Wisconsin Senate Republicans pass Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill Late last night Senate Republicans passed an amended version of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill with a vote of 18-1. This Budget Repair Bill strip s the vast majority of collective bargaining rights from public employees. The new bill removed the fiscal elements of the proposal however it still curbs collective bargaining and increases employee payments in pension and health benefits. It has been reported by other media outlets that the Republicans would not explain how the bill manged to pass despite not having the 20 senators required by law to vote on fiscal matters as Wisconsin Senate democrats walked out in protest of Scott Walker’s Budget Repair Bill three weeks ago and have been out of state as has been well documented.
Even though the Senate did not yet pass the Budget Repair Bill, rules of the Senate allow the Senate president to move a bill to a conference committee if the Assembly’s intent is clear and if a bill is past the amendable stage, which the Senate did in February.
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, the only Democrat at the conference committee, openly accused the Republicans of breaking the Wisconsin’s open meeting law. The open meeting law requires that a days notice is mandatory for a public meeting to take place.
Governor Walker released the following statement regarding the action taken by the Legislature late last night: The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused. In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature’s action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government. The action today will help ensure Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs.
