Gov. Jim Doyle announced his plan to end the budget stalemate on the steps of the Memorial Union Tuesday, proposing a special session of the legislature be called to pass a compromise budget on Monday Oct. 15.
The state budget has been overdue for over 100 days,with final agreements unable to be reached in the three-way talks between the governor, the Democrat-controlled state Senate and Republican-controlled state Assembly.
Before Doyle spoke, UW-Madison senior Morrad Fadel addressed the crowd as a student who has yet to receive a Wisconsin Higher Education Grant due to the state budget impasse.
Financial aid officers contacted 33 students who have yet to receive WHEG aid about attending the press conference, an act that prompted UW-Madison College Republicans to protest the event.
The Wisconsin College Republicans and UWMCR said contacting the students violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. University Communications spokesperson John Lucas said UW-Madison acted appropriately, with no laws violated and no UWMCR members were contacted, so they are a unaffected third party in the e-mail exchange.
Doyle, said the decision to call a special session of the Legislature was made because Assembly Republicans backed away from previous agreements made in the negotiations, including the proposed $1.25 cigarette tax. Republicans want to cut funding for the UW System by $60 million and cut financial aid by $20 million, according to Doyle.
Doyle said leaders of the Assembly Republicans shy away"" from the agreements because more conservative legislators and interest groups are unwilling to compromise.
""Speaker Huebsch and the extreme voices in his caucus are more interested in scoring political points than doing the job they are elected to do,"" Doyle said.
The special session of the Legislature will vote on a bill that has ""all the good-faith compromises that were made during negotiations,"" according to Doyle. Issues still largely disagreed upon, like funding for the Department of Transportation and the oil tax, will not be in the bill, Doyle said.
In response to Doyle's announcement, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, said in a statement that the governor is ""walking away from the negotiations"" with the proposed special session.
Huebsch spokesperson John Murray said the current Assembly offer of a $0.75 cigarette tax is due to other revenue sources being found, like federal funding, and not the Assembly backing away from previous deals.
""This is a political maneuver designed to grab attention '¦ it's political grandstanding,"" Murray said.
Democratic votes would be needed to pass the $0.75 tax in the Assembly, according to Murray, where almost 30 Republican legislators have signed pledges of ""no new taxes.""
Murray said he would not speculate on whether the governor's bill would be able to pass the full Assembly until the full bill is disclosed later this week. Republicans control the Assembly 52 to 47.
Josh Wescott, spokesperson for state Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said if budget negotiations are not finished by Friday, then the Senate will vote on Doyle's bill on Monday. Wescott said Robson supported Doyle's compromise proposal and it was likely to pass the state Senate, where the Democratic majority is 18 to 15.
