Senate amendment 1 to Senate Bill 155 offered by Senators Hansen, Carpenter, Lassa, Decker, Erpenbach, Wirch and Risser.
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Read and referred:
Senate Joint Resolution 25
Relating to: standards for redistricting assembly and senate districts (first consideration).
By
Senator
Risser
; cosponsored by Representative Kessler
.
To committee on Labor and Election Process Reform.
Read first time and referred:
Senate Bill 206
Relating to: transportation for pupils participating in the open enrollment program.
By
Senators
Brown, Reynolds, Roessler, A. Lasee, Olsen and Grothman; cosponsored by Representatives Gronemus, Musser, Gard, Hines, Jensen, Ballweg, Pridemore, Ott, M. Williams, Albers and Stone.
To committee on Education.
Senate Bill 207
Relating to: being physically in possession of a firearm, bow, or crossbow while hunting captive deer or other captive wild animals.
By
Senators
Kedzie, Lassa and Taylor; cosponsored by Representatives Gunderson, Gard, Albers, Bies, Hahn, Hines, Krawczyk, Lehman, LeMahieu, Molepske, Nass, Ott, Petrowski, Pettis, Pridemore and Vos.
To committee on Natural Resources and Transportation.
Senate Bill 208
Relating to: designating and marking USH 45 as the Wisconsin Labor Highway.
By
Senators
Zien, Taylor, Darling, Carpenter, Miller, Decker and Lassa; cosponsored by Representatives Colon, Hines, Sinicki, Van Akkeren, Parisi, Sheridan, Pocan, Lehman, Seidel and Molepske.
To committee on Natural Resources and Transportation.
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State of Wisconsin
March 18, 2005
The Honorable, The Senate:
Pursuant to Senate Rule
46(2)(c), I am writing to direct that
Assembly Bill 107 be withdrawn from the committee on
Veterans, Homeland Security, Military Affairs, Small Business and Government Reform and rereferred to the committee on
Senate Organization.
I have obtained the consent of the appropriate chairperson.
Sincerely,
ALAN LASEE
Senate President
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
May 11, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
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As required by s.
13.94(1)(em), Wis. Stats., we have completed our annual financial audit and biennial program evaluation of the Wisconsin Lottery, which is administered by the Department of Revenue. We have issued an unqualified opinion on the Wisconsin Lottery's fiscal year (FY) 2002-03 and FY 2003-04 financial statements.
Total sales increased from $406.7 million in FY 1999-2000 to $482.9 million in FY 2003-04, or 18.7 percent. Both instant game and on-line ticket sales increased during this period. Approximately $2.2 billion in property tax relief has been provided through gaming-related proceeds since the Wisconsin Lottery's inception in 1988.
Because instant game ticket sales account for the majority of the Wisconsin Lottery's revenues, we reviewed the process used to develop instant games, including those affiliated with copyrighted or trademarked properties. We include a recommendation to formalize game development and management practices and analyses. We also found that a loss of approximately $212,000 was incurred in 2003 when participation in a Super Bowl prize drawing tied to the Powerball game was cancelled. We include a recommendation that the Wisconsin Lottery protect itself by ensuring that its contracts require a performance bond or similar guarantees.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by Wisconsin Lottery staff in the Department of Revenue. The Department's response follows the appendices.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
May 12, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
In March 2005, we completed our fiscal year (FY) 2003-04 single audit of the State of Wisconsin and issued our report (report 05-5). During the course of our audit and subsequent follow-up, we identified $4.5 million available to the General Fund from other funds and accounts that the Legislature may wish to consider during the current biennial budget deliberations. In addition, we identified an error in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's internal accounting records that understated the balance in its endowment fund by $1.1 million.
First, in FY 2003-04, the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) received $3.0 million in federal funds as reimbursement for costs incurred in prior years by local governments as well as expenditures charged to a prior-year general purpose revenue appropriation. However, rather than accounting for these funds as general purpose revenue of the General Fund, as required by statute, DWD deposited these funds in an unrelated federal appropriation. Alternatives include either lapsing these funds to the General Fund or allowing DWD to retain all or a portion of the funds but requiring the agency to seek legislative authority before expending them.
Second, we identified a bank account holding $906,000 related to Wisconsin Health Education Assistance Loan (WHEAL) revenue bonds. This bank account is no longer needed because the related revenue bonds have been fully repaid. If desired, the Legislature could direct the Higher Educational Aids Board, which administers the loan program, to close the account and transfer the balance, as well as any future student loan repayments, to the General Fund for general appropriation.
Third, the Department of Commerce administers the Wisconsin Development Fund, which was established to provide loans and grants for economic development. At the time a loan or grant is awarded, Commerce encumbers either general purpose revenues or program revenues. However, we identified several inactive loans and grants for which it had previously encumbered funds. If desired, the Legislature could direct the Department of Commerce to liquidate and lapse to the General Fund $337,000 in inactive encumbrances related to general purpose revenue appropriations. In addition, we have identified a total of $7.3 million in inactive encumbrances and additional balances related to a Department of Commerce program revenue appropriation for loans and grants.
