Wednesday, August 16, 2000
Ninety-Fourth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Ethics Board
August 15, 2000
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
Beebe, Thomas Institute for Wisconsin's Future
Boxer, Barbara K City of Waukesha
Haber, Darcy Wisconsin Citizen Action
Mulligan-Hansel, Kathleen Institute for Wisconsin's Future
Munyon, Marvin Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, Inc
Rude, Brian Dairyland Power Cooperative
Also available from the Wisconsin Ethics Board are reports identifying the amount and value of time state agencies have spent to affect legislative action and reports of expenditures for lobbying activities filed by the organizations that employ lobbyists.
Sincerely,
Roth Judd
Director
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
August 9, 2000
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed a best practices review of local government operations, as directed by s.
13.94(8), Wis. Stats. Efforts to reduce truancy in Wisconsin public schools are the topic of this review.
On average, approximately 15,600 students are truant from school on any given day, and nearly one-third of absences in the 1998-99 academic year were caused by truancy. To address the problem of truancy, state statutes were significantly modified in
1997 Wisconsin Act 239, which expanded the definition of habitual truancy, and provided municipal governments with additional options for addressing both simple and habitual truancy. Many of the local governments with which we spoke have moved to strengthen their truancy ordnances as a result, and most local government officials, school administrators, and law enforcement officials believe the changes assist municipalities in addressing truant behavior.
We found, however, that the statutory changes intended to reduce truancy have not yet resulted in lowered truancy rates. The proportion of students classified as habitual truants increased significantly during 1998-99, the first year for which the expanded definition of habitual truancy applied: 74,569 students, or 8.7 percent of the total enrollment in Wisconsin public schools, were classified as habitual truants in that year. In the previous year, 59,304 public school students, or 6.9 percent of the total enrollment, had been classified as habitual truants. It is important to note that changes to truancy laws occurred relatively recently, and improvement in truancy rates may occur in the future as municipalities take advantage of the increased number of options provided by the changes.
School, municipal courts, law enforcement agencies, and community organizations play a role in addressing truant behavior. Our review describes several best practices used by these organizations.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Department of Public Instruction, local government officials, school administrators, truancy abatement center staff, and law enforcement agencies.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Department of Employment Relations
August 2000
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Pursuant to s.
230.04 (9)(em), Stats., I am pleased to submit the Veterans Employment Report for 1999. The report summarizes veteran new hires and on-board statistics for the time period and includes information for each state agency and each institution of the UW System.
Veterans comprise an important segment of the Wisconsin workforce in both the private and public sectors. State government - and any other employer - can benefit greatly by recruiting and retaining our nation's trained and motivated veterans.
Sincerely,
Peter D. Fox
Secretary
Department of Health and Family Services
August 7, 2000
The Honorable, The Senate:
Section
46.972(4), Wis. Stats., requires the Department of Health and Family Services to submit to the chief clerk of each house of the Legislature a report on June 30 annually on the allocation and expenditure of funds for services for homeless individuals. Attached is the Department's annual report.
Department staff is available if you have any questions or need additional information.
Sincerely,
Joe Leean
Secretary
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
July 31, 2000
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 June 2000.
On June 1, 2000 the Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund balance was -$8 thousand. This shortfall increased to -$10 thousand on June 13, 2000, to -$11 thousand on June 27, 2000, and continued until July 25, 2000 when the balance reached $9 thousand. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
