The path ahead for the stalled state budget was left in the dark Monday night as two Democrats and all but one Republican in the state Assembly voted to reject a compromise proposal by Gov. Jim Doyle, defeating the plan on a 53-44 vote.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised state budget passed the Senate but died in the Assembly late Monday, casting the Capitol impasse over taxes into a 108th day today.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosseâ??s request to charge more for tuition in order to hire more faculty and increase student enrollment has had a tough time from legislators.
Senate Democrats didnâ??t like it. Assembly Republicans were cool to it.
MADISON â?? An attempt to end the budget impasse that has left Wisconsin as the only state without a new spending plan failed Monday night when the Republican-led Assembly rejected the so-called compromise offered by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
The Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill earlier Monday on a partisan vote. But opponents in the Assembly said the bill had about $1 billion in new taxes and was unacceptable.
The University of Minnesota Board of Regents unanimously approved a revised tuition reciprocity deal between Wisconsin and Minnesota Friday that will continue to allow students to attend public universities in the neighboring state without paying nonresident tuition.
The Wisconsin Legislature will convene in a special session today in an attempt to pass the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget.
Dear Editor: I have written to Rep. Steve Nass to request that he desist in his campaign against the University of Wisconsin System. I believe he should respect the competency and professionalism of his fellow state employees as well as the students.
We “leftist” students, faculty members, and administrators are one of the great symbols of Wisconsin. The last thing we need is another Joe McCarthy blacklisting people he doesn’t agree with.
State Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, has long been critical of the University of Wisconsin System and the Board of Regents.
Expect the political fireworks to be audible all the way from Madison as the Wisconsin legislature convenes in special session Monday to deal with the state budget.
But itâ??s also possible white smoke will appear later in the week.
Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, have different expectations about what will happen in the sessionâ??s opening days, and how they might reach a budget compromise.
The president of the UW System and the president of the UW Board of Regents said a $25 million cut would drastically affect all 160,000 UW-Madison students, in response to Gov. Jim Doyleâ??s most recent budget proposal.
Two prominent University of Wisconsin System officials issued a statement Thursday analyzing Gov. Doyleâ??s proposed budget.
Madison – Both houses of the Legislature are scheduled to vote on Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised budget Monday, but probably with opposite results.
In a surprise move Thursday, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) announced the vote by his house on Doyle’s new budget – a spending plan Huebsch and many of his fellow Republicans plan to kill.
As lawmakers gear up for a special session of the legislature on Monday, the details of the governor’s new budget are still unclear.
Black River Falls Republican Terry Musser says he still hasn’t see the plan, and he certainly can’t read the estimated “1700 pages” in an hour and then turn around and vote.
Governor Jim Doyle has been trekking around the state discussing some of the contents of his new budget plan. Musser, who is the Chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs committee, says Doyle is telling veterans groups that “extreme Republicans” want to dramatically cut veterans programs.
As more and more consequences of the budget impasse emerge, it is obvious that the situation is becoming dire, even for students. Oct. 4, the UW System Board of Regents had to make a tough call: after evaluating many alternatives, if the budget is not passed by spring semester, a not-yet-determined tax will be added to the 5.5 percent increase in tuition.
In a Sept. 28 press release, Gov. Doyle reported that if there is no new state budget, students might face an additional $800 tuition surcharge next semester to cover the $96 million UW Systems needs to continue operating. Though this is only one option UW System could take to cover the shortage, it proves a point:Students will pay if the state Legislature wonâ??t. And if the $800 does not come from studentsâ?? checking accounts, it will come from the classroom.
A new version of the 2007-09 Wisconsin state budget introduced by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle has been met with mixed reactions from state legislators.
MADISON, Wis. â?? The most prolonged budget impasse in the country boils down to how much smokers should pay for a pack of cigarettes and whether hospitals should have to pay a new tax.
There are other differences between what Democrats and Republicans want, but the latest GOP proposal shows that the two largest are the cigarette and hospital taxes.
Madison – Gov. Jim Doyle’s revised state spending plan will include no new aid to local governments and will delay some tax cuts Doyle campaigned on in last year’s re-election bid.
Aides to the Democratic governor said he was dropping those and other proposals he had earlier championed in hopes of breaking a three-month deadlock over the budget. Wisconsin is the only state without a budget.
On Saturday, dramatic history will be made at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the help of 100-year-old technology, a 75-year-old art form and a 30-year-old play.
