State Relations Update
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance announced today (May 21) that they will be taking up the remaining items in the governor’s 2009-11 state budget in meetings Friday and Saturday. Their action is expected to include the outstanding items that apply to the UW System budget, including provisions specifically for UW-Madison. These items include:
- #324: Domestic Partner Retirement and Group Insurance Benefits
- #805: Base Budget Reductions
- #806: Recruitment and Retention of High Demand Faculty
- #807: Wisconsin Institute for Discovery
- #808: Bioenergy Initiative and Segregated Funds Position Authority
- #809: Wisconsin Genomics Initiative
- #810: School of Public Health (UW-Milwaukee)
- #811: School of Freshwater Sciences (UW-Milwaukee)
- #812: Nonresident Tuition Exemptions for Certain Undocumented Persons
View the complete list of Legislative Fiscal Bureau budget papers including links to a PDF copy of each paper is available at:
In preparation for the committee’s votes during the next couple days, I have prepared a memo that encapsulates all of UW-Madison’s positions on the LFB budget papers that the legislators are prepared to consider. Each member of the committee received this memo today.
It is possible that the committee’s work on the budget could be completed Saturday, with possible action by each house of the Legislature next week. The action taken by the Finance Committee is expected to be very close or exactly what would be passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor.
In regards to details on the governor’s furlough plan, it is hoped that those specifics would start to be revealed as the budget action is completed. As we learn more on that, I will send along updates to that effect. The most current known information, including a copy of the budget memo distributed to legislators, is posted to the new budget Website, which is the campus resource for the most current messaging and information (http://budget.wisc.edu/).
I hope these updates will be helpful. Please 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.
Don Nelson
Assistant Director, State Relations
Office of the Chancellor
University of Wisconsin - Madison
96 Bascom Hall
608-265-4105 office
608-217-5110 cell
http://www.staterelations.wisc.edu