Foti, Steven Miller Brewing Company
Kuehn, Ronald W Medtronic, Inc.
Lamb, Jordan Medtronic, Inc.
Leonhart, James Medtronic, Inc.
O'Connor, Alice Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc
O'Connor, Alice Northern Natural Gas Company
O'Connor, Alice Wisconsin Counties Utility Tax Association
Osborne, Patrick American College of
Nurse-Midwives (WI Chapter)
Rich, Elizabeth E4, Inc
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
July 20, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
We have completed our financial management review of selected Wisconsin Works (W-2) agencies, including a review of administrative salaries, as part of our comprehensive audit of the W-2 program requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.
Our April 2005 evaluation (report 05-6) and various other reports on W-2 agencies' operations have included information on staffing expenditures. However, in response to ongoing questions about the salaries and bonuses paid to agency officials, we reviewed salary information in detail in a sample of agencies. We found that private agencies in Milwaukee County which in 2004 included Maximus, Inc., Opportunities Industrialization Center of Greater Milwaukee, Inc. (OIC-GM), and United Migrant Opportunity Services, Inc. (UMOS)-tended to pay their officials more than agencies elsewhere did. Among those who were paid more than $60,000 annually, the average salary was $89,346 in Milwaukee County compared to $75,540 elsewhere in the state.
We also reviewed $7.4 million in expenditures by 17 W-2 agencies and identified $19,600 in questioned costs related to two agencies: YW Works and UMOS. These costs include $17,103 in purchases for which the receipts and other documentation were missing. We identified additional unallowable and questioned costs for OIC-GM, a former provider of W-2 services, in a report released in November 2004.
We appreciate the courtesy and cooperation extended to us by the W-2 agencies and the Department of Workforce Development during the course of our review.
Sincerely,
JANICE MUELLER
State Auditor
State of Wisconsin
Department of Health and Family Services
July 20, 2005
The Honorable, The Legislature:
I am submitting, as required by s.
253.115 of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Department's annual report on the status of the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) in Wisconsin. I am pleased to note that in 2004 Wisconsin hospitals have exceeded the legislative directive that at least 88% of all deliveries be performed in hospitals with a UNHS program. In 2004, 99.9% of all Wisconsin babies were born in hospitals with a universal newborn hearing screening program. Including children born at home, 96.3% of all Wisconsin newborns were screened for hearing disorders in 2004.
S309
The identification of hearing loss, however, is only the first step in providing appropriate intervention for affected children. The Department has made significant progress in assisting families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The Department created an early hearing detection and intervention program known as Wisconsin Sound Beginnings (WSB) which has been instrumental in addressing congenital hearing loss. WSB established an educational program for parents and early hearing detection professionals, worked with audiologists to ensure that they have access to the training and skills required to work with infants, and provided technical assistance to county Birth to Three programs to enable the programs to work with identified infants and their families.
WSB has also developed and implemented a system of parent-to-parent support called the Guide-by-Your-
Side program for families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing which has received national attention. As another measure the Department is developing a data collection and tracking system called WE-TRAC which will ensure that families have timely access and follow-up to appropriate services.
Hearing loss is the most common congenital birth defect affecting Wisconsin infants. If hearing loss is left undetected, it will impede speech, language, cognitive, and social development. Working in collaboration with other public and private agencies, the Department has developed and exemplary program of early hearing detection and intervention.
All of these efforts support Governor Doyle's goals, as articulated in his KidsFirst Agenda, of improving the health of all children in Wisconsin. The Department looks forward to continuing to provide a sound beginning for Wisconsin Babies.
Sincerely,
HELENE NELSON
Secretary
executive order #111
Relating to a Proclamation Declaring a State of Emergency Relating to Drought Conditions
WHEREAS, areas throughout the State of Wisconsin have experienced extreme drought conditions due to the lack of precipitation during the last several weeks; and
WHEREAS, the drought conditions are causing extreme damage to agricultural crops; and
WHEREAS, continual lack of water for the crops will result in greater damage to the crops; and
WHEREAS, continued and projected crop damage will result in severe economic losses to agriculture; and
WHEREAS, water can generally be diverted from certain streams and lakes in the State of Wisconsin without causing serious environmental damage; and
WHEREAS, Wis. Stat. 30.18, presently requires that certain lake and stream diversions for agricultural purposes must be accomplished pursuant to a permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources; and
WHEREAS, Wis. Stat. 30.18, requires notice and hearing provisions that are too lengthy to be responsive to the existing drought conditions; and
WHEREAS, the waiver of the notice and hearing provisions of Wis. Stat. 30.18, in the manner set forth in this Executive Order, will enable the State of Wisconsin to be more responsive to the current agricultural crisis and still protect the valuable water resources of the State;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM DOYLE, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of this State, and specifically by Wis. Stat. 166.03(1)(b)1, do hereby declare the present drought condition to be a natural disaster and proclaim the State of Wisconsin to be in a state of emergency for 30 days, unless extended by joint resolution of the Legislature;
PURSUANT TO said state of emergency, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Laws of Wisconsin, and Wis. Stat. 166.03(1)(b)1, I hereby order:
1. That the statutory notice and hearing provisions of Wis. Stat. 30.18, relating to the diversion of water from certain lakes and streams for purposes of crop irrigation be suspended for diversions in the State of Wisconsin; and
2. That water may be diverted from certain lakes and streams for purposes of crop irrigation on a case-by-case basis only where all of the following procedures have been followed:
a) The person proposing to divert water has requested permission from the appropriate Department of Natural Resources service center office; and
b) The proposed site of diversion has been field inspected where determined to be necessary by Department of Natural Resources personnel. The Department is directed to conduct the field inspection within 72 hours of the request for permission to divert; and
c) The on-site inspector will grant immediate written authority if the proposed diversion will not cause unduly adverse environmental effects. The on-site inspector may authorize the proposed diversion subject to whatever conditions he or she deems necessary to ensure that there will not be unduly adverse environmental effects as a result of that diversion and other diversions on the stream. Such conditions may include but are not limited to: exact location of the diversion, rate of diversion, hours of diversion, and the frequency of diversion within the specified time period; and
3. That the Department of Natural Resources will maintain active enforcement surveillance on all diversions authorized under the procedures established pursuant to this Order to ensure that only duly authorized stream or lake diversions occur; and
4. That the emergency authorizes granted herein shall be applicable only to agricultural irrigation that requires emergency assistance; and
5. That any permits authorized pursuant to this Order shall not be valid for longer than 30 days after the date of this Order, unless the state of emergency is extended by joint resolution of the Legislature; and
6. That this Order is not to be construed in any manner as limiting the statutory enforcement power of the Department of Natural Resources with respect to any violations of existing 30.18 permits, any permits issued pursuant to this Order, any conditions of any such permits, or any diversions which occur without authorization pursuant to Wis. Stat. 30.18, or this Order; and
7. That the Department of Natural Resources is authorized to rescind any emergency diversion permits granted herein if it becomes apparent that unduly adverse environmental effects are being caused or aggravated by said permits, any permit rescission shall be in writing to the permittee.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed. Done at the Capitol in the City of Madison this fifteenth day of July, 2005.
JIM DOYLE
Governor
By the governor:
DOUGLAS LA FOLLETTE
Secretary of State
__________________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Secretary of State
To the Honorable, the Senate:
Bill Number Act Number
Publication Date
Senate Bill 225 Act
23
August 4
, 2005
Sincerely,
DOUGLAS LA FOLLETTE
Secretary of State
