On March 2, 1995 the University Trust Income Fund balance was -$1.2 million. The shortfall continued until March 14, 1995 when the balance reached +$433 thousand. This shortfall was due to a delayed transfer to the fund.
On March 23, 1995 the Wisconsin Health Education Fund balance was -$2 thousand. This shortfall continued through March 31, 1995. The shortfall is due to the timing of revenues to the fund.
The University Trust Income Fund and Wisconsin Health Education Fund shortfalls were not in excess of the $400 million ceiling and did not exceed the balances of the Funds available for interfund borrowing.
The distribution of interest earnings to investment pool participants is based on the average daily balance in the pool and each fund's share. Therefore, the monthly calculation by State Finance will automatically reflect the use of these temporary reallocations of balance authority.
Sincerely,
James Klauser
Secretary, DOA
Referred to Joint Committee on Finance.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Social Services
Madison
May 8, 1995
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
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Enclosed is a copy of the Annual Wisconsin Report on Child Abuse and Neglect pursuant to s.48.981. The report includes a full statistical analysis of suspected child abuse and neglect reports received by county child protective services agencies in 1993. This report describes the extent of abuse and neglect in Wisconsin and discusses steps Wisconsin has taken to address the needs of maltreated children and their families.
Sincerely,
richard w. lorang
Acting Secretary, DHSS
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Gaming Commission
Madison
May 10, 1995
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
I am submitting the March 31, 1995 quarterly report of the Wisconsin Gaming Commission as required by s.
565.37(3), Wis. Stats., Lottery sales and financial information, and s.
562.02(1)(g), Racing statistical information,
If there are any questions or comments regarding this report, please do not hesitate to contact me or Commissioner Maureen Hlavacek.
Sincerely,
John M. Tries
Chairman
Referred to Special Committee on Gambling Oversight.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Development
Madison
May 15, 1995
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
In accordance with s.
560.75 (3), the Department of Development is required to provide a report indicating the effectiveness and the results of the development zone program for each fiscal year during which the development zone program is conducted.
I am respectfully submitting the attached Development Zone Program Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1993-94 in the manner provided in section 13.172(3), Wisconsin Statutes. If you have any questions concerning the report contact Bill Wheeler at 267-2045, or to obtain copies, please contact Deb Daly in our Division of Community Development at (608)267-3895.
Sincerely,
william j. mccoshen
Secretary, DOD
Referred to committee on Small Business and Economic Development.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Employment Relations Commission
Madison
May 16, 1995
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Pursuant to Section
111.71 (4), Wis. Stats., we respectfully submit the Annual Study of the Arbitration law under Sections
111.70 (4)(cm),
111.77 and
111.70 (4)(jm), Wis. Stats., for fiscal year 1992-93.
Sincerely,
A. Henry Hempe
Chairperson
Herman Torosian
Commissioner
William K. Strycker
Commissioner
Referred to committee on Labor and Employment.
__________________
Communications
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
May 3, 1995
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed financial audits of the Mendota and Winnebago Mental Health Institutes for fiscal year 1994-95. We were able to provide unqualified opinions on the institutes' financial statements.
Detailed copies of the audit reports have been distributed to members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and those required by law to receive detailed copies. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the audit reports, please contact our office and request a copy of reports 95-9 and 95-10.
Sincerely,
Dale Cattanach
State Auditor
__________________
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State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
May 10, 1995
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of the State's debt collection efforts, as requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. As of June 30, 1994, state agencies reported nearly $1.8 billion in delinquent debt. Four areas - delinquent income, sales, and employe withholding taxes; delinquent child support obligations and social service programs overpayments; unpaid unemployment compensation taxes and overpaid unemployment compensation benefits; and defaulted student higher education loans and other student debt - make up 98 percent of the State's delinquent debt.