But the result, say those history makers, will be as thought-provoking, fresh and relevant as the morning news.
Tony Simotes, University Theatre director, and Norman Gilliland, Wisconsin Public Radio producer, will team up to broadcast a live performance of UT’s production of David Mamet’s “The Water Engine” to WPR affiliates statewide as part of the station’s Old Time Radio Drama series.
Relations between Senate Democratic and Assembly Republican leaders trying to cut a final state budget deal are becoming increasingly toxic.
During dueling press conferences Tuesday, each side accused the other of bargaining in bad faith and refusing to yield on key points, which they claimed has led to the current impasse.
The accusations marked the first time the two sides — which have sought until now to portray the negotiations as cordial but marked by serious policy differences — suggested that they no longer trust each other in the talks.
The Wisconsin Legislature is closing in on a record for stubborn ineffectiveness.
The state budget is now more than 100 days late, with no deal in sight.
Madison – Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday that he would introduce a revised budget next week to try to spur stalled negotiations, as legislative leaders blamed the governor and each other for failing to pass a budget that is now 101 days overdue.
MADISON, Wis. â?? Gov. Jim Doyle said Tuesday he would try to force action on the overdue state budget by calling lawmakers into a special session next week.
Doyle said he would ask lawmakers to consider a plan on Monday that increases the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, starts a new tax on hospital profits and cuts spending across state agencies $430 million from his original proposal.
Despite Doyleâ??s call for a special session, lawmakers do not have to act. Democrats in the Senate said they were ready to pass Doyleâ??s plan as early as Monday but Republicans who control the Assembly dismissed it as a political ploy.
The Governor’s use of UW students to make a point about the delayed budget draws a federal complaint.
The UW sent emails to students who applied for but have not yet received state financial grants due to the state budget impasse. The emails asked if the students wanted to appear with Governor Doyle at a news conference today to make an appeal for a state budget that would give them their grants.
A handful of UW students held up signs of protest during Governor Doyle’s Tuesday campus news conference on the state budget impasse, which included a student speaker, who had been approached to participate through university e-mail, from a confidential list of students eligible for financial aid.
“This is not a legitimate educational interest, recruiting people to stand with the governor at a press conference, while he launches into an attack on all Republicans in the state,” said UW-Madison student Mike Hahn of Wisconsin College Republicans. “It’s not a legitimate education interest.”
When Gov. Jim Doyle made plans to come to the University of Wisconsinâ??s Madison campus for a Tuesday press conference about the need-based Wisconsin Higher Education Grant (WHEG), campus officials sent an e-mail to students whose aid awards have been blocked by a statewide budget standoff to see if they might want to participate. â??The governor is looking for a few UW-Madison students who are WHEG-eligible for the 2007-08 year but who have not been awarded WHEG because they are â??wait-listedâ?? due to the budget impasse,â? says the e-mail, sent by the student financial services office to 33 Madison students identified as having received the grant in the previous academic year.
Summary: Students must assert their independence from the partisan figureheads, network with one another and act as diplomats on behalf of the thousands of students reliant on state funding.
The Wisconsin College Republicans filed a formal complaint against the UW-Madison Monday, claiming the university violated student privacy rights with an e-mail about a Gov. Jim Doyle press event.
Members of the WCR claim the university violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 in that studentsâ?? personal information was used to â??recruit students for a political rally,â? according to the formal complaint.
The e-mail was sent to 33 UW-Madison students still awaiting financial aid due to the budget impasse.
The Wisconsin College Republicans filed an official complaint Monday against the University of Wisconsin-Madison, claiming the university violated federal student privacy laws.
The allegations stem from an e-mail UW-Madison sent to an undisclosed number of students who previously received Wisconsin Higher Education Grants, but were not awarded them this year due to the undecided state budget. The message told students Gov. Jim Doyle would hold a press conference today at Memorial Union to address UW System financial aid concerns and the need for a state budget.
In a move to finally get the stalled state budget passed, Gov. Jim Doyle said today that unless lawmakers pass the spending bill by Friday, he will call them into special session on Monday to take up a compromise proposal.
Doyle, who has played host to two weeks of closed-door negotiations between Senate Democratic and Assembly Republican leaders, said he has “become convinced” that the two sides cannot reach agreement. Doyle introduced a budget plan in February, and the two houses have each passed a version of the bill, but the attempts by the two sides to reach a final compromise have dragged on since July.
