Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Ninety-Sixth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
Read and referred:
Senate Resolution 12
Relating to: memorializing Congress to establish daylight savings time year-round throughout the United States.
By
Senators
Schultz, Wirch and Risser.
To committee on Homeland Security, Veterans and Military Affairs and Government Reform.
Senate Bill 210
Relating to: speech therapy services provided by a special education program.
By
Senators
Schultz, A. Lasee, Robson, Stepp and Roessler; cosponsored by Representatives Albers, Ott, Musser, Miller, Turner, Gunderson, Petrowski, Grothman, Loeffelholz and Seratti.
To committee on Education, Ethics and Elections.
Senate Bill 211
Relating to: advertising by intoxicating liquor retailers.
By
Senators
Leibham, Schultz and Plale; cosponsored by Representatives McCormick, Musser, M. Lehman, Krawczyk, Hines, Jeskewitz, Bies, Van Roy, Grothman, Gundrum, Pettis and Staskunas.
To committee on Economic Development, Job Creation and Housing.
Senate Bill 212
Relating to: capital expenditures by technical college district boards for applied technology centers.
By
Senators
Kanavas, Darling, Schultz, Roessler, Kedzie, Stepp and Lassa; cosponsored by Representatives Stone, Nischke, M. Lehman, Jensen, Kreibich, Musser, Taylor, Olsen, Albers, Plouff, Loeffelholz, Krawczyk, McCormick, J. Lehman and Seratti.
To committee on Higher Education and Tourism.
__________________
The committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care reports and recommends:
Senate Bill 186
Relating to: a Medical Assistance family planning demonstration project minimum age eligibility limitation change.
No recommendation pursuant to s.
227.19 (6)(b), Wisconsin Statutes.
Carol Roessler
Chairperson
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
June 6, 2003
The Honorable, The Senate:
This letter is to rescind the nomination of David Smithback that was made June 2, 2003 for the Wisconsin Technical College System Board.
Sincerely,
Jim Doyle
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
July 11, 2003
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed a review of the State's purchasing card program through which state employees use credit cards to make low-dollar purchases for state business purposes. Purchasing cards represent a new way of paying for needed goods and services and offer increased flexibility by eliminating the need to prepare and submit purchase orders. In July 2002, approximately 17,500 purchasing cards were held by state employees at 43 state agencies and throughout the University of Wisconsin (UW) System. In fiscal year 2001-02, $86.3 million in goods and services were purchased with the cards, with an average purchase amount of $196.
Our review of 7,339 purchasing card transactions at five state agencies and three campuses found that abuse of the purchasing card was very rare. In all, we identified 449 exceptions. Most exceptions were purchases for valid business items; however, under Department of Administration or agency purchasing guidelines, these purchases should have been made using an invoice or purchase order. We also identified 107 transactions that appeared to be misuse of the cards, but we found apparent employee abuse of the card in only 2 transactions. We were unable to identify the purpose or the items purchased for 106 transactions.
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While we found no evidence of widespread abuse, oversight of purchasing card transactions is important and could be improved, particularly at the campuses we visited. We offer several best practices for agencies and campuses to consider as they seek to improve their management of the program. We also include recommendations for improving guidelines to avoid cardholder errors, as well as for lapsing the purchasing card rebate amount received from the vendor to the funds that supported the original purchases. In calendar year 2002, the rebate amount was $751,100.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Department of Administration, which administers the purchasing card program, and by the departments and UW campuses we reviewed: Corrections, Health and Family Services, Natural Resources, Transportation, Veterans Affairs, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Parkside. The Department of Administration's response follows the appendix.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
July 15, 2003
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As required by
1999 Wisconsin Act 9, the Legislative Audit Bureau contracted with the Lewin Group, Inc., in 1999 to conduct an evaluation of the Family Care pilot proram. This report is the final document in a series of reports prepared under the terms of the contract.
Family Care is a restructuring of Wisconsin's long-term care system for the elderly, the physically disabled, and the developmentally disabled. The first three Lewin reports focused on state and county-level implementation of the program, including the operation of Resource Centers in nine counties and Care Management Organizations in five of the counties with Resource Centers. The draft version of this final report, which examines the early outcomes and cost-effectiveness of the program, was released May 1, 2003. This final version also includes Lewin's final implementation update.
As we noted when releasing the May 2003 draft, the Lewin Group did not complete this report within the time frame required by our contract. However, the report was reviewed in draft and final form by this office and the Department of Health and Family Services. This final report reflects a number of revisions Lewin made for clarity and to correct inconsistencies in the draft report but includes only one substantive change, involving a nursing home utilization comparison.
Lewin concludes that the program has substantially met the goals of increasing choice and access and improving quality through a focus on social outcomes, but that through June 2001, it had yet to demonstrate improved health quality for its participants. Lewin further states that it is too early to draw conclusions regarding the program's long-term cost-effectiveness.
A summary of the report's key findings is enclosed. A copy of the entire report is also available on our Web site:
www.legis.state.wi.us/lab.
I hope you find this information useful. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 11, 2003
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Plale
, Senator Jeff,
of South Milwaukee, as a member of the College Savings Program Board, to serve for the term ending May 1, 2007.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Higher Education and Tourism.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
July 8, 2003
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Skarie
, Dr. William R.,
of Weston, as a member of the Dentistry Examining Board, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2007.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor