Thursday, December 28, 2000
Ninety-Fourth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date:
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
December 13, 2000
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
This report is transmitted as required by sec. 20.002(11)(f), Wis. Stats. (for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under sec. 13.172(3), Wis. Stats.), and confirms that the Department of Administration has found it necessary to exercise the "temporary reallocation of balances" authority provided by this section in order to meet payment responsibilities and cover resulting negative balances during the month of November 2000.
On November 1, 2000 the Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund balance was -$2 thousand. This shortfall increased to -$8 thousand on November 9, 2000, to -$9 thousand on November 15, 2000, and continued into the month of December. As of the date of this letter, it is expected to be resolved soon. This shortfall is due to the timing of revenues.
On November 1, 2000 the Utility Public Benefits Fund balance was -$1.38 million. This shortfall increased to -$2.40 million on November 14, 2000, to -$3.63 million on November 30, 2000, and continued into the month of November. As of the date of this letter, it is expected to be resolved soon. This shortfall is due to the timing of revenues.
On November 1, 2000 the University Trust-Income Fund balance was -$40 thousand. This shortfall increased to -$131 thousand on November 3, 2000, and continued until November 6, 2000 when the balance reached $1.56 million. This shortfall was due to the timing of revenues.
The Wisconsin Health Education Loan Repayment Fund, Utility Public Benefits Fund, and University Trust-Income Fund shortfalls were not in excess of the statutory interfund borrowing limitation and did not exceed the balances of the Funds available for interfund borrowing.
The distribution of interest earnings to investment pool participants is based on the average daily balance in the pool and each fund's share. Therefore, the monthly calculation by the State Controller's Office will automatically reflect the use of these temporary reallocations of balance authority.
Sincerely,
George Lightbourn
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means.
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State of Wisconsin
Public Service Commission
Madison
December 14, 2000
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
I am pleased to provide the report of the Public Service Commission concerning the development of distributed electric generation in the state of Wisconsin. This report is transmitted as required by Wis. Stat. §
196.025(4)(b) for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under Wis. Stat. §
13.172(3).
The small-scale, high-efficiency distributed generation technologies studied for this report include photovoltaics (solar), wind power, fuel cells, microturbines, internal combustion powered generators, and combined heat and power (CHP). The report and its findings and recommendations are based on a survey of stakeholders, comments from other states, extensive literature research, seminars, and input from the State of Wisconsin's Departments of Administration (DOA), Natural Resources (DNR), and Revenue (DOR).
The renewable energy technologies of wind and photovoltaics are considered high efficiency by definition. The study finds, for fossil fuel technologies, that it is reasonable to define "high efficiency" as a combined heat and power efficiency greater than 50 percent and that "small-scale" refers to a generator that has an average annual capacity of 1 megawatt (MW) or less.
A1015
Disincentives may exist for the growth of DG in Wisconsin in the form of complex rules and practices imposed on small, non-utility owned DG. Establishment of a stakeholder collaborative group to develop a set of streamlined rules and contract provisions would provide an incentive for properly sited, small-scale DG. The report further recommends that a statewide interconnection standard be created consistent with national standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Underwriters Laboratories (UL), and the National Fire Protection Association (NEPA).
Financial incentives examined in the report include expansion of the net energy-billing tariffs and buy-back rates that are based on the environmental benefits.
If you have questions concerning this report, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Ave M. Bie
Chairperson
Referred to committee on Utilities.
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State of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin System
Madison
December 15, 2000
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The 1999-2001 State of Wisconsin Biennial Budget,
1999 Wisconsin Act 9, included a provision to change the University of Wisconsin System's appropriation for tuition and fee revenues (Academic Student Fees, Fund 131) from an annual, sum certain appropriation to a continuing appropriation.
Wisconsin Act 9 required the Board of Regents to report annually, beginning on December 15, 2000, the amount by which actual expenditures in the previous fiscal year, in this case 1999-2000, exceeded the amount in the schedule for that appropriation in the previous fiscal year. That report, including the purposes for which the additional revenues were spent and the amount spent for each purpose, is attached. The Board of Regents approved this report for submission at its December 9, 2000 meeting.
Please contact Freda Harris at (608) 263-5679, if you have any questions related to this report.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. Durcan
Vice President for Finance
Referred to committee on Colleges and Universities.
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State of Wisconsin
Investment Board
Madison
December 20, 2000
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
Annually under s.
25.17(14g) of the Statutes, the Investment Board submits a report to the Legislature on investment goals and long-term strategies. I am writing to let you know of our plan to submit this year's report in early February, as we did last year. Although this will be after the December 31 due date, it will enable us to provide a more complete and informative report to you.
Additional review of the investment strategy for the Wisconsin Retirement System trust funds will take place at the meeting of our Board of Trustees on January 11. We believe that it will be helpful to reflect the outcome of that discussion in our report to you.
Our report will also include the performance assessment required under s.
25.17(14m). As we did last year, we plan to combine the two reports to make it easier to understand the relationship between our strategies and our investment results.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Patricia Lipton
Executive Director
Referred to committee on Government Operations.
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State of Wisconsin
Public Service Commission
Madison
December 22, 2000
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
