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Legislative Update

September 23, 2005

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Stem Cell Vote Tuesday

The Senate will vote on AB 499, which prohibits human cloning and cloning of human cells for research. It has been placed on the September 27 calendar at 11:00 a.m. The bill has already passed the Assembly and passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote. The UW System opposes limits to scientific research which could provide treatments for many debilitating diseases.

Personnel and Employment Policies

This week President Reilly and UW-Madison Provost Spear released a joint statement regarding the release of the Steingass report on Dr. Paul Barrows. Please see statement describing actions taken at: http://www.news.wisc.edu/11585.html

Legislative Session Action

On September 22, the Assembly passed AB 27 on a vote of 71-23. The bill authorizes a program for tuition gift certificates within the UW System.

Joint Finance Committee

On a vote of 16-0 the Joint Finance Committee passed Substitute Amendment 1 to AB 105/SB 56, which requires an analysis of any outside contract over $25,000. See Substitute Amendment at: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2005/data/AB105-SSA1.pdf

Passage of SB 336 was recommended on a vote of 9-7. The bill creates a non-refundable individual income tax credit for amounts contributed to any section 529 college tuition program. Also a substitute amendment to the companion bill, AB 31, was passed on a vote of 9-7. See Substitute Amendment at: http://www.legis.state.wi.us/2005/data/AB31-ASA1.pdf Second house action can now be scheduled.

Legislation Introduced

Senator Fitzgerald introduced SB 336, which creates a nonrefundable individual income tax credit for amounts contributed to any section 529 college tuition program account. The bill was referred to the Joint Finance Committee and was passed out of committee. See above.

Senator Stepp has introduced SB 345 which would increase enrollment at the UW-Parkside Charter school from 400 to 480 pupils beginning in the 2006-07 school year. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Higher Education and Tourism.

Legislative Hearings

The Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee will hold a public hearing on October 4 at 10:00 a.m. in 225 Northwest. The Committee may take executive action on two bills that affect the UW: AB 387 which would expand the nursing student loan program to include nurse educators, and AB 595 which would expand the college parallel programs to include any technical college district in the WTC System in which there is not located a University of Wisconsin two-year college campus.