Government Relations

Legislative Update

August 8, 2008

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In this issue:

STATE UPDATE

In The News

► Doyle Says ‘No’ to Coal Plants
Gov. Doyle announced that the state will not permit a coal-fired heating plant for government and university buildings in downtown Madison.  The Wisconsin Department of Administration will evaluate different options, including natural gas and burning biomass for heating and cooling the University of Wisconsin-Madison and possibly state government offices.  Read the article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

State Legislation Update

► Legislative Reference Bureau Publishes Summary of 2007-08 Legislative Session
The LRB bulletin provides an overview of the acts and joint resolutions of the 2007-2008 Wisconsin Legislature and is organized by topic.

NEW! Legislative Committee Activity
While the legislature is not in session, committees and study groups continue to meet. The legislative update will now contain legislative committee activities for current and upcoming weeks.

  • Special Committee on Building Wisconsin's Workforce: This committee will meet Monday, August 18, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. in 412 East, State Capitol.  The UW System has been invited to testify before the committee along with other speakers, including Tom Still, President, Wisconsin Technology Council; Patricia Herdrich, Superintendent, West Bend School District; Dan Clancy, President, Wisconsin Technical College System; and representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

FEDERAL UPDATE

► Higher Education Act Reauthorization
On Thursday, July 31, the U.S. House and U.S. Senate passed H.R. 4137, The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2008, with bipartisan agreement.  H.R. 4137 amends the Higher Education Act of 1965.  The measure will now be sent to the President, who is expected to sign it into law.  Complete Conference Report available online.  Read news coverage in The Chronicle of Higher Education.  An analysis from UW System Federal Relations will follow.

► Feingold will propose economic development bills
Sen. Russ Feingold plans to introduce economic development legislation that would benefit Wisconsin and particularly the Milwaukee area.  Feingold said that his bills would focus on ways to encourage innovation by small businesses; to create jobs related to energy conservation; to provide additional training and transportation opportunities for workers; and to forge partnerships between schools and businesses.  See the article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

► UW Regent President and UW System President to meet with Wisconsin Delegation
UW Regent President Mark Bradley and UW System President Kevin Reilly have scheduled visits to Washington on September 10-11 to meet with the Wisconsin Congressional delegation.

AROUND WISCONSIN

 “Around Wisconsin” features items relating to exciting progress on campus or examples of strong relations with the community and policy makers. Please send items of interest to externalrelations@uwsa.edu.

  • UW-Stout: According to the “Energy Use in State-Owned Facilities” report released annually through Wisconsin’s Department of Administration, the University of Wisconsin-Stout is the most energy efficient campus of all 13 four-year campuses in the UW System.
  • UW-Platteville: The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Department of Industrial Studies recently hosted a visit from the National Association of Industrial Technology and received a full six year accreditation.
  • UW-Waukesha: In an agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will offer a Bachelor of Liberal Studies (BLS) degree at the Waukesha campus.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Aug  
13 UW System Legislative Liaisons and Public Information Officers meeting at UW-Oshkosh.
20 Student government representatives from across the UW System will convene in Madison for their first annual meeting of the 08-09 academic year
21-22 Board of Regents meeting in Madison
28 Second annual "Resource Rendezvous:  Connecting Wisconsin to Classified Research." sponsored byWisconsin Security Research Consortium  Speakers include Michael Smith, Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Dave Busigo, Special Assistant for Innovative Research and Technology Transfer, U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).  Resource Rendezvous is being held at the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield.
Sept  
19 Fall meeting for the Inclusivity Initiative hosted in Madison
Oct  
2-3 Board of Regents meeting at UW-Stevens Point
Nov  
12-13 Synergy Conference 08 hosted by UW-River Falls
Mar 2009 Watch for further details regarding the NSF Regional Grants Conference hosted by UW-Milwaukee and the UW System Office of Federal Relations on March 6, 2009, in Milwaukee.  Key NSF representatives will present information on NSF, the review process, cross-disciplinary and international programs.  There will be breakout sessions with program officers from the NSF directorates and a session on proposal writing.

 

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