The governor’s comments came this morning during a news conference on the steps of the Memorial Union, where he underscored the need for a new budget to provide more student financial aid.
Representative Steve Nass (R-Whitewater) said UW-Madison officials had no business using state e-mail, to invite select students who were on a wait-list for a financial aid program, to a news conference with Governor Doyle.
In the e-mail from UW-Madison’s Associate Director of Financial Aid, students who received a Wisconsin Higher Education Grant (WHEG) last year but did not receive one this year are told “the Governor is looking for a few UW-Madison students…’wait-listed’ due to the budget impasse.” E-mail recipients were told, “you are under no obligation whatsoever to participate in this press conference.” Federal privacy law shields the names of the students who are WHEG applicants.
Gov. Jim Doyle says he will call a special session of the Legislature next week to try to break a stalemate over the state budget if it is not passed by Friday.
Doyle said at a news conference today at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus that he believes Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch and some other Republican lawmakers do not want a new budget. He said the special session is needed for moderates in both parties to strike a deal.
While national observers see a split developing in the traditional alliance between big business and the Republican Party, leaders here say that while some of those ties may be fraying, they continue to hold for now.
“I think it’s a critical crossroads for Republicans in Wisconsin and across the country because a lot of people believe the party has lost its way,” said Mark Bugher, director of the UW Research Park and a former top aide to Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Some Republican lawmakers say UW-Madison and Gov. Jim Doyle acted inappropriately when they e-mailed 33 students waiting for financial aid to participate in a press conference Tuesday.
The notified students, who are typically low-income, are awaiting Wisconsin Higher Education Grants they need to pay tuition this semester. Since they have been waitlisted, funds can only be awarded after the state budget is finalized.
The e-mail asked students if they wanted to appear with the governor, who is asking for the prompt passage of a budget that funds higher education at the levels the UW System has asked for.
State employees do it. Teachers do it. Even cops who have beats do it. “It” is collective bargaining, negotiating with employers with the power of numbers behind them.
The state budget conference committee is considering a proposal that would extend this right to University of Wisconsin faculty and academic staff.
This budget mess makes you long for the days when Wisconsin had good government with real leadership.
Or even workable evil leadership.
With all due respect to the lawmakers now proposing various incentives to force their colleagues to do their jobs and pass a state budget in respectable amount of time we have to wonder if it will really matter. We applaud the intentions of State Representatives Joe Parisi, Jennifer Shilling, Mark Pocan, Dean Kaufert, Louis Molepski and others who are clearly feeling the heat from constituents and citizen throughout Wisconsin.
The UW System Board of Regents unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that may â??taxâ? all UW students come next semester if the 2007-â??09 biennial budget is not passed by the Conference Committee soon.
The American Civil Liberties Union attempted Wednesday to move forward a more than two-year-old lawsuit over domestic partner benefits for state employees.
Arguing before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the ACLU said municipalities should not be allowed to delay the case further by becoming parties to the lawsuit.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit in April 2005 on behalf of six lesbian state employees and their partners. Filed against state agencies, but not the Legislature, the lawsuit claims the state’s prohibition against offering health insurance to the partners of gay employees violates the equal protection clause of the state Constitution.
MADISON â?? Bucky’s buddies are begging for a bigger budget.
Students, alumni and other backers of the University of Wisconsin System are asking lawmakers to include big spending increases for higher education in the budget.
They want enough money to continue academic programs, keep tuition relatively low and expand enrollments and research programs on some campuses.
The UW System Board of Regents joined the lobbying blitz Thursday by calling on lawmakers to end their budget stalemate and invest in higher education.
Wisconsin has now entered its fourth month without a budget for 2008, leaving the state with last yearâ??s provisions and a guarantee for fiscal failure before next summer. Students can be forgiven for largely ignoring the political spitting match unfolding between Democrats and Republicans at the Capitol since July, but now the budget â??impasseâ? threatens to directly affect UW-Madison, and it is time to take note.
The state Assembly received a petition from 32 Wisconsin business leaders early Wednesday arguing for increased support and funding from the Assembly for the UW System in budget negotiations.
With the Wisconsin state budget still unsettled, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents will meet today and Friday to talk about what steps to take next.
Your state lawmaker has earned more than $12,000 in salary since July 1 for failing to produce a state budget.
Wisconsin senators and representatives continue to collect their government paychecks — as well as daily allowances — even when they fail for months on end to do their most important job.
