Madison, WI 53703
Dear Chief Clerk Fuller:
Please add my name as a co-author of Assembly Bill 100, relating to evidentiary recordings of persons under the age of 18 engaging in sexually explicit conduct and certain sex offenses against children and providing penalties.
Sincerely,
Andre Jacque
State Representative
2nd Assembly District
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Referral of Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Department of Administration
Madison
May 31, 2011
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
This report is transmitted as required by s.
20.002 (11)(f), Wisconsin Statutes, (for distribution to the appropriate standing committees under s.
13.172 (3), Wisconsin Statutes) 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 cash balances during the month of April 2011.
On April 1, 2011, the Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance closed at a negative $192.2 million. This negative balance continued through April 30, 2011, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $211.0 million. The Medical Assistance Trust Fund cash balance reached its intra-month low of a negative $215.3 million on April 7, 2011.
On April 1, 2011, the Police and Fire Protection Fund cash balance closed at a negative $25.5 million (its intra-month low). This negative balance continued through April 30, 2011, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $15.6 million.
On April 1, 2011, the Democracy Trust Fund cash balance closed at a negative $901 thousand. This negative balance continued through April 30, 2011, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $901 thousand.
On April 7, 2011, the Environmental Fund cash balance closed at a negative $282 thousand. This negative balance continued through April 30, 2011, when the fund's cash balance closed at a negative $10.9 million (its intra-month low).
On April 6, 2011, the Lottery Fund cash balance closed at a negative $84 thousand. This negative balance continued through April 8, 2011, when the fund's cash balance closed at a positive $5.0 million. The Lottery Fund cash balance reached its intra month low of a negative $373 thousand on April 7, 2011.
The Medical Assistance Trust Fund, Police and Fire Protection Fund, Democracy Trust Fund, Environmental Fund, and Lottery Fund shortfalls were due to the difference in the timing of revenues and expenditures, were not in excess of the statutory interfund borrowing limitations 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 and, as a result, the funds requiring the use of the authority will effectively bear the interest cost.
Sincerely,
Mike Huebsch
Secretary
Referred to committee on Ways and Means and joint committee on Finance.
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State of Wisconsin
Department of Health Services
Madison
June 2, 2011
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
The Department of Health Services (DHS) is submitting the attached State Annual Performance Report for the Birth to 3 Program to meet the requirement in s.
51.44 (5)(c) to report on the Department's progress in implementing this program. The report, which covers federal fiscal year 2009, was submitted to the federal government to meet grant requirements.
A360
The report highlights the very positive outcomes produced by the Birth to 3 Program. The vast majority, over 95 percent, of children are served in their homes or other settings for typically developing children, such as child care centers. Parent satisfaction with the program remains high. In addition, required compliance with federal indicators identified by the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) demonstrated compliance between 88 and 100 percent.
In the past year, the state and counties have engaged in a broad array of evidence-based practices to improve the quality of the program. These efforts will continue to ensure that children with disabilities and their families are well served by Wisconsin's Birth to 3 Program. Of particular interest was an intensive collaborative effort with the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) that includes ongoing improvement of transition processes for children leaving the Birth to 3 Program and beginning special education services provided by local school districts. These efforts have improved the successful transition to schools from 47 percent of children in federal fiscal year 2007 to 88 percent of children in 2009.
Wisconsin's Birth to 3 Program is recognized nationally as an innovative and exemplary program in support of families during their child's dynamic period of development. Please contact Darsell Johns at (608) 267-3270 if you have questions regarding this report.
Sincerely,
Dennis G. Smith
Secretary
Referred to committee on Children and Families.
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Agency Reports
State of Wisconsin
Investment Board
Madison
May 25, 2011
To the Honorable, the Legislature:
As required by section
25.17 (14m), WI Stats., I am submitting the 2010 Goals, Strategies and Performance Report for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB). This report provides information about how SWIB invested the assets we manage and how the investments performed. The report primarily focuses on the Wisconsin Retirement System's (WRS) Core Trust Fund (CTF) and Variable Trust Fund (VTF), which comprised 94% of all assets we invested in 2010.
Following the worst down market since the Great Depression, the markets and the WRS both continued to rebound in 2010. The CTF returned 12.4%, exceeding its benchmark by 0.2%, and the VTF returned 15.6%, exceeding its benchmark by 0.3%. With the exception of real estate, all asset classes outperformed the markets.
The additional positions that SWIB secured in 2008 and 2009 played a key role in outperforming the markets. Because of those positions, SWIB was able to increase the amount of assets invested internally from 21% to 47% by the end of 2010. Because the cost of internal management is considerably less than external, SWIB saved approximately $13 million in 2010 in fees charged to the funds.
The WRS has a shared risk and reward feature whereby employees, retirees and employers share the investment gains and losses. The CTF's earnings or losses are smoothed over five years, while the VTF's are recognized for the year earned. As a result of the devastating losses in 2008, retirees saw a 2.1% reduction in 2009 in the CTF portion of their benefit, followed by further reductions in 2010 and 2011 of 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively.
Although the markets have made a significant recovery in the past two years, they remain volatile and no one can predict if the recovery will continue. To protect the funds in future down or flat markets, we are taking steps and implementing strategies, discussed in the report, to reduce our risk exposure and better prepare the funds for both good and bad markets.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the report or the markets in general.
Sincerely,
Keith Bozarth
Executive Director
