The Honorable, The Senate:
The following lobbyists have been authorized to act on behalf of the organizations set opposite their names.
For more detailed information about these lobbyists and organizations and a complete list of organizations and people authorized to lobby the 2009-2010 session of the legislature, visit the Government Accountability Board's web site at:
Capecchi, Robert Marijuana Policy Project
Childress, Jason National Association of
Professional Employer Organizations
Wilson, A.J. Iron Workers Local Union #8
Also available from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board are reports identifying the amount and value of time state agencies have spent to affect legislative action and reports of expenditures for lobbying activities filed by organizations that employ lobbyists.
Sincerely,
kevin kennedy
Director and General Counsel
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State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
December 17, 2009
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed the final phase of our evaluation of the effectiveness of child care regulation, including an audit of Wisconsin Shares, as requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. More than 11,000 child care facilities were either licensed by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) or certified by county and tribal agencies during all or part of fiscal year (FY) 2008-09. In June 2009, 60.2 percent of the regulated facilities received $25.6 million in Wisconsin Shares subsidy payments to care for the children of low-income working families and participants in W-2, the State's welfare-towork program.
In FY 2008-09, DCF spent $13.6 million for the regulation and oversight of licensed and certified child care facilities and the administration of Wisconsin Shares. County and tribal agencies spent $15.4 million to regulate certified facilities. State, county, and tribal regulatory staff inspect licensed and certified facilities and evaluate their compliance with child care rules, which are designed primarily to address health and safety concerns. However, as of June 30, 2009, 617 licensed facilities were overdue for a regulatory visit by DCF. In contrast, county and tribal regulatory agencies generally met the timeliness standards DCF has established for them.
All regulatory staff are required to issue written citations when they identify violations of child care rules, and they may address serious or persistent violations with progressively severe sanctions that include suspension or revocation. However, because regulatory staff cannot rate the severity of violations they cite, DCF cannot effectively use information maintained in statewide licensing and certification databases to target higher-risk facilities for increased regulatory attention.
We continued our efforts to identify operators of child care facilities, members of their households, and employees convicted of certain crimes. We found eight instances in which convicted felons or individuals who had abused or neglected children were employed by or reported living in child care facilities. We also identified 317 individuals whose past criminal offenses require further investigation.
Throughout 2009, the Legislature and DCF have taken numerous steps to restore public confidence in Wisconsin Shares and to aggressively address fraud and abuse. Our report recommends continued monitoring of DCF's progress in implementing these changes.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DCF, the Department of Justice, and the county agencies we contacted during our evaluation.
Sincerely,
Janice Mueller
State Auditor
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The committee on Environment reports and recommends:
Relating to minimum standards for county shoreland zoning ordinances.
No action taken.
Mark Miller
Chairperson