Wisconsin has now entered its fourth month without a budget for 2008, leaving the state with last yearâ??s provisions and a guarantee for fiscal failure before next summer. Students can be forgiven for largely ignoring the political spitting match unfolding between Democrats and Republicans at the Capitol since July, but now the budget â??impasseâ? threatens to directly affect UW-Madison, and it is time to take note.
I donâ??t mean to shock anyone, but Wisconsin is a pretty white state. Itâ??s telling that the University of Wisconsin, which itself is nearly 90 percent white, seemed like an oasis of diversity when I first moved here from my Green Bay suburb.
After a week of closed-door negotiations at the governorâ??s residence, state legislators are back to wrangling over the budget in the state Capitol. They are closer to a compromise but still have work ahead of them.
Here’s another example of why we know that Wisconsin legislators have too much time on their hands.
Rep. Frank Lasee, the same guy who wants to do away with the UW Law School because he feels we have more lawyers than locusts, e-mailed a letter to the Brown Deer School Board a few weeks ago “to bring to its attention” that black students at the school were, he claimed, having sex in a segregated hallway at its high school.
One important key to faster growth is brain power. Madison has benefited from the intellectual gold mine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the nations third-largest research university. Some of the states fastest-growing companies grew out of UW research, including TomoTherapy, which went public in May, and NimbleGen Systems Inc., which was acquired by the Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG. Then, there is Cellectar, which develops technology that tracks and destroys tumors. It is run by a UW-Madison professor and a former executive at GE Healthcare.
Members of the UW System Board of Regents are calling for full state support of student veteransâ?? tuition, demanding legislative leaders to fund it in the current budget negotiations.
State workers could face temporary layoffs by the end of the year if the Legislature doesn ‘t pass a new two-year budget, Gov. Jim Doyle warned Monday.
Workers in all state agencies could be affected, but the threat could be most acute in the Department of Corrections, which faces a $370 million shortfall without a new budget, Doyle said in a meeting with the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board.
Doyle on Monday asked all state agencies to develop contingency spending plans if lawmakers are unable to reach a budget compromise. And he said furloughs are just one of many consequences if the 3-month-old budget impasse continues.
For someone who generates headlines by vigorously attacking the UW every chance he gets, state Rep. Steve Nass is a remarkably quiet man. During long conversations about the UW, the Republican lawmaker from Whitewater sits mostly silent, hands folded, nodding his head as his research assistant, Mike Mikalsen, does the talking.
Mikalsen, who has worked in the Legislature for 16 years, including 12 with Nass, behaves like Nass’ critics might expect him to. He sputters and growls and waves his arms. His tone ranges from mild disgust to infinite disdain as he describes the UW’s various transgressions.
The State Budget is now 90 days overdue…with no immediate fix in sight. The President of the U-W System says in these uncertain times, Universities are brainstorming for new ways to bring students in. Seve Roisum Reports. (Audio.)
The state is withholding money from seven Milwaukee voucher schools that have failed to comply with one of the most ambitious studies ever to look at vouchers, and it appears that will prompt some of them to hand over their test scores. John Witte, a UW-Madison professor, is one of the lead researchers.
The Wisconsin Budget Conference Committee received two letters Thursday expressing the necessity of appropriately funding the University of Wisconsin System.
The Wisconsin Budget Conference Committee received two letters Thursday expressing the necessity of appropriately funding the University of Wisconsin System.
MADISON, Wis. — The leader of state Senate Republicans said that there’s “no way” the budget will be done any time soon.
State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said that he doesn’t think negotiations have been going well at the governor’s residence. He said that the budget will not be wrapped up by Friday and possibly not until later than mid-October.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley has warned legislators that the Assembly’s version of the budget could force the school to make millions of dollars of midyear budget cuts, eliminating thousands of course sections, lengthening the time it takes students to earn degrees and delaying the admissions process.
Smokers, public workers, UW alumni and business groups are making a last-ditch effort to protect their interests as lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle try to hammer out a new state budget.
All of the groups have been blanketing elected officials with phone calls, form letters, postcards, office visits and even radio ads in recent weeks.
But legislative leaders say there have been relatively few messages from ordinary constituents demanding that lawmakers get to work on the budget, which was supposed to take effect July 1.
University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley warned the Joint Finance Committee Tuesday that if the university does not receive necessary funding in the new budget, serious midyear cuts will be made.
