State Relations Update (June 22)

Two weeks after the Joint Finance Committee took action on the Governors biennial budget, both the Assembly and Senate approved their own version of the spending plan this week. Those different versions will be negotiated during a conference committee next week before both houses take a final vote on the budget. The process is on track to send the budget for the Governors vetoes and signature by July 1.

Yesterday, the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released a comparative summary  of the Senate and Assembly versions of the budget bill. The UW–Madison specific items contained in the Joint Finance Committee version of the budget can be found at Joint Finance Budget Summary/UW–Madison. The items of interest to UW–Madison that changed in each version of the budget include:

Senate

• Sale of UW System Properties: After the 2009–11 biennium, delete the authority for the UW System to keep the proceeds from the sale of university property.
• Bioenergy Initiative: Restore $220,000 that was removed by the Joint Finance Committee for the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW–Stevens Point. This restores the total Bioenergy Initiative budget from $7,780,000 to the originally requested $8 million.
• Environmental Program scholarships: Reestimate the income and interest from the normal school fund and provide $200,000 to the UW System for environmental programs financial aid and scholarships.
• Non-resident tuition for undocumented persons: Delete the provision that would allow an exemption from nonresident tuition for certain persons who are Wisconsin high school graduates.
• Conflict of interest for UW System employees: Modify the law that would permit UW System employees with research companies to enter into contracts up to $250,000 with any UW System institution upon approval of the Board of Regents rather than the Attorney General. The previous cap was $75,000.
• Collective bargaining for Research Assistants: Amend the Joint Finance version of the RA collective bargaining provision to specifically define what an RA is, provide the RAs a choice to collectively bargain and form their own bargaining unit rather than be automatically rolled into the Teaching Assistants Association.

Assembly

• UW–Madison School of Nursing:  Remove the project from the budget.
• Bioenergy Initiative: Restore $220,000 that was removed by the Joint Finance Committee for the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW–Stevens Point.  This restores the total Bioenergy Initiative budget from $7,780,000 to the originally requested $8 million.
• Wisconsin GI Bill: Require veterans to use federal education benefits before using the state tuition and free remission program.
• All other provisions not specifically identified as changed by the Senate or Assembly remain unchanged from the Joint Finance Committee version of the budget. This means that it is likely that those provisions will remain unchanged as both houses have essentially agreed on those positions. The items identified as changed in the Senate or Assembly will be negotiated during the conference committee next week.
• To help those interested in following what is happening at the capitol, I have established a Twitter account for State Relations. This can be followed by anyone with a Twitter account. If you choose to follow state relations on Twitter, you will receive updates on our activities to your account. To sign up for a Twitter account, go to twitter.com. These updates will continue to be posted at our State Relations site, and when that site is updated a message on Twitter will be sent out. I hope this will be a better way to inform those interested in state relations activities on a more regular basis. Please feel free to forward these updates to those in your units, schools and colleges. If you have any questions about the state relations effort on this or any other issue, please feel free to contact me.