We have completed an evaluation of the methodology used to determine the workload of Wisconsin circuit court judges and the need for additional positions, as requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. Circuit court judges were transferred from county to state employment in 1980 by Chapter
449, Wisconsin Laws of 1977.
Currently, there are 233 authorized full-time equivalent circuit court judgeships. In fiscal year 1994-95, the State's circuit court expenditures totaled $56.9 million. Although position requests are typically made by the Director of State Courts, the judiciary is significantly involved in the request-development process. While the Director of State Courts uses a measure of reasonable judicial workload to identify circuits in need of additional positions, to be included in the position request a circuit is expected to have support from the affected county and the chief judges of the state's ten judicial districts.
We found that Wisconsin's methodology for measuring judicial workload is capable of providing objective and comparable information on the need for additional judges. However, a recent update of the methodology is incomplete and needs changes to yield reliable results. We include a number of recommendations to increase confidence in the results of the workload measure. These include expanding the size of the data sample used to estimate the time required to hear cases, improving reporting to make data more comparable among counties, and recognizing differences in administration and legal research activities for different case types. Once the estimates of case times are improved, they could be used to evaluate whether different case weights should be established for large and small counties.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the Office of the Director of State Courts, circuit court judges, and court staff throughout the state. The response of the Director of State Courts is Appendix IV.
Sincerely,
dale cattanach
State Auditor
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Berkos
, Daniel M.,
of Mauston, as a member of the Public Defender Board, to serve for the term ending May 1, 1999.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Judiciary.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Walsh
, Donald E.,
of Pewaukee, as a member of the Public Defender Board, to serve for the term ending May 1, 1999.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Judiciary.
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Roe
, Dean K.,
of Brookfield, as a member of the Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority, to serve for the term ending June 30, 2003.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Human Services and Aging.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint DeBraska, Bradley,
of Milwaukee, as a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, to serve for the interim term ending May 1, 1999.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Education and Financial Institutions.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 19, 1996
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Sell
, Steven D.,
of Oxford, as Administrator of the Division of Emergency Government, to serve for the term ending at the pleasure of the Governor.
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
Read and referred to committee on State Government Operations and Corrections.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
To the Honorable, the Senate:
The following bill(s), originating in the Senate, have been approved, signed and deposited in the office of the Secretary of State:
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 18, 1996
To the Honorable, the Senate:
I have approved
Senate Bill 565 with several partial vetoes as
1995 Wisconsin Act 216 and deposited it in the Office of the Secretary of State.
This government operations bill primarily corrects drafting errors made in
1995 Wisconsin Act 27, the biennial budget bill. It also contains several changes needed to effectively administer several programs created or modified in Act 27.
I have exercised the partial veto in Section 9101. This partial veto eliminates a nonstatutory provision which requires the Department of Administration to decrease appropriations from a program revenue or program revenue-service appropriation by $32,400 for fiscal year 1995-96 and $32,400 for fiscal year 1996-97 and decrease 1.0 PR position authorized for the department. In addition, the Secretary of Administration must notify the co-chairpersons of the Joint Committee on Finance no later than June 1, 1996, of the proposed decrease in funding and position authority under the 14-day passive review process.
I am vetoing this provision because this funding and position authority reduction was already decreased under the Land Information Board's standard budget adjustments in
1995 Wisconsin Act 27. The additional reduction in the Department of Administration's program revenue appropriation would be viewed as eliminating funding and a position twice.
I have exercised the partial veto in Sections 60g, 9247, and 9462(3u) . Sections 60g, 9247, and 9462(3u) eliminate, beginning in FY97, $178,300 SEG and 2.0 FTE positions in the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and decrease the number of unclassified division administrators in the Wisconsin Gaming Board. I am vetoing these provisions to retain funding and position authority for the Department of Revenue and to retain the authority to appoint three division administrators outside the classified service of the Gaming Board.
These vetoes will better effectuate the transfer of the state lottery from the Gaming Commission to DOR. In addition, the Gaming Board will retain its existing flexibility to hire division administrators outside the classified service to help meet the challenges ahead.
I have also exercised the partial veto in Section 9162(3m). This provision prohibits the Department of Transportation (DOT) from charging any sponsor of Farm Progress Days 1996 for any costs of state traffic patrol services incurred by DOT associated with Farm Progress Days 1996.
I am vetoing this provision because it sets a precedent for legislatively limiting DOT's flexibility to recoup unbudgeted costs associated with traffic control for special events. However, I am fully supportive of the goals of this provision and request that the DOT Secretary provide traffic services to Farm Progress Days 1996 at no charge.
Respectfully submitted,
tommy g. thompson
Governor
Office of the Governor
April 19, 1996
To the Honorable, the Senate:
The following bill(s), originating in the Senate, have been approved, signed and deposited in the office of the Secretary of State:
Sincerely,
TOMMY G. THOMPSON
Governor
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
April 22, 1996
To the Honorable, the Senate:
