Government Relations

Legislative Update

May 23, 2008

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STATE UPDATE

In The News

►May 15 -Gov. Doyle Appoints Kevin Opgenorth to Board of Regents
Opgenorth, a U.S. Army veteran, replaces Thomas Shields as the non-traditional student representative.  Read the governor’s news release.

►May 19 – UW System President Reilly Announces the Appointment of Thomas K. Anderes. Racine native Anderes will serve as the UW System’s Senior Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs. Read the press release.

►May 19 – Breske Appointed by Gov. Doyle as New Commissioner of Railroads. Sen. Breske (D-Eland) announced he will resign from his 12th district Senate seat to take the position of Wisconsin Commissioner of Railroads. Gov. Doyle appointed Breske to a six year term effective June 4, 2008.  Read Gov. Doyle’s statement.

►May 21 – Musser not seeking another term. State Rep. Terry Musser (R-River Falls) has announced he will not be seeking reelection in the fall.

►Chancellor Searches Update

May 9 – Dr. Richard J. Telfer recommended as UW-Whitewater chancellor. Telfer has served as interim chancellor and vice chancellor since 2002, according to the UW System press release. 

May 22 –Dr. Robert Felner recommended as UW-Parkside chancellor. Dr. Felner was dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville. Read the UW System press release.

 

State Legislation Update

►State Budget Repair Bill
On May 13, the Senate passed the Budget Repair Bill by a vote of 17-16, with all Republicans and Sen. Carpenter voting against it. The Assembly followed closely on Wednesday, passing the repair budget by a vote of 51-46. The Budget Repair Bill passed by the legislature included $69 million in agency lapses during the current biennium and the 2009-11 biennium. This version also transferred nearly $22 million from the REAL ID implementation fund, delayed school payment aid, and refinanced the state’s tobacco settlement for $209 million.

The Governor used his veto power to amend several of these provisions. Gov. Doyle restored most of the funds for the REAL ID implementation and vetoed the delay in school payments. The veto implemented $270 million in agency lapses, as opposed to the $69 million, and reduced transportation spending by approximately $100 million. Read the Governor’s veto message.

►Legislative Fiscal Bureau Memo on 2009-11 Estimated Structural Deficits
Additional material about the repair bill will also be released, including this LFB memo on the amounts necessary, through revenue generation or appropriation cuts, for producing a balanced budget in the 2009-11 biennial budget.

►JCOER to Consider State Employee Contracts
The Joint Committee on Employee Relations is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, May 27, 2008, to consider the 2007-2009 tentative agreements for 15 bargaining units, as well as modifications to the 2007-2009 Compensation Plan for unclassified UW System faculty and staff.   

In November 2007, JCOER approved a 2% increase in July 2008 and a 1% increase in April 2009.  OSER’s revised proposal now calls for a 1% increase in July 2008 and a 2% increase in June 2009. See OSER’s recommendation.  President Reilly will be responding to that revised pay plan in writing. 

►Thirteen Incumbents Will Not Seek Re-election in the Fall
In the past week, Sen. Musser and Sen. Breske have announced that they will not seek re-election this fall. This brings the total number of incumbents who are retiring from the state legislature to 13, six Democrats and seven Republicans.

Incumbents not running this year:

Assembly Republicans
Sheryl Albers (R) – Assembly 50
Eugene Hahn (R) – Assembly 47
Suzanne Jeskewitz (R) – Assembly 24
Terry Musser (R) – Assembly 92
Carol Owens (R) – Assembly 53
Steve Wieckert (R) – Assembly 57

Senate Republicans
Carol Roessler (R) – Senate 18

Assembly Democrats
Frank Boyle (D) – Assembly 73
Jim Kreuser (D) – Assembly 64 (presumed if elected Kenosha County executive in June)
Barbara Gronemus (D) – Assembly 91
Dave Travis (D) – Assembly 81
Sheldon Wasserman (D) – Assembly 22 (Running for 8th Senate District seat)

Senate Democrats
Roger Breske (D) – Senate 12

 

FEDERAL UPDATE

The U.S. House of Representatives was out of session today for the week-long Memorial Day recess. The Senate met in pro forma session today and will do so next week as well, to prevent the President from making recess appointments. The House will reconvene on Tuesday, June 3; the Senate will reconvene on Monday, June 2.

►Farm Bill (Mostly) Enacted Into Law
Congress has overridden President Bush’s veto of a “farm bill,” enacting into law a measure that will provide some increased financing for agricultural research (although not as much as universities had hoped).  The $285 billion legislation includes $35 billion in commodity subsidies and $209 billion in funds to feed the poor.  The bill sought to limit subsidies while incorporating funding for an increase in food stamps and the nutrition program.

President Bush vetoed the bill, HR 2419, on Wednesday, and the House of Representatives voted to override the same day, 316 to 108. The Senate concurred on Thursday, 82 to 13. Then, on Thursday, the House also passed a new, full replacement farm bill when it was discovered that the bill’s trade title had been inadvertently omitted during the enrolling process. The Senate will consider the replacement measure after the Memorial Day recess. Another Bush veto is expected once Congress clears the measure, as is another set of votes to override the veto.

