Ayes, 3 - Senators
Plache, Moore and Decker.
Noes, 3 - Senators
Zien, Darling and Farrow.
Kimberly Plache
Chairperson
The joint survey committee on Retirement Systems reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 436
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Relating to: transferring from the department of workforce development to the department of commerce the administration of the housing design and construction requirements of the fair housing law; a grant for a distance education center; grants for revolving loan funds for economic development; loans for renovation of buildings, purchase of land, buildings, machinery or equipment or construction of buildings; tourism marketing; the rural economic development program; administration of brownfields redevelopment activities; use of penalty revenues under the physician and health care provider loan assistance programs; transferring from the department of health and family services to the department of corrections the responsibility for establishing and collecting fees for juvenile correctional services provided by the department of corrections; parental liability for guardian ad litem fees in juvenile court proceedings; increasing the per diem payments made to temporary reserve judges; litigation by persons incarcerated, imprisoned, confined or detained in a jail or prison; petitions for writs of habeas corpus and limiting access to public records by persons incarcerated, imprisoned, confined or detained in a jail or prison; requirements for promotion from 4th grade to 5th grade and from 8th grade to 9th grade; grants to teachers who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; creating a grant program for peer review and mentoring of teachers; determining the amount appropriated as general school aid; the college tuition prepayment program; leasing technical college facilities to others; the family practice residency program of the Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.; grants to certain school districts for telecommunications access awarded by the technology for educational achievement in Wisconsin board; revising dispute settlement procedures in local government employment other than law enforcement and fire fighting employment; the dry cleaner environmental response program; hazardous waste disposal facilities; voluntary party liability for cleaning up property that is contaminated with hazardous substances and that was acquired from a local governmental unit; tire waste cleanup; arbitration of appeals under the petroleum storage remedial action program; clean water fund program federal financial hardship assistance; administrative forfeitures for violations of safe drinking water rules; providing community aids funding for Milwaukee County; child welfare, children in out-of-home care, termination of parental rights and adoption; criminal history and abuse record searches of operators, employes and nonclient residents of certain entities that provide care for children or adults; a child's first book initiative; eligibility criteria for kinship care payments; proposed legislation to establish a new long-term care system for services to elderly and adult disabled individuals; a pilot project for management of long-term care programs; authorizing counties to contract for health and social services on a prepaid or postpaid, per capita basis; care required and provided in adult family homes, community-based residential facilities and nursing homes; critical access hospitals; reimbursement of the Marquette University School of Dentistry for providing dental services in Waushara and Monroe counties; inclusion of stepparents in the badger care program; transferring food service operations of the Southern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled from the department of health and family services to the department of corrections; the submittal date for a report on the future of the state centers for the developmentally disabled; rates by which reimbursement is reduced to the state centers for the developmentally disabled; eliminating the monthly reimbursement limit on community options program services for medical assistance recipients; medical assistance eligibility for working recipients of supplemental security income; eliminating the requirement for an annual report on access to obstetric and pediatric services under the medical assistance program; interim assistance for applicants of supplemental security income; specialized medical vehicles; electronic benefits transfer under the food stamp program; county administration of public assistance records; guaranteed renewability of individual health benefit plans; an exemption from renewability requirements for short-term insurance; the transportation and sale of fish; the Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River commission; fees for snowmobile trail use stickers; benefits payable and contributions permitted under the Wisconsin retirement system; payment and performance assurance requirements for public works projects; state interfund borrowing limitations; transfers from the general fund to the property tax relief fund; grants for recycling of computers and wheelchairs; creating a refundable individual income tax credit for educational expenses paid for dependents who attend public or certain private elementary and secondary schools; creating an individual income tax deduction for amounts paid for elementary and secondary educational costs; creating an individual income tax deduction for amounts paid for certain higher education costs; defining the Internal Revenue Code for state income and franchise tax purposes; a property tax exemption for computers; state aid payments to municipalities; creating a tax amnesty program; increasing the department of revenue's ability to collect delinquent taxes; denying and revoking licenses and similar documents to persons who owe delinquent taxes or fail to reveal their social security numbers or federal employer identification numbers; administration of the adult entertainment tax; weight limitations for vehicles and combinations of vehicles transporting bulk potatoes; the transportation infrastructure loan program; administration of a national guard youth program; the maximum allowable veterans home loan; granting rule-making authority; providing an exemption from rule-making procedures; granting and decreasing bonding authority; and making and decreasing appropriations.
