Governor Doyle Delivers State of the State Address

On Tuesday night, Governor Doyle delivered his final State of the State Address before the full Legislature, state Supreme Court, cabinet secretaries, guests, and the entire state of Wisconsin.  In his opening remarks, he alluded to the difficult time we are currently facing given the dire state of our economy and the nearly 10 percent unemployment rate.  This was pretty much the only segment of his speech where I was in agreement with him.

The governor took credit for "saving" companies such as U-Line and Mercury Marine when they came close to leaving Wisconsin and taking thousands of jobs with them.  What he did not take credit for, however, were his tax increases and anti-business policies that prompted these companies to consider moving to another state in the first place.  While he claims to have saved or created 40,000 jobs over the past year, he neglected to highlight the more than 160,000 manufacturing jobs our state lost during the same period.

The day after the State of the State Address, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that the state's General Fund experienced a $300 million decline in revenues last year, signaling a decline in the taxes paid into the state treasury.  Yet, instead of working with the business community to determine the resources it needs to create jobs and start generating more revenue, Governor Doyle signed a budget into law that increases state taxes by $5 billion and raised licensing and registration fees  These across-the-board increases will only hinder our ability to put people back to work and get our state's economy back on track.  It will also have a negative effect on the hard-working people of Wisconsin, which stands in contrast to Governor Doyle's opening remarks: that "we haven't turned our backs on them."

Rep. Samantha Kerkman pictured with Mahlon Gragen of ATC Transportation, Inc. and Michael Marquardt of Birchwood Transport during their meeting concerning the future of Wisconsin's trucking transportation industry.

Joint Audit Committee Reviews Wisconsin Shares

On Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee held a public hearing on the Legislative Audit Bureau's audit of the Wisconsin Shares program.  The committee heard testimonies from speakers such as Secretary Reggie Bicha of the Department of Children and Families (DCF), Robert Schuelke from the Children's Learning Center in Pewaukee, Racine County Human Services Director Debra Jossart, Racine County Executive William McReynolds, and Kenosha County Human Services Director John Jansen.

During his testimony, Secretary Bicha indicated that his department is "actively pursuing each of the recommendations" proposed by the Legislative Audit Bureau last year.  These recommendations include: improving the timeliness of regulatory visits by inspectors and redirecting more resources toward higher-risk facilities; improving the quality of program management information as well as documentation of unsuccessful regulatory visits to licensed facilities; improving efforts to sanction providers in violation of child care rules; improving the timeliness of the background check process; and strengthening fraud prevention and detection efforts, particularly in Milwaukee County.  Secretary Bicha also alluded to his department's development of an internal management system called KidStat, which "provides a clear picture of the timeliness of visits."  Since this system was implemented in July 2009, overdue licensing visits have decreased from 433 to 255 (a 41 percent reduction), according to Bicha.

Secretary Bicha provided the committee with further insight into the progress made by DCF in cleaning up Wisconsin Shares.  He said that within the past year, his department suspended payments to 137 providers for a combination of "reasonable suspicion" of rules violations under the program.  The department has also revoked 87 child care licenses within the past year, seven of which were based on information provided by criminal background checks.  Additionally, communication has improved significantly between the childcare licensing staff and the Wisconsin Shares Fraud Detection and Investigation Unit in fostering quicker response times to "red flags" reported by licensors.

I appreciated Secretary Bicha's testimony and the update he provided on the progress DCF has made in reducing the prevalence of fraud within Wisconsin Shares.  I also agree with him that there is a lot of work ahead of us in cleaning up this program and ensuring that the taxpayers are never scammed by it again.  However, I believe that most, if not all, of the problems with Wisconsin Shares that have been brought to my attention over the past year were avoidable.  While preparing for Wednesday's committee hearing, I came across an interesting pamphlet prepared by the Department of Children and Families in October 2008 regarding the integrity of Wisconsin Shares.  Before the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brought any of the Wisconsin Shares scams to the attention of the public, DCF had compiled a Wisconsin Shares Child Care Assistance Manual that outlined fraud prevention within the program.

Racine County Executive William McReynolds and Human Services Director Debra Jossart testified during the committee hearing.  McReynolds highlighted the efforts made by the Racine County Board of Supervisors in passing a resolution that includes a number of recommendations the county is willing to implement to deter child care fraud.  He also stressed the need for the state to continue funding fraud prevention efforts.  "Every county investigation that uncovers and stops fraud saves the state money by preventing further fraudulent payments," he explained. 

During his testimony, Kenosha County Human Services Director John Jansen mentioned the efforts made by his county in combating child care fraud.  Among these is the creation of the county's own Anti-Fraud Task Force as well as a Child Care Review Team to address certification and fraudulent payment issues.  Overall, it was a very productive hearing and the committee appreciated the time and expertise of everyone who testified.

Rep. Samantha Kerkman pictured with (from left to right) Dan Winters, Michelle Turgeon, Don Gillespie, Jack Cole, Rep. John Steinbrink, and Ken Johnson during the recent Credit Union Lobby Day at the Capitol.