By
Representatives Brandemuehl, Stone, Ladwig, Steinbrink, Olsen, Powers, Goetsch, Ainsworth, Albers, Owens, La Fave, Plouff, Gronemus, Sykora, Lassa, Grothman, Skindrud and Seratti; cosponsored by Senators Breske, Farrow and Zien.
To committee on Transportation.
Assembly Bill 138
Relating to: service by a former member of the legislature as a lobbyist.
By
Representatives Freese, Walker, Ziegelbauer, Albers, Black, Boyle, Brandemuehl, Cullen, Goetsch, Kaufert, Ladwig, La Fave, Lassa, J. Lehman, Montgomery, Owens, Plouff, Pocan, Powers, Staskunas and Wasserman; cosponsored by Senators Burke, Baumgart, Clausing, Cowles, Farrow and Schultz.
To committee on Government Operations
.
Assembly Bill 139
Relating to: creating an individual income tax exemption for military income received by certain members of the U.S. armed forces.
By
Representatives Sykora, Musser, Freese, F. Lasee, Brandemuehl, Pettis, Kelso, Johnsrud, Gronemus, Gunderson, Albers, Powers, Skindrud, Owens, Kreibich, Montgomery and Duff; cosponsored by Senators Wirch, Breske, Schultz and Zien.
To committee on Veterans and Military Affairs
.
__________________
The committee on Highway Safety reports and recommends:
Assembly Bill 35
Relating to: following snowplows.
A80
Assembly substitute amendment 1 adoption:
Ayes: 7 - Representatives Stone, Townsend, Brandemuehl, Urban, Hasenohrl, Ryba and Young.
Noes: 0.
Passage as amended:
Ayes: 6 - Representatives Stone, Townsend, Brandemuehl, Urban, Hasenohrl and Ryba.
Noes: 1 - Representative
Young.
To committee on Rules.
Jeff Stone
Chairperson
Committee on Highway Safety
__________________
Executive Communications
February 17, 1999
The Honorable Scott Jensen
Speaker of the Assembly
211 West, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702
Dear Speaker Jensen:
1999 Assembly Bill 65, introduced by Representatives Musser and Schneider, and co-sponsored by Senator Moen, relates to contributions for a World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. and making appropriations.
1999 Assembly Bill 65 contains a fiscal note in excess of $100,000. Pursuant to sec. 16.47(2), Stats., I consider this bill an emergency bill, I recommend the bill and I ask that passage of 1999 Assembly Bill 65 be permitted prior to passage of the budget bill.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Tommy g. Thompson
Governor
__________________
Enrolled Bills
The following Assembly proposals, which have been approved by both the Assembly and Senate, have been enrolled by the Legislative Reference Bureau:
Assembly Joint Resolution 12
Charles R. Sanders
Assembly Chief Clerk
__________________
Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
Madison
February 8, 1999
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Wis. Stats., 46.277(5m) requires that the Department of Health and Family Services submit a report to the Legislature each year by October 1, describing the cost and quality of services used under the Medicaid Waiver Program and the extent to which existing services have been used under the program in the preceding calendar year. Due to technical computer and data compilation-related problems, this report was completed in January 1999. The attached report covers calendar year 1997 activity for the Community Options Program Waiver and the Community Integration Program II.
These programs are designed to relocate or divert elderly and physically disabled persons from nursing homes and finance their care with Medicaid in a community setting. The level of Medicaid waiver funding must be no greater than the Medicaid cost for nursing home care. This annual report demonstrates that Wisconsin is in compliance with these regulations.
Sincerely,
Joe Leean
Secretary, DHFS
Referred to committee on Health.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
February 16, 1999
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Chapter
34, Laws of 1979, requires that when the State of Wisconsin maintains an office in Washington, D.C. for the purpose of promoting federal/state cooperation, a report detailing the activities of the office and reporting the status of federal legislation of concern to the State Legislature and other state agencies shall be submitted (Wis. Stats., 16.548(2)).
Pursuant to this requirement, I have enclosed the 1998 Fourth Quarter Report by the Wisconsin Office of Federal-State Relations. Throughout the fourth quarter, the Office concentrated on planning for the 106th Congress, including planning sessions for legislative initiatives, outreach to new Wisconsin members and working with various groups to determine priorities for the upcoming year.
Sincerely,
Mark d. Bugher
Secretary, DOA
Referred to committee on State Affairs.
Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Investment Board
Madison
January 30, 1999
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Section
25.17(14r) of the Statutes requires that the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) submit a report to the Joint Committee on Audit, Joint Committee on Finance and the Chief Clerks of each House summarizing any change in the Board's investment policies, upon adoption of the change.
On January 6, 1999 the Board approved modifications to the Investment Policy Guidelines that create a new Real Estate Mortgage portfolio for the Wisconsin Retirement System's (WRS) Fixed Trust Fund. The additional guidelines are attached.
Real Estate Mortgage Program
To take advantage of prevailing market conditions in the early 1990's, SWIB made the decision to emphasize equity investments in real estate, as opposed to debt. Since then, SWIB's involvement in the real estate market has been through equity investments in real estate properties. Due to the attractiveness of real estate debt opportunities in the present marketplace, the Board's recent action reestablishes a Real Estate Mortgage Participation program with Northwestern Mutual Life (NML) as SWIB's partner and origination agent. The program will initially be funded with an allocation of $500 million.
Under this fixed income program, SWIB will participate in various real estate loans underwritten and originated by NML. NML's extensive and experienced staff will identify potential loans as well as perform primary due-diligence on projects for the portfolio. Each loan will be individually reviewed by SWIB real estate staff from a fundamental investment perspective and then reviewed by SWIB private placements staff for issues relating to pricing.
This program provides an attractive way to partner with a large and recognized Wisconsin firm (NML) and to participate in transactions that would otherwise be too small for origination and servicing with the resources we have available.
Please contact me if you have any questions about this report.
Sincerely,
Patricia Lipton
Executive Director
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
February 12, 1999
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
This report is transmitted as required by sec. 20.002(11)(f) of the Wisconsin Statutes, (for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under sec. 13.172(3) Stats.), and confirms that the Department of Administration has found it necessary to exercise the "temporary reallocation of balances" authority provided by this section in order to meet payment responsibilities and cover resulting negative balances during the month of January 1999.
On January 1, 1999 the Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund balance was -$6 thousand. This shortfall continued until January 7, 1999 when the balance reached $17 thousand. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
On January 1, 1999 the Wisconsin Environmental Fund balance was -$799 thousand. This shortfall increased to -$1.52 million on January 15, 1999 and continued until January 25, 1999 when the balance reached $6.59 million. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
On January 20, 1999 the Wisconsin Petroleum Inspection Fund balance was -$1.72 million. This shortfall continued until January 21, 1999 when the balance reached $7.15 million. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