Recommendation.
The Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems finds the below-referenced portions of Senate Bill 436 to be good public policy, with the recommendation that Section 84 be amended as suggested by ETF so that the portions of state code (i) allowing tax liens against WRS benefits and (ii) holding ETF harmless for porcessing such liens both reference either "annuities" or "benefits" in a consistent fashion.
Senate Bill 59
Relating to: classifying state probation and parole officers as protective occupation participants for the purposes of the Wisconsin retirement system.
Recommendation.
The Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems finds that Senate Bill 59 reflects good public policy, and the Committee recommends its passage.
Referred to committee on Labor, Transportation and Financial Institutions.
Richard Grobschmidt
Senate Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
March 6, 1998
The Honorable, The Legislature:
With this letter, I am forwarding to you the Bureau of Justice Information Systems (BJIS) Second Annual Report. S.13.172(2) directs BJIS to report annually on its activities, and this report is submitted in fulfillment of that requirement.
The report describes the efforts of BJIS on behalf of two inter-related missions: automating the district attorneys state-wide (DA Net) and coordinating inter-agency justice information sharing (IJIS). Both efforts are in full swing and will soon bear the fruits of considerable effort.
The installation of a DA Net computer in each county was completed this year successfully as was the design and testing of local area network (LAN) to allow attorneys to communicate with the county network. Three counties now have pilot LAN's and more are to come this year. This year also saw the development by BJIS, with the help of district attorneys state-wide, of a needs assessment for a case management system (CMS). A case management system for DA's is a crucial step to increasing productivity, public safety, and decision making. The capture and analysis of data by DA's will also be a crucial step in moving Wisconsin toward a comprehensive sharing of justice information across agencies.
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The goal of the IJIS project is to give frontline justice officials and the public quicker access to information needed for public safety. BJIS has led a number of efforts this past year to bring justice agencies together to clarify their information systems and information needs. A number of partnerships have already been forged among justice agencies as a -result of this work. BJIS this year has worked hard to build relationships between justice agencies, document the current technology environment, and begin the initial planning for an inter-agency information system.
This is new ground. But with the support of the legislature, BJIS can help improve public safety and bring efficiency to government by working to improve both the communication between agencies and by providing the basic infrastructure needed to be effective.
Sincerely,
Mark D. Bugher
Secretary
State of Wisconsin
Department of Workforce Development
March 13, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
In accordance with Public Law 97-300, Part A, Section 104 (b)(13) of the Job Training Partnership Act (JPTA), the Annual Reports of Wisconsin's JTPA Service Delivery Areas have been submitted. They are hereby transmitted to you for your review.
If you have any questions concerning these reports or need additional information, please feel free to contact me or my staff.
Sincerely,
June Suhling
Division Administrator
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Skochelak, Dr. Susan E.,
of Madison, as a member of the Rural Health Development Council, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2002.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Size
, Tim,
of Sauk City, as a member of the Rural Health Development Council, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Schmidt, Craig W. C.,
of Berlin, as a member of the Rural Health Development Council, to serve for the interim term ending July 1, 2001.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Bakker
, Doris L.,
of Neillsville, as a member of the Rural Health Development Council, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Human Services, Aging, Corrections, Veterans and Military Affairs.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Meeuwsen, Michael D.,
of Green Bay, as a member of the Savings and Loan Review Board, to serve for the term ending May 1, 2001.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Labor, Transportation and Financial Institutions.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 12, 1998
