tia Nelson
Executive Secretary
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State of Wisconsin
Government Accountability Board
November 29, 2011
The Honorable, The Senate:
The following lobbyists have been authorized to act on behalf of the organizations set opposite their names.
For more detailed information about these lobbyists and organizations and a complete list of organizations and people authorized to lobby the 2011-2012 session of the legislature, visit the Government Accountability Board's web site at
http://gab.wi.gov/.
Kelchen, Emily Northern States Power d/b/a
Xcel Energy
Vercauteren, Jeffrey Wisconsin Land and Water
Conservation Association,
Also available from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board are reports identifying the amount and value of time state agencies have spent to affect legislative action and reports of expenditures for lobbying activities filed by organizations that employ lobbyists.
