Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Ninety-Seventh Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
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The Chief Clerk makes the following entries dated Monday
, September 11, 2006.
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
September 1, 2006
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Johnson, Ruth,
of Madison, as a member of the Examining Board of Professional Geologists, Hydrologists and Soil Scientists, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2010.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Natural Resources and Transportation.
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The committee on Agriculture and Insurance reports and recommends:
Relating to animal feeding operations.
Modifications requested, Ayes 5, Noes 2.
Ayes, 5 - Senators
Kapanke, Kedzie, Brown, Olsen and Erpenbach.
Noes, 2 - Senators
Hansen and Miller.
Dan Kapanke
Chairperson
The committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care reports and recommends:
Relating to nutritional counseling certification.
No action taken.
Relating to required examinations for licensure as a professional counselor.
No action taken.
Relating to psychotherapeutic counseling by professional counselors.
No action taken.
Carol Roessler
Chairperson
The committee on Job Creation, Economic Development and Consumer Affairs reports and recommends:
Relating to definitions, experience, educational courses, continuing education, conduct and renewal for real estate appraisers.
No action taken.
Ted Kanavas
Chairperson
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State of Wisconsin
Groundwater Coordinating Council
August 2006
The Honorable, The Legislature:
The Groundwater Coordinating Council (GCC) is pleased to release its 2006 Report to the Legislature. The GCC was formed in 1984 to help state agencies coordinate non-regulatory activities and exchange information on groundwater. For the past 22 years, the GCC has served as a model for interagency coordination and cooperation among state agencies, the Governor, local and federal government, and the university. It is one of the few groups in the nation to effectively coordinate groundwater activities in its state from an advisory position.
This report summarizes GCC and agency activities related to groundwater protection and management in FY 06 (July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2006) and provides an overview of the condition of the groundwater resource. See the
Executive Summary for highlights and the GCC's recommendations in
Future Directions for Groundwater Protection. The full report will be made available online at
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/gcc/rtl/gccreport.htm.
Highlights of the State's groundwater protection activities this past year include:
• The first year of implementation of the new groundwater legislation
2003 Wisconsin Act 310. The Groundwater Advisory Committee continued to meet regularly and made significant progress on groundwater management areas and other issues. DNR secured funding, hired staff and took several steps to implement the new law.
S920
• Key groundwater information and education publications were revised including
Groundwater: Wisconsin's Buried Treasure a Natural Resources Magazine insert, and the
Groundwater Study Guide, a popular DNR publication for teachers. Additionally, agency and UW staff supported teacher workshops, a groundwater festival for students, Farm Technology Days, county groundwater programs and other educational outreach opportunities.
• The UW Water Resources Library put online many UW and DNR monitoring and research final reports. The reports are included in the widely accessible UW Ecology and Natural Resources Digital Collection
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/ 1711.dl/EcoNatRes.Groundwater.
We hope you will find this report to be a useful reference in protecting Wisconsin's valuable groundwater resource.
Sincerely,
Todd Ambs
Chair
University of Wisconsin System
September 1, 2006
The Honorable, The Legislature:
Please find enclosed a corrected copy of the report required under s.
36.55, Wisconsin Statutes, for the period of July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2006, which was forwarded to you yesterday by UW System President Reilly. This corrected copy adds a notation in the first footnote relating to "notices of claim." The data presented in the table is unaffected. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
Christopher Ashley
Senior System Legal Counsel
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
September 1, 2006
The Honorable, The Senate:
Section
227.485(9) of the Wis. Stats. requires the Department to submit a report concerning decisions and resulting payments of attorney fees and related legal costs. Attorney fees and other legal costs are to be paid whenever the opposing party to an agency's Chapter
227 hearing prevails and it is determined the agency's position was not substantially justified. The attached report reflects payments made during SFY2006.
In addition, under 814.245(10) of the Wis. Stats., the Department is required to report any awards granted to the Department regarding frivolous motions brought against this Department. In SFY 2006, no motions of opposing parties were found to be frivolous. Consequently, the Department has no awards to report.
Sincerely,
Helene Nelson
Secretary
Referred to committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care.
State of Wisconsin
Public Service Commission
September 8, 2006
The Honorable, The Senate:
Enclosed is a copy of the annual report the Public Service Commission (Commission) shall submit to the legislature as provided for in Wis. Stat. s.
1.11(2)(j). It reports on the number and type of proposed actions requiring the preparation of an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement by the Commission between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006.
If you have any questions about this report, please contact our Environmental Analysis and Review Coordinator, Kathleen Zuelsdorff at (608) 266-2730.
Sincerely,
Daniel R. Ebert
Chairperson