Budget negotiation expected

Legislative leaders are expected to begin negotiating a final budget adjustment package to send back to the governor.

Assembly members plan to take a week to review the budget approved April 5 by the State Senate. A conference committee made up of legislators from each house will then meet to work out the differences between the budget proposals, before the budget adjustment bill is sent to the governor for final review.

“It is my hope that the budget that is adopted by the full Legislature and signed by the governor will also recognize the role this university plays in educating tomorrow’s workforce and strengthening our state’s economy,” Chancellor John Wiley says.

In the budget approved April 5, the state Senate restored substantial funding to the UW System. Under the proposal, UW–Madison’s budget would be cut $7.9 million over the two years.

“I believe the proposal sends a clear message that the state’s flagship institution, like all UW campuses, should have the support it needs to remain one of this country’s top universities, without cutting enrollment,” says Wiley.

The plan would cut $20 million from the amount approved last summer for the 2001-2003 UW System budget. The governor’s original budget adjustment proposal reduced the UW System budget by $51 million over the two-year period, and the Assembly Republican version included $108 million in cuts.

The Senate proposal, approved 17-16, would fully fund the Madison Initiative, a public-private partnership that passed the legislature in the 2001-2003 budget. It also includes other items of interest to the university. For example, it would:

• Increase the compensation reserves by $21 million in state tax dollars that was deleted by the Joint Finance Committee and deletes language that would prohibit state agencies from requesting salary supplements for those employees making more than $100,000.
• Includes an early retirement package and voluntary furlough program for state employees.
• Includes provisions related to the construction of a cogeneration plant on the UW–Madison campus.
• Restores state funding for the state’s 14 community health centers.
• Provides $10 million GPR in additional funding for the Tobacco Control Board
• Requires hospitals to provide emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault
• Establishes a building and licensing moratorium on hospital construction and expansion projects, with certain exemptions.