Among other provisions, the bill increases the fine for each violation of the Animal Welfare Act, from the existing $2,500 to $10,000, a provision that could affect universities that use animals in laboratory experiments. The act requires research facilities to care for the animals humanely. The increase in the fine was the first since 1985.  The bill also includes authorization of a competitive grant program sought by UW System to support educational and outreach needs at non-land grant institutions.

►War Supplemental Bill
The U.S. Senate approved its version of the FY08 war supplemental funding bill with a package of domestic spending that includes expansion of the GI Bill, extension of unemployment benefits, a delay in seven Medicaid rules proposed by the Administration, and about $10 billion in domestic discretionary spending not requested by the President, including $1.2 billion for four science agencies. The House will consider the amended supplemental funding bill sometime in early June. The House approved its version of the bill, which contains much less domestic spending than the Senate version and does not provide extra funding for science. It does include the expansion of the GI Bill, the cost of which would be offset by an income surtax on wealthy individuals, a plan which the Senate rejects.  A summary of the GI Bill benefits is as follows:

Title III of the amended bill includes provisions designed to expand the educational benefits for men and women who have served in the armed forces since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The provisions will closely resemble the educational benefits provided to veterans returning from World War II. The benefits included in Title III would apply to all members of the military who have served on active duty, including activated reservists and National Guard. To qualify, veterans must have served at least three months of qualified active duty, beginning on or after September 11, 2001. The amended bill provides for benefits to be paid in amounts linked to the amount of active duty service. In additional to tuition and other established charges, the benefit includes a monthly stipend for housing costs as well as tutorial assistance and licensure and certification tests. The amended bill would create a new program in which the government will agree to match, dollar for dollar, any voluntary additional contributions to veterans from institutions whose tuition is more expensive than the maximum educational assistance provided in the amended bill. Finally, the amended bill provides for the veterans to have up to fifteen years after they leave active duty to use their educational assistance entitlement. Veterans would be barred from receiving concurrent assistance from this program and another similar program.

►Higher Education Act (HEA) Extension
The House and Senate approved another one-month extension of the Higher Education Act to provide negotiators additional time to reach agreement. The extension lasts through June. Compounding the delay is Senator Edward Kennedy's sudden illness. It is unclear when Kennedy, who is the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will return to the Senate.

►HEA Conference Language
The higher education community is concerned that draft language in the developing conference agreement for the HEA would significantly expand federal regulation and reporting requirements. Chief among concerns is accreditation language in the bill that prohibits the Department of Education from regulating accreditation standards for academic achievement, but leaves open the possibility of regulating other standards such as those dealing with faculty and facilities. President Reilly has sent a letter to Congressman Petri, a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, expressing UW System's concerns with three areas of the bill: accreditation, reporting and regulatory burden, and college cost requirements. Language sought by the UW System on behalf of the two-year campuses remains in the conference report language.

►NIST Issues Call for Proposals for Science Research Buildings
The Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking grant proposals for the construction of science research buildings from institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations. The agency plans to award approximately $29 million for a competitive grant program created by Congress under the FY08 omnibus appropriations bill (P.L. 110-161).

Although the program announcement says that one criterion for selection is “the degree to which the proposed project complements DoC science and technology programs,” NIST officials indicate that this should be construed broadly. It does not mean that universities must have a research or institutional connection to one of the Commerce agencies—such as NIST, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Rather, it means that a prospective building should house research in the broad fields in which these agencies work. These fields are generally in the physical sciences and engineering, but also include the biological sciences.

NIST has issued a news release about the program which links to the program announcement.

 

AROUND WISCONSIN

“Around Wisconsin” is a new section for items relating to exciting progress on campus or examples of strong relations with the community and policy makers. Please send items for consideration to externalrelations@uwsa.edu.

  • Commencements: UW System President Reilly addressed more than 1200 UW-Stevens Point spring graduates in the Specht Memorial Forum.
  • UW-La Crosse: The UW System legislative liaisons and public information officers met in La Crosse, with several guest speakers:  Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, Regent Brent Smith, La Crosse Tribune Publisher Rusty Cunningham and education reporter KJ Lang.
  • UW-Stout: Students joined up with city and county officials to take advantage of Spring Move Out Day. At a campus parking lot, students donated their furniture and household appliances to be taken to Hope Gospel Mission in Eau Claire, rather than to the landfill.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

May  
30 Grant-writing workshop for UW System researchers at UW-Eau Claire
June  
5-6 Board of Regents meeting hosted by UW-Milwaukee
5 Medical Device Collaborative Gathering, Marshfield Clinic.  Organized by Marshfield Clinic, Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network and WiSys Technology Foundation and co-sponsored by the UW System Office of Federal Relations and Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.
July  
17-18 Wisconsin Science & Technology Symposium, UW-Stout
Aug  
20 Student government representatives from across the UW System will convene in Madison for their first annual meeting of the 08-09 academic year
21-22 Board of Regents meeting
Sept  
19 Fall meeting for the Inclusivity Initiative hosted in Madison

 

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