Fourth,
2001 Wisconsin Act 109 directed the Department of Administration (DOA) to offer for sale 21 aircraft and to deposit the sales proceeds, less any related liabilities, to the General Fund. As of March 31, 2005, DOA had sold 11 of those aircraft. However, it deposited all sales proceeds to one of its own program revenue appropriations. If the Legislature believes that DOA should instead have lapsed funds at the end of each fiscal year, it could direct DOA to immediately lapse net sales proceeds for FYs 2002-03 and 2003-04, which total to approximately $241,000, as general purpose revenue of the General Fund.
Finally, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin accounts for certain donations in the Historical Society Trust Fund, the Society's endowment fund. However, we found that the Society has not taken into consideration an additional $1.1 million that has been available in the Trust Fund since FY 1997-98. The majority of these funds are restricted for purposes specified by the donors, and the Society's current policy is to spend up to 5 percent of its balances each year. The Legislature may wish to direct that the Society's Board of Curators take into consideration the additional $1.1 million in trust fund balances when developing future expenditure plans.
A more detailed explanation of these available funds is attached. We hope that you find this information useful. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
May 13, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed an annual financial audit of the Department of Employee Trust Funds, as requested by the Department and to fulfill our audit requirements under s.
13.94(1)(dd), Wis. Stats. The audit covered calendar year 2003. The statements and our unqualified opinion on them are included in the Department's recently issued financial report, which provides information on the financial position and activity of various benefit programs available to public employees.
Most of the Department's programs reported positive financial results in 2003. The State's issuance of appropriation bonds at the end of 2003 to finance payment of its liabilities for the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and the Accumulated Sick Leave Conversion Credit program significantly improved the financial position of both of these programs. However, employers have experienced recent increases in WRS contribution rates as a result of investment experience and benefit changes. The maturation of the WRS presents challenges for management of the system in the future.
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In 2002, the Department began work on a new benefit payment system. However, after experiencing ongoing difficulties and delays in the project and incurring $3.9 million in costs, the Department terminated contracts for the development of the new system in 2004. Subsequently, it contracted with another consulting firm, at a contract amount of $198,000, to assess the project. Several contributing factors were identified, including inadequate project management by the Department, insufficient technical skills by the project team, and failure by an external project monitoring firm to complete its intended role. In February 2005, the Department contracted with a new firm, at a contract amount of $4.5 million, to implement the new payment system incrementally.
Finally, accompanying this letter is a management letter we provided to the Department, which includes an auditor's report on internal control and compliance, as required by Government Auditing Standards. We did not identify any control or compliance concerns required to be reported under these standards.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Department's staff during our audit.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
May 17, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
At the request of the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), we have completed a financial audit of the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) for fiscal year (FY) 2003-04. HIRSP provides medical and prescription drug insurance for almost 19,000 policyholders who are unable to obtain coverage in the private market or who lost employer-sponsored group health insurance. We have provided an unqualified opinion on HIRSP's financial statements.
HIRSP's financial position continued to improve during FY 2003-04. After several years of accounting deficits, the program had a positive accounting balance at June 30, 2004. The program's unrestricted net asset balance was $6.8 million on June 30, 2004. Policyholder enrollment continued to increase during our audit period, with an increase of 8.1 percent. However, we note that growth in enrollment has slowed in the first nine months of FY 2004-05.
Net claims costs increased by 21.0 percent during FY 2003-04. In response to increasing program costs, DHFS and HIRSP's Board of Governors increased the usual and customary discounts applied to medical bills. This had the effect of reducing the amount of program costs shared by policyholders, insurers, and health care providers. Further, proposed statutory changes to address a technical issue in HIRSP's statutory funding formula are included in the 2005-07 biennial budget bill, 2005 Assembly Bill 100.
We identified two types of claims errors during our audit. First, pharmacy claims totaling $210,689 were inappropriately paid on behalf of 302 terminated policyholders. DHFS has withheld payment to the former plan administrator for the inappropriate payments. Second, policyholder deductibles were not consistently carried forward between calendar years, as required by statute. As a result, 1,582 policyholders overpaid their deductibles by a total of $327,699. We recommend that DHFS take steps to provide refunds to policyholders who have overpaid their deductibles and ensure that the new plan administrator that began administering HIRSP in April establishes procedures to properly apply deductibles between years.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DHFS and the plan administrator for HIRSP. A response from DHFS follows the appendix.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Commissioner of Insurance
May 12, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
In accordance with s.
601.427(9), Wis. Stat., I am pleased to submit this report to the Wisconsin Legislature. This report is to evaluate the impact that
1995 Wisconsin Act 10 has had on the following:
(a) The number of health care providers practicing in
Wisconsin.
(b) The fees that health care providers pay under s.
655.27(3), Wis. Stats.
(c) The premiums that health care providers pay for health care liability insurance.
The evaluation performed included the collection and analysis of statistics regarding the number of health care providers and premiums charged for health care liability insurance. Analysis of these statistics determined the only discernable effect on these areas has been an estimated $89 million reduction in the actuarially determined assessment levels under s.
655.27(3), Wis. Stats., over the last seven years.
The attached report provides information regarding the background of Act 10, the statistics and the analysis performed.