Even though agencies reported $1.8 billion in delinquent debt, this amount can only be considered an estimate, partly because the Department of Revenue purposely over - estimates some delinquent tax bills in order to encourage prompt response. In addition, information on welfare - related debt that counties provide to the State is inaccurate.
Much of the $1.8 billion in reported debt cannot be expected to be collected. Collectibility declines as debt ages, and we estimate that 83 percent of the debt is at least one year old. Many debtors are bankrupt or do not have the means to satisfy their obligations, and other debtors cannot be located. Further, not all of the reported amount can be expected to be made available for general appropriation or returned to the respective programs for re-use. For example, a portion of the largest single area of delinquent debt - child support - is required to be returned to custodial parents.
Nevertheless, if even 1 percent of the State's reported delinquent debt were collected, revenues to the State and others would increase by $18 million, and we found several improvements in current practices that could be made to increase collections. These include more effective use of technology; more aggressive use of existing collection techniques such as state income tax refund intercepts, which can be applied at relatively low cost; increased inter-governmental cooperation; and increased use of private collection firms.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the many state agencies that we contacted during the course of this audit. A response from the departments of Revenue; Health and Social Services; and Industry, Labor and Human Relations and from the Higher Educational Aids Board is Appendix II. A response from the University of Wisconsin System is Appendix III.
Sincerely,
dale cattanach
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
May 17, 1995
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
We have completed an audit of the Unemployment Reserve Fund, Department of Industry, Labor and Human Relations for fiscal year 1993 and 1994.
Our audit included tests to ensure that the financial statements of the Unemployment Reserve Fund for fiscal years 1993 and 1994 were fairly presented in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
The audit report includes no major findings, conclusions, or recommendations and, in our judgement, is not likely to be of interest to most members of the Legislature.
Copies of the audit report have been distributed to members of the Joint Audit Committee and those required by law to receive copies. If you are interested in receiving a copy of this report, please contact our office and request report number 95-12.
Sincerely,
Dale Cattanach
State Auditor
__________________
Representative Schneider addressed the members from the rostrum to read a passage relating to D-Day, the WWII Allied invasion of Europe, and to adjourn in honor of the 51st anniversary of this day on June 6, 1944.
Representative Prosser asked unanimous consent that the rules be suspended and that Assembly Bill
402 be withdrawn from the calendar of Thursday, June 1 and taken up at this time. Granted.
Assembly Bill
402
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Relating to: state finances and appropriations for the department of transportation; creating an oil company franchise fee; taxation of motor vehicle fuel that is not sold for use on highways; motor vehicle fuel and alternate fuel taxes and qualified motor vehicles; authorizing construction of additional major highway projects; creating a seasonal highway rehabilitation program; environmental clean-up activities on lands acquired by the department of transportation; vehicle weight and width limit exceptions on a part of the national system of interstate and defense highways; numerous changes to the classified driver license system and commercial motor vehicle operation; eligibility for an occupational license; the driving skills test required of applicants for operators' licenses; demerit point reduction for completion of a rider course relating to Type 1 motorcycle operation; vehicle accidents resulting in property damage; performance of motor vehicle registration and titling functions by motor vehicle dealers; the fee for issuance or reissuance of special distinguishing motor vehicle registration plates; permitting the department of transportation to make, record and use digitized images of applicants for operators' licenses and identification cards; local transportation aids; the funding of the urban mass transit operating assistance program; reimbursement for town road improvements under the local roads improvement program; authorizing the department of transportation to conduct projects under the surface transportation discretionary grants program; the employment transit assistance program; the registration period and fees applicable to aircraft; the obligation of a condemnor to make available a comparable replacement business to a person displaced from a business as a result of condemnation; delaying the expiration date of the disadvantaged business demonstration and training program; exempting railroad property acquired by the department of transportation from the tax-exempt property reporting requirement; granting bonding authority; providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures; granting rule-making authority; making appropriations; and providing penalties.
Representative Prosser moved that Assembly Bill 402 be rereferred to the Joint Committee on Finance.
