Tommy G. Thompson
Governor
May 11, 1999
The Honorable Scott Jensen
Speaker of the Assembly
211 West, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53702
RE: 1999 Assembly Bill 329
Dear Speaker Jensen:
1999 Assembly Bill 329, introduced by Representatives Kreibich, Nass, Schneider, Musser, Kelso, Ladwig, Owens, Hahn, Sykora, Miller, Brandemuehl, Powers, Montgomery, Gunderson, Albers, Gronemus, Rhoades, Coggs, Goetsch, Plouff, Freese, Spillner, Turner, Ryba, Hundertmark, Klusman, Boyle, Lassa, Waukau, Bock, Kreuser, Huber, Young, Olsen, Pettis, Plale, F. Lasee, Reynolds and Grothman and co-sponsored by Senators Moen, Fitzgerald, Schultz, Darling, Roessler, Grobschmidt, Welch, Wirch, Zien, Rosenzweig, Panzer, Clausing, Breske, Drzewiecki, Baumgart and Erpenbach, relates to payment of health insurance premiums for state employes activated for military duty in the U.S. armed forces.
1999 Assembly Bill 329 contains a fiscal note in excess of $10,000. 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 329 be permitted prior to passage of the budget bill.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Tommy G. Thompson
Governor
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
April 30, 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 March 1999.
On March 16, 1999 the Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund balance was -$2 thousand. This shortfall increased to -$3 thousand on March 25, 1999 and continued into the month of April 1999. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
The Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund shortfall was not in excess of the statutory interfund borrowing limitation 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 the State Controller's Office will automatically reflect the use of these temporary reallocations of balance authority.
Sincerely,
Mark D. Bugher
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
May 10, 1999
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of community long-term care programs operated by local governments and administered by the Department of Health and Family Services. We focused our analysis on two Medical Assistance waiver programs whose participants are primarily elderly and physically disabled: the Community Integration Program II (CIP II) and Community Options Program Waiver (COP-W) programs, and on participants whose services were funded exclusively through the general purpose revenue-funded Community Options Program (COP-R). In 1997, 15,699 participants received services through these programs, for which reported expenditures were $120,893,900.
Among local community long-term care programs, we found significant variation in the amount of time individuals wait for program services. As of June 1998, approximately 11,000 individuals statewide were waiting to receive program services. However, 11 counties reported no waiting lists, while 12 others had waiting lists of more than 100 individuals. The maximum wait for developmentally disabled individuals was nine years; for elderly individuals, it was four years.
In addition to variation in waiting times, we found variation in the types of services these local programs provide and in the per participant expenditure they report. For example, statewide expenditures averaged $7,701 per participant in 1997, but local programs reported average per participant expenditures ranging from $3,394 to $17,195.
Variation among local programs is possible because community long-term care places primary responsibility for program management with local governments. The Family Care proposal currently before the Legislature as part of Assembly Bill 133 addresses some of the causes of the variation we found. To assist in analyzing the effect this proposal could have on community long-term care, we include questions the Legislature may wish to explore during its deliberations.
A177
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Department and staff of local programs. The Department's response is Appendix IV.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
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Reference Bureau Corrections
Assembly Bill 139
1. Page 2, line 2: delete "15" and substitute "(15)".
2. Page 2, line 6: delete "31," and substitute "31".
Assembly Bill 271
1. Page 2, line 10: substitute "939.62" for "939.626".
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Representative Wieckert moved that the Assembly stand adjourned until 10:00 A.M. tomorrow.
The question was: Shall the Assembly stand adjourned?
Motion carried.
The Assembly stood adjourned.
10:01 A.M.