Budget conference under way

Funding for the Madison Initiative will be among items negotiated by legislative leaders now that a conference committee has been convened on the 2001-03 state budget.

Conference committee members have started working out the differences between the Senate and Assembly versions of the state budget bill.

For example, the Senate version of the bill backs a $58 million package for the UW System that includes a $16.2 million boost for the Madison Initiative. The Assembly version does not include the boost.

Included in the Assembly Republican package is a provision that would ban the use of human embryonic stem cells and fetal tissue in research. The Senate version does not include the ban.

Conference committee work had been delayed over disagreement about the scope of budget negotiations. Gov. Scott McCallum broke the impasse by reassuring Republicans that he would veto any provision that “did not directly improve fiscal conditions in Wisconsin.”

The conference committee includes four members of each house. The Senate is represented by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair Brian Burke, Senate President Pro Tem Gary George and Senate Minority Leader Mary Panzer. Chvala says he will include other members in the conference committee negotiations. Sen. Russ Decker is expected to be a member of the committee at some point.

The Assembly is represented by Speaker Scott Jensen, Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair John Gard, Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti and Assembly Minority Leader Spencer Black.

The conference committee will meet for the next several weeks. Members must resolve more than 800 differences between the two budget versions.