The committee on Transportation reports and recommends:
Assembly Bill 483
Relating to: designating STH 122 as the Walt Bresette Memorial Highway.
Passage:
Ayes: 15 - Representatives Stone, Petrowski, Ainsworth, Gunderson, Hahn, Leibham, Lippert, Loeffelholz, Sherman, Meyerhofer, Plouff, Schooff, Plale, Staskunas and Steinbrink.
Noes: 1 - Representative
Suder.
To committee on Rules.
Jeff Stone
Chairperson
Committee on Transportation
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Communications
August 30, 2001
Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen
211 West, State Capitol
Madison, WI 53708
Dear Speaker Jensen:
This letter is to inform you that effective September 1, 2001, I am resigning my seat representing the 42nd Assembly District in the Wisconsin State Legislature.
I have accepted a position with CESA 6 in Oshkosh and am very excited for this opportunity. I have enjoyed my time at the Capitol. It was an experience for which I am very grateful.
Sincerely,
Joan Wade
42nd Assembly District
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
August 20, 2001
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Chapter
34, Laws of 1979, requires that when the Department of Administration maintains an office in Washington, DC, for the purpose of promoting federal/state cooperation, it should submit a report detailing the activities of the office and reporting the status of federal legislation of concern to the Legislature and other state agencies (Wis. Stats. 16.548(2)).
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The report for the period April, 2001, through June 2001, is attached.
Sincerely,
George Lightbourn
Secretary
Referred to committee on State Affairs.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources
Madison
August 23, 2001
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We at the Department of Natural Resources are pleased to provide you with a copy of our annual Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA) report. In fulfillment of Section
1.11 (2)(j) of the state statutes, this document provides information on the numbers of environmental assessments (EA's) and environmental impact statements (EIS's) completed by the Department in the past fiscal year.
Questions about this report can be directed to James Pardee, of the Environmental Analysis and Liaison Section, Bureau of Integrated Science Services, phone 266-0426.
Sincerely,
George H. Albright
Chief Environmental Analysis and Liaison Section
Bureau of Integrated Science Services
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
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State of Wisconsin
Public Service Commission
Madison
August 23, 2001
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Enclosed is a copy of the annual report the Public Service Commission (Commission) recently submitted to the legislature as provided for in the Wis. Stat. §
1.11 (2)(j). It reports on the number of environmental assessments and environmental impact statements prepared by the Commission between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001.
If you have any questions on this report, please contact our Environmental Affairs Coordinator, Kathleen Zuelsdorff, at (608) 266-2730 or e-mail:
zuelsk@psc.state.wi.us.
Sincerely,
Ave M. Bie
Chairperson
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
August 28, 2001
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
This report is transmitted as required by sec. 20.002(11)(f), Wis. Stats. (for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under sec. 13.172(3), Wis. 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 July 2001.
On July 23, 2001 the General Fund balance was -$148.6 million. This shortfall continued until July 31, 2001 when the balance reached a positive $3.4 million. During this period, the General Fund balance reached a low of -$162.1 million on July 25, 2001. The shortfall was due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures that occurs each July, and the delay in issuing the 2001 Operating Note.
On July 6, 2001 the College Savings Program Trust Fund balance was -$2 thousand. This shortfall continued until July 31, 2001 when the balance reached a positive $48 thousand. The shortfall was due to the initial start-up of the fund and a delay in the transfer of revenues into the fund.
The General Fund and College Savings Program Trust Fund shortfalls were 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,
George Lightbourn
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
August 29, 2001
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The Legislative Audit Bureau is required by statute to contract for the performance of an actuarial audit of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) at least once every five years. An actuarial audit requires a high level of expertise in a technical area in which Audit Bureau staff do not have specialized technical skills.
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After a formal request-for-proposal process, the Audit Bureau awarded a contract to an actuarial firm, Milliman USA, to perform the audit. Milliman USA has had experience performing audits and other actuarial services for other public retirement systems, including the first actuarial audit of the WRS in 1991. The scope of audit services provided in the contract primarily focused on an independent verification and analysis of actuarial assumptions and valuations of the WRS. In addition, the actuarial audit analyzed trends in contribution rates. An analysis of changes to the WRS based on
1999 Wisconsin Act 11 was not included within the scope of this audit.
Enclosed is the actuary's audit report, much of which is quite technical, and a response from the Department of Employee Trust Funds and its consulting actuary, Gabriel, Roeder, Smith and Company (GRS). The findings, conclusions, and recommendations in the report are those of Milliman USA. Although we managed the audit contract, no Audit Bureau staff were involved in the fieldwork, analysis, or writing of the audit report.
Milliman USA found the statutorily required actuarial method used to determine WRS liabilities and funding requirements to be reasonable and appropriate for the WRS. Further, Milliman USA concluded that actuarial functions for the WRS are being adequately performed by GRS and that the WRS actuarial assumptions are reasonable. However, Milliman USA does offer GRS suggested improvements to consider, ranging from more fully reflecting experience data in assumptions to providing additional information in its actuarial reports.
Milliman USA also offered observations on trends in contribution rates, noting that contribution rates in the protective categories have declined more steeply than in other employment categories. An effect of declines in contribution rates has been to provide reduced values for separation, death, and money purchase retirement benefits for participants. Suggested alternatives for addressing these trends would require legislative action.
We would like to acknowledge the professional manner in which Milliman USA staff carried out the audit, as well as the cooperation provided by the staff of the Department of Employee Trust funds and GRS to Milliman USA.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
