Enclosed is an updated copy of the Child Abuse and Neglect Report, 2010 Data, pursuant to s.
48.981. The report corrects a minor technical error identified in the original December 2011 report. Please replace the copy you received in December 2011 with this updated copy.
Sincerely,
Eloise Anderson
Secretary
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
January 31, 2012
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
In compliance with Wisconsin Statute 16.548, enclosed, please find the Wisconsin Office of Federal/State Relations quarterly report, to be submitted to the Legislature for the fourth quarter of 2011. 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,
Mike Huebsch
Secretary
Referred to committee on Homeland Security and State Affairs.
__________________
University of Wisconsin
Department of Family Medicine
Madison
February 7, 2012
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Pursuant to Wisconsin Statute 13.106 (3), attached please find the UW School of Medicine and Public Health report on our family medicine program. Please let me know if you have questions or concerns. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lisa Maroney
State Relations
UW Health
Referred to committee on Colleges and Universities.
__________________
Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Madison
January 31, 2012
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
A781
Pursuant to s.
25.17 (14r), Stats., I want to advise you of revisions to SWIB's "Investment Policies, Objectives and Guidelines" approved by the Board of Trustees. These guidelines apply to SWIB's internal investment managers. The Board made these changes at its November 16, 2011, meeting. I have enclosed an electronic copy of the revised guidelines, a red-lined copy that shows the language added or deleted and a summary of the changes.
The reporting requirements in the statutes appear to only apply to internal management and not to contracts we initiate with external managers or changes we make to existing external contracts. However, because of the amount of assets managed by external managers, we decided years ago to advise you of any new contracts with external managers or changes we make to existing contracts.
In keeping with that decision, we want to advise you that we eliminated three global portfolios, amended one of the investment management agreements for an inflation protected portfolio, and issued a contract with three hedge fund managers. The contracts with the last three managers are in keeping with the Board's asset allocation decision to lower the Core Trust Fund's exposure to risk from equities by making small allocations to risk parity and hedge funds. SWIB took these steps to further diversify its holdings and control risk.
If you have any questions on any of the changes, please contact Vicki Hearing at 261-2415.
Sincerely,
Keith Bozarth
Executive Director
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
Madison
February 3, 2012
To the Honorable, the Assembly:
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee has directed the Audit Bureau to conduct a comprehensive audit of FoodShare Wisconsin, which is the State's program implementing the federal Food Stamp Act of 1964 to assist low-income individuals and families in purchasing food. Although our comprehensive evaluation is ongoing, we have identified issues that require further review by the Department of Health Services (DHS) at this time.
Eligibility for FoodShare benefits is based on the composition of an "assistance group," which generally includes all or most members living in a household. Federal law requires that assistance groups be able to spend benefits anywhere in the country, and $32.9 million of the $1.1 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2010-11 FoodShare purchases, or 3.0 percent of the total, were made outside of Wisconsin and in every state in the nation.
It may be more convenient or economical for FoodShare recipients who live in border areas of Wisconsin to purchase food in a contiguous state. However, we identified FY 2010-11 FoodShare purchases made outside of Wisconsin that may indicate inappropriate benefit use. For example, we found 152 assistance groups that had purchases exceeding $500 that were made exclusively outside of Wisconsin and more than 50 miles from their reported Wisconsin residences. These assistance groups, representing 0.04 percent of the 382,449 assistance groups receiving benefits on June 30, 2011, made purchases totaling $324,187, including $151,187 (46.6 percent) that was spent entirely in noncontiguous states. We also identified 334 instances in which a FoodShare card was used to make a purchase in Wisconsin on the same day that the card's account number was entered manually to make a purchase in a noncontiguous state.
We are providing this information to DHS so that it may promptly identify and address instances in which assistance groups used their FoodShare benefits inappropriately.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DHS in completing this analysis. DHS's response follows the appendix.
Respectfully submitted,
Joe Chrisman
State Auditor
