The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Tuesday, December 27, 2005.
__________________
Read first time and referred:
Senate Bill 486
Relating to: income continuation insurance errors (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Agriculture and Insurance.
Senate Bill 487
Relating to: deferred compensation program (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To joint survey committee on Retirement Systems.
Senate Bill 488
Relating to: death benefits under the Wisconsin Retirement System (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To joint survey committee on Retirement Systems.
Senate Bill 489
Relating to: access to medical records possessed by the Department of Employee Trust Funds (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To joint survey committee on Retirement Systems.
Senate Bill 490
Relating to: changing the name of the fixed retirement investment trust to the core retirement investment trust (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To joint survey committee on Retirement Systems.
Senate Bill 491
Relating to: calculation of death benefits and the amount of a money purchase annuity under the Wisconsin Retirement System (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Employee Trust Funds).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To joint survey committee on Retirement Systems.
Senate Bill 492
Relating to: renumbering and reorganizing various provisions of chapter 895 of the statutes and creating chapter 995 of the statutes. (Revisor's Revision Bill).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy.
Senate Bill 493
Relating to: the frequency of permanency plan reviews for a juvenile who is placed outside the home (suggested as remedial legislation by the Director of State Courts).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy.
Senate Bill 494
Relating to: changing the name of the appropriation for the Office of Lawyer Regulation (suggested as remedial legislation by the Director of State Courts).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy.
Senate Bill 495
Relating to: out-of-state branch offices of credit unions (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Financial Institutions).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Housing and Financial Institutions.
Senate Bill 496
Relating to: administratively dissolved limited liability companies (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Financial Institutions).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Housing and Financial Institutions.
Senate Bill 497
Relating to: insurance requirements for motor vehicle retail installment contracts (suggested as remedial legislation by the Department of Financial Institutions).
By
Law Revision Committee.
To committee on Housing and Financial Institutions.
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State of Wisconsin
Medical College of Wisconsin
December 21, 2005
The Honorable, The Senate:
S513
Enclosed is the biennial report of the Medical College of Wisconsin, prepared according to the statutory requirement under section 13.106. This report covers the period ending June 30, 2005, and contains information in the following areas:
• Minority student recruitment policies and programs
• Number of minority students enrolled
• Number and percentages of Wisconsin residents enrolled
• Average faculty salaries compared to national averages
• Development of cooperative educational programs with other institutions throughout the state
• Placement of graduates of doctor of medicine and residency training programs
Please feel free to contact me at (414) 456-8217 if you have any questions or would like additional information.
Sincerely,
donna K. gissen
Vice President, Planning and Government Affairs
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
December 20, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed an evaluation of the Volunteer Fire Fighter and Emergency Medical Technician Service Award Program, a retirement benefit program for local emergency services departments that rely on volunteer staff. The program, which is commonly known as the length-of-service award program, is funded by local governments and general purpose revenue. On September 1, 2005, when 5,388 eligible volunteers were enrolled by 182 participating emergency service departments, the program had assets of $10.3 million, including $6.3 million in contributions by municipalities and $4.0 million in state matching funds. Through December 2004, 68 participating volunteers or their beneficiaries had received a total of $255,200 in program benefits.
An eight-member board appointed by the Governor and attached to the Department of Administration (DOA) is responsible for general program oversight, including selecting vendors and reviewing he investment of options available to local emergency services departments. It contracts with private vendors for account administration. When vendors were selected in 2001, neither the appropriateness of various investment options nor their costs appear to have been fully understood, and the importance of investment portability was not sufficiently recognized. As a result, three participating departments forfeited a total of $119,000 in premiums paid for nontransferable life insurance policies when the board did not extend one vendor's contract in 2004. Another vendor charges considerable transfer fees for certain investments, which could be costly for some participating departments and may limit the board's contracting alternatives in the future.
The board is preparing to begin a new vendor-selection process because current contracts expire in 2006. Given the range and complexity of improvements needed, our report includes recommendations for the board to obtain independent financial expertise before it begins its new request-for-proposals process. In addition, we recommend more detailed reporting on the program's status to the Legislature.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the board, DOA staff, program administrators, interest groups, and local officials and volunteers with whom we spoke. DOA's response follows the appendix.
Sincerely,
Janice mueller
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
December 22, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As requested, we have performed a preliminary review of the Department of Revenue's (DOR's) administration of the sales and use taxes levied by 58 counties and 2 professional sports districts on the same goods and services that are subject to the State's 5.0 percent sales and use tax. In 2005, DOR expects to distribute more than $306 million to the local units of government that levy these taxes.
The Integrated Tax System (ITS) DOR implemented in December 2002 is used to process sales and use taxes and to calculate the counties' and districts' shares of reported sales and use taxes. DOR has faced many challenges in implementing ITS, including and initial processing backlog, various programming errors, and incorrect calculations. In 2003 and 2005, two major adjustments were made to recoup funds from counties that had been overpaid and to distribute additional funds to those that had been underpaid. In this review, we identified a new concern related to processing certain audit adjustments and other transactions that resulted in additional overpayments.
DOR has negotiated with the vendor that developed ITS for a limited amount of service to be provided at no additional cost to the State, including further system testing that is expected to be completed by March 31, 2006, after completion of a review of various system assurances that should have been, but were not, included in the original system design, the vendor is also expected to provide additional computer programming services.
To correct for the new error we identified and for other errors that have yet been corrected, DOR calculates that 33 counties are owed a total of 1.8 million, which it plans to pay along with sales and use tax distributions for December 2005. DOR also calculates that 25 counties and the tow professional sports districts were overpaid a total of $2.8 million. We believe it would be prudent to proceed cautiously on any overpayment collections until ITS testing is completed and confidence in he system can be assured. We recommend the Joint Legislative Audit Committee monitor efforts in this area and direct DOR to provide monthly status reports.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DOR staff during our review.
Sincerely,
Janice MUEller
