Suite 500
201 West Washington
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Dear Mr. Randolph:
Please be advised that I have appointed Representative Kitty Rhoades to the board of directors for Forward Wisconsin. Representative Rhoades replaces Representative Kreibich.
Sincerely,
John G. Gard
Speaker of the Assembly
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Department of Natural Resources
Madison
February 25, 2005
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
Environmental Improvement Fund (EIF) program legislation (281.59(3), Wis. Stats.) requires the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Administration to submit to the legislature and to the State Building Commission any amendments to the EIF Biennial Finance Plan that were made by the Governor for inclusion in the budget. The purpose of the plan is to provide information on loan, loan subsidy, and bonding levels for program operations in the 2005-2007 biennium. The Governor's budget made no changes to the recommendations made in the first version of the Plan that was prepared and distributed in September 2004.
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A third, and final, version of the Biennial Finance Plan will be distributed after the biennial budget is enacted.
If you have any questions regarding the Biennial Finance Plan, please contact Robert Ramharter at 266-3915 or Frank Hoadley at 266-2305.
Sincerely,
Frank Hoadley
Capitol Finance Director, Department of Administration
Michele Young
Bureau of Community Financial Assistance, Department of Natural Resources
Referred to committee on Natural Resources.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
February 28, 2005
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
This report is transmitted as required by s.
20.002(11)(f), Wisconsin Statutes, (for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under s.
13.172(3), Wisconsin Statutes), 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 cash balances during the month of January 2005.
On January 1, 2005, the
Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance closed at a negative $184.0 million. The fund's negative cash balance continued through January 31, 2005, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $191.0 million. The
Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance reached its intramonth low of a negative $193.7 million on January 11, 2005. The deficit is due to federal revenues falling short of estimates included in
2003 Wisconsin Act 33.
On January 1, 2005, the Tuition Trust Fund cash balance closed at a negative $11.0 thousand. The fund's negative cash balance continued until January 14, 2005, when the fund's cash balance closed at a positive $110.0 thousand. The Tuition Trust Fund cash balance reached its intramonth low of a negative $211.0 thousand on January 13, 2005. The negative balance was due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures.
The Medical Assistance Trust Fund and the Tuition Trust Fund shortfalls were not in excess of the statutory interfund borrowing limitations 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, and as a result, the funds requiring the use of the authority will effectively bear the interest cost.
Sincerely,
Marc J. Marotta
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
February 25, 2005
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We have completed a limited-scope review of state employee cellular phone contracts and usage. The Department of Administration (DOA) negotiates contracts for cellular phone service for all state agencies, including the University of Wisconsin System. The State has approximately 10,000 cellular phones, and fiscal year 2003-04 expenditures totaled almost $2.9 million.
DOA currently contracts with four vendors, although U.S. Cellular Corporation provides nearly 90 percent of the cellular phones for state employees. Its basic monthly plan is $4.75 per line, plus $.09 per minute used within Wisconsin. Agencies may change plans if an alternative plan is determined to be less costly.
We reviewed all executive branch cellular phone charges for September 2004. We found that two-thirds of cellular phone charges in the month were for less than $20. However, 386 cellular phone bills were $100 or more, including 5 for more than $500. We also found agency cellular phone policies to be limited and inconsistent. We include a recommendation for agencies to review high-cost bills on a monthly basis and seek less-expensive options when appropriate.
During the course of our fieldwork, DOA issued the first statewide cellular phone policy. It applies to all agencies, and contains provisions related to assignment, personal use, reimbursement, and monitoring. DOA has also purchased and is in the process of implementing a software product that will allow it and other agencies to better monitor employees' cellular phone usage. We include a recommendation for DOA to report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee in March 2006 on the status of these monitoring efforts.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DOA and the other agencies we visited.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
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State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
March 4, 2005
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
As required by s.
118.153(6), Wis. Stats., we have completed an evaluation of the Children At Risk program, which is administered by the Department of Public Instruction. The program is intended to increase the number of students earning high school diplomas by improving services to those at risk of failing in or dropping out of school. It was created in 1985, and it has been appropriated $3.5 million in general purpose revenue annually since fiscal year 1990-91.
The program was last modified by
1999 Wisconsin Act 123 in response to recommendations from the Joint Legislative Council Special Committee on Children At Risk. Since these changes were implemented, the number of participating school districts has increased from 13 to 21. In the 2003-04 academic year, these 21 districts identified 29,669 students as being at risk of not graduating from high school.
We found that districts have not fully complied with requirements to allocate funding to specific programs and have not collected data linking students who meet performance objectives to specific district programs. Therefore, we cannot isolate the effect Children At Risk funding has had on at-risk students. Graduation and dropout rates improved in participating districts, but when we analyzed district-wide at-risk student performance, we found that the number of students in participating school districts who met at least three statutory performance objectives - such as remaining in school, having an attendance rate of at least 70 percent, and demonstrating reading and math gains - decreased from 46.8 percent in 1999-2000 to 40.2 percent in 2003-04.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by Department of Public Instruction staff and participating school districts. The agency's response follows the appendices.
Respectfully submitted,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
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Representative Vrakas asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for part of today's session for Representatives Stone and Underheim. Granted.
Representative Turner asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for part of today's session for Representative A. Williams. Granted.
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Representative Vrakas asked unanimous consent that the Assembly stand recessed. Granted.
The Assembly stood recessed.
11:47 A.M.
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2:35 P.M.
The Assembly reconvened.
Speaker Gard in the chair.
Representative Stone asked unanimous consent to have his leave of absence lifted. Granted.
Representative Underheim asked unanimous consent to have his leave of absence lifted. Granted.
Representative A. Williams asked unanimous consent to have her leave of absence lifted. Granted.
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Assembly Joint Resolution 5
Relating to: the life and public service of Alex C. Ruffing.
The question was: Shall Assembly Joint Resolution
5 be adopted?
Motion carried.
Representative Fitzgerald asked unanimous consent that all members of the Assembly be made coauthors of Assembly Joint Resolution 5. Granted.
Representative Fitzgerald asked unanimous consent that the rules be suspended and that Assembly Joint Resolution 5 be immediately messaged to the Senate. Granted.
Speaker Pro Tempore Freese in the chair.
Assembly Bill 36
Relating to: classification of jail prisoners for determining prisoner housing assignments, the type of prisoner supervision, and the delivery of services and programs to prisoners.
Assembly amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 36 offered by Representative Richards.
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Point of Order
