Tuesday, June 22, 1999
10:00 A.M.
Ninety-Fourth Regular Session
The Senate met.
The Senate was called to order by Senator Fred Risser.
The Chair, with unanimous consent, asked that the proper entries be made in the journal.
__________________
Read first time and referred:
Senate Bill 200
Relating to: transferring a motor vehicle upon death of the owner to a beneficiary designated in the certificate of title.
By
Senator
Moen
, by request of Edsel Grams of Eau Claire.
To committee on Insurance, Tourism, Transportation and Corrections.
Senate Bill 201
Relating to: the inspection and copying of medical and other records in certain actions.
By
Senators
Wirch and Roessler; cosponsored by Representatives Underheim, Kreuser, Hahn, Musser, Olsen, Plouff, Spillner and Waukau.
To committee on Judiciary and Consumer Affairs.
__________________
The committee on Health, Utilities, Veterans and Military Affairs reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 196
Relating to: control and ownership of transmission facilities by a transmission company and a Midwest independent system operator, ownership of nonutility assets by a public utility holding company, investments in transmission facilities, offers of employment to certain public utility and nonutility affiliates employes, fees and approvals for certain high-voltage transmission lines, construction of certain electric transmission facilities, environmental reviews by the public service commission, reports on reliability status of electric utilities, state participation in a regional transmission need and siting compact, incentives for development of certain generating facilities, study of market power and retail electric competition, market-based compensation, rates and contracts for electric customers, regulation of certain nitrogen oxide emissions, establishing programs for low-income energy assistance, improving energy conservation and efficiency markets and encouraging the development and use of renewable resources, creating a council on utility public benefits, establishing a utility public benefits fund, requiring electric utilities and retail electric cooperatives to charge public benefits fees to customers and members, imposing requirements on the use of renewable resources by electric utilities and cooperatives, requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, making appropriations and providing a penalty.
Passage.
Ayes, 7 - Senators
Moen, Breske, Robson, Erpenbach, Welch, Rude and Drzewiecki.
Noes, 0 - None.
Rodney Moen
Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
June 18, 1999
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have been monitoring the construction costs of Miller Park, the new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, at the request of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball Park District, a local unit of government created by
1995 Wisconsin Act 56, oversees the design and construction of the stadium. Statutes authorize the District to issue revenue bonds for stadium construction and impose a 0.1 percent sales and use tax in a five-county area of southeastern Wisconsin to pay for debt service and other expenses. Through December 1998, almost $50 million in sales and use tax revenue had been collected.
Total costs for the stadium - including the District's budgets for stadium construction, infrastructure, leased equipment, and project administration - are currently estimated at $399.4 million. District officials do not expect costs to change significantly because more than 75 percent of the stadium construction and infrastructure work was completed by the end of December 1998, or contracts for this work had been signed.
At the time of legislative deliberations on the proposal to construct a new stadium for the Brewers, many legislators and others believed that sales and use tax revenue would be used to pay only for the stadium's construction. However, under the terms of agreements signed by the District and the Brewers, the District will also be responsible for either $3.85 million or 64.0 percent of actual annual maintenance and repair costs incurred by the Brewers, whichever amount is less. If the District pays $3.85 million in each year, the sales and use tax will provide the Brewers with $115.5 million to help fund maintenance and repair costs over the course of the 30-year lease.
S185
Statutes require the District to adopt hiring and contracting goals for minorities and women working on the stadium project and to hire an independent monitor to evaluate efforts to attain these goals. According to available information, the District is making progress in achieving these goals. For example, through December 1998, minorities accounted for 26.3 percent of construction and professional services work performed by new employes hired for the project, while women accounted for 8.8 percent. However, the independent monitor has not yet provided detailed reports confirming these participation levels.
The District's response is Appendix III.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Ethics Board
June 22, 1999
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 1999 session of the legislature, visit the Ethics Board's web site at
http://ethics.state.wi.us
Brozek, Michael Wisconsin Association of Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors, Inc
Gerrard, M William Ho-Chunk Nation
Goyke, Gary Wisconsin Association of Taxicab Owners
Goyke, Gary Wisconsin Urban Transit Association
Goyke, Gary Wisconsin Game Preserve Association
Goyke, Gary Wisconsin Self-Service Laundry Association
Hauke, Thomas Edison-West Liquor Corporation
Kammer, Peter Wisconsin Health Care Association, Inc
Luria, Cheryl Glaxo Wellcome, Inc
Morgan, Lynn Y W Works, L.L.C.
