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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
October 23, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Attached please find the Department of Administration's contractual service purchasing report for Fiscal Year 2006 pursuant to §
16.705(8), Wis. Stats.
State government continues to reduce reliance on contracting. In FY06, agencies cut contractual services spending by $5,356,356, or 1.26%, from FY05 levels. Likewise, the UW System trimmed contract spending by $5,070,460, or 6.89%. Together, State of Wisconsin contractual services spending decreased by $10,426,816, or 2.08%, from FY05.
In addition to directing agencies to place less reliance on contracts, Governor Doyle recently signed important legislation and an order to increase the transparency and accountability of state contracting:
• Cost Benefit Legislation. On January 5, 2006, Governor Doyle signed
2005 Wisconsin Act 89 requiring agencies and the UW to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of each proposed contractual service procurement over $25,000. On July 1, 2006, DOA implemented an emergency rule specifying uniform procedures for determining whether services are appropriate for contracting. The permanent Act 89 rule is pending final approval.
• Executive Order 137. On February 2, 2006, Governor Doyle signed Executive Order 137 directing that no employee of the Office of the Governor, and any unclassified agency head, commissioner, deputy agency head, executive assistant or division administrator may serve on a Request for Proposals evaluation committee. This Order ensures that all contract proposals are evaluated by career civil servants and other disinterested evaluators.
• Contract Sunshine Act. On May 19, 2006, Governor Doyle signed
2005 Wisconsin Act 410 requiring every State executive, legislative and judicial agency to post on the Internet all bids, proposals, orders or contracts of $10,000 or more. This legislation provides for greater transparency of contracting across all of State government.
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If you have questions about this report, please contact Patrick Farley, Administrator, DOA Division of Enterprise Operations, at 266-0779.
Sincerely,
Stephen E. Bablitch
Secretary
Referred to committee on Government Operations and Spending Limitations.
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State of Wisconsin
College Savings Program Board
Madison
November 7, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
We are pleased to submit the 2005-2006 College Savings Program Annual Report. This ninth annual report covers the EdVest and tomorrow's scholar plans, highlighting the key developments in the program over the past fiscal year, with summaries of the financial statements. The program experienced significant growth and success in FY06. As of June 30, we were helping to meet the college savings needs of over 214,000 current and future students and families nationwide with over $1.7 billion in assets under management.
Highlights for the year:
• In a nationwide competitive procurement, the program's administrative contracts were re-bid and Wells Fargo was selected as program manager for a five-year term.
• Account owners now enjoy lower fees, as the annual account fee payable to the Board and the annual account maintenance fee payable to Wells Fargo are now waived for Wisconsin residents.
• Total program fees now include some of the lowest among all "529" college savings plans nationally.
The College Savings Program Board and staff look forward to continued growth with quality service to participants in this exciting program. We're sending a cover letter regarding this report to all state legislators and will post the report on our website
www.ost.state.wi.us/home/edvest.htm If you have any questions regarding the Annual Report, please contact Marty Olle at 264-7886.
Sincerely,
Senator Alberta Darling
Chair, College Savings Program Board
Jack C. Voight
Vice-Chair, College Savings Program Board
Referred to committee on Colleges and Universities.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
November 14, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
In compliance with Wisconsin statute 16.548, please find the Wisconsin Office of Federal/State Relations quarterly report to be submitted to the Legislature for the third quarter of 2006. This report provides information on the activities of the office and the status of federal legislation of concern to the State of Wisconsin.
Please contact me if you have any questions about this material.
Sincerely,
Stephen E. Bablitch
Secretary
Referred to committee on State-Federal Relations.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction
Madison
November 16, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
In accordance with ss.
115.28 (39) and
115.361 (2), Wis. Stats., the Department of Public Instruction submits this report relating to alcohol and other drug abuse programs in public schools. The report provides an evaluation of its 2004-2006 school-based alcohol and other drug abuse (AODA) prevention and intervention initiatives. The department's AODA program consists of grant-making, training, and technical assistance.
If you have any questions regarding this document, please contact Douglas White, Director, at 266-5198.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Burmaster
State Superintendent
Referred to committee on Education.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
November 30, 2006
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 October 2006.
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On October 26, 2006, the Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance closed at a negative $12.4 million. This negative balance continued through October 31, 2006, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $12.0 million. The Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance reached its intra-month low of a negative $12.5 million on October 30, 2006. The negative balance was due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures.
On October 26, 2006, the Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund cash balance closed at a negative $2 thousand. This negative balance continued through October 31, 2006, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $2 thousand. The negative balance was due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures.
On October 26, 2006, the Worker's Compensation Fund cash balance closed at a negative $1.7 million. This negative balance continued through October 31, 2006, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $1.7 million. The negative balance was due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures.
The Medical Assistance Trust Fund, Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund, and Worker's Compensation 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,
Stephen E. Bablitch
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
Madison
December 1, 2006
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The Department of Health and Family Services is pleased to provide you this annual report of the Wisconsin Food Security Consortium's plans to address food insecurity, as required under s.
46.76(4) and
(5).
The Wisconsin Food Security Consortium continues making progress in devising strategies to end hunger and food insecurity in Wisconsin. Key steps in 2006 include:
• The Consortium expanded its membership to include several more local food security representatives, and improved communications among Consortium members through regular emails. A web site is being planned.
• The Consortium meetings throughout 2006 continued providing updates from the various programs associated with the Consortium, including School Breakfast Programs, Summer Food Program. Emergency Food Programs, FoodShare and the FoodShare Access Program.
• The Consortium established a governance structure with by-laws. The structure represents an independent partnership, rather than a committee appointed by and reporting to DHFS. A Steering Committee consisting of Consortium members meets monthly and carries out the work of the Consortium.
• The Steering Committee wrote and submitted a Wisconsin Food Security Partnership grant application to The Wisconsin Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future. It proposes to plan and conduct a statewide gathering on the issue of hunger that will result in the development and dissemination of an Action Plan that offers a menu of specific steps which state and local leaders from the public and private sectors can take to help minimize hunger and food insecurity.
The WIC Program is planning a Food Insecurity Survey of its participants for January 2007.
These successes indicate the continued commitment of the Department, with the assistance of the Food Security Consortium, to fight hunger in Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
Helene Nelson
Secretary
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Reference Bureau
Madison
October 2006