Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Ninety-Sixth Regular Session
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date.
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Ethics Board
September 28, 2004
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 2003 session of the legislature, visit the Ethics Board's web site at
http://ethics.state.wi.us
Colon, Hector City of Milwaukee
Healey, Brett School Choice Wisconsin (formerly American Education Reform Foundation)
Rich, Elizabeth E4, Inc.
Robinson, Sharon City of Milwaukee
Also available from the Wisconsin Ethics 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,
R. ROTH JUDD
Executive Director
State of Wisconsin
Legislative Audit Bureau
September 28, 2004
The Honorable, The Legislature:
As requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, we have completed an evaluation of Wisconsin's process for determining eligibility for Medical Assistance program benefits, including BadgerCare. The State's Medical Assistance program is administered by the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), which contracts with counties to determine eligibility and provide case management services. A total of $4.3 billion in state and federal funds is budgeted for Medical Assistance benefits in fiscal year (FY) 2004-05.
Concerns have been raised about the accuracy of the eligibility determination process, in part because applicants are no longer required to provide supporting documentation for wages and other information used to establish eligibility. We found that eligibility determinations are generally correct. However, in 6.5 percent of the 200 cases we reviewed, worker errors affected program eligibility. In addition, improving the mail-in application and allowing workers greater discretion in requesting documentation of income may improve the accuracy of eligibility determinations.
In 12.9 percent of an additional 101 cases we reviewed, individuals had been inappropriately denied benefits. Moreover, we estimate that approximately 1,100 individuals were inappropriately denied benefits in January 2004, the month we reviewed, because a longstanding computer system problem was not resolved until July 2004, only after we had raised the issue with DHFS staff during the course of our fieldwork.
Although we found limited evidence of recipient fraud, program integrity efforts to prevent fraud and abuse are important program functions. We found that program integrity efforts vary substantially across counties and that Wisconsin appears to be unusual in relying on benefit recoveries to fund these efforts. County officials have raised concerns about the nature and level of program integrity funding and are concerned about the sustainability of these efforts. We include a recommendation for DHFS to report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on its plans to address program integrity needs.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by DHFS and county staff. DHFS's response follows the appendices.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Department of Revenue
September 24, 2004
The Honorable, The Legislature:
I am submitting the quarterly report of the Wisconsin Lottery for the quarter ending June 30, 2004. As required by §
565.37(3), Wis. Stats., the attached materials contain unaudited Wisconsin Lottery year to date Sales and Expenditure information.
The information reported here is a summary and is not intended to be a complete financial accounting of Wisconsin Lottery operations.
Lottery sales were $482.9 million during the last fiscal year: the highest sales mark in nine years. These sales resulted in net operating income of $141.2 million - money that was deposited in the Lottery Fund for property tax relief.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this report, please feel free to contact me at (608) 266-6466.
Sincerely,
MICHAEL L. MORGAN
Secretary of Revenue
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
September 22, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
I am pleased to nominate and with the advice and consent of the Senate, do appoint Heine
, Margaret,
of Janesville, as a member of the Board of Nursing, to serve for the term ending July 1, 2005.
Sincerely,
JIM DOYLE
Governor
Read and referred to committee on Health, Children, Families, Aging and Long Term Care.
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
September 27, 2004
The Honorable, The Senate:
