Unwilling to compromise and with Democrats still out of state, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate passed an amended bill Wednesday night that strips state employees of collective bargaining rights.
The final roll call was 18-1, with not a single Democrat present at the state capitol.
In a surprise move late Wednesday, Senate Republicans used a series of parliamentary maneuvers to overcome a three-week stalemate with Democrats and pass the governor’s controversial budget repair bill.
With a crowd of protesters chanting outside their chambers, Senators approved an amended version of Gov. Scott Walker’s bill, which would strip most collective bargaining rights from public employees. The new bill removes all fiscal elements of the proposal but still curbs collective bargaining and increases employee payments in pension and health benefits.
After the session, Senate Republicans scattered, answering no questions. But Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said in a statement, “Enough is enough.”
No one could explain Wednesday how the Senate managed to pass components of the original bill that seemed to have fiscal elements, including changes in pensions and benefits.
Fitzgerald’s spokesman, Andrew Welhouse, said Republicans were following the advice of their legal counsel, who told them which parts of the bill could be passed.
The move ended a bizarre two-and-a-half hour stretch of state government in which the Senate surprised everyone by gaveling in quickly and sending the governor’s bill to a conference committee, scheduled for less than two hours later.
Word quickly spread that the Republicans were planning to ram the measure through in committee by stripping the fiscal elements of the bill. Within an hour, the rotunda began to fill with angry protesters, while an even larger crowd gathered outside the building.
The conference committee lasted less than 15 minutes, and featured an angry speech by state Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, who accused the Republicans of violating the state’s open meeting law and “trampling on democracy.”
“Mr. Chairman, this is a violation of law,” he said, referring to the short notice given for the meeting.
Typically, 24 hours’ notice is required for a public meeting. There are exceptions, but it was not clear Wednesday, that the conference committee met those standards.
Attorney Robert Dreps, an expert in media and political law, said exceptions can be made if notice is “impossible or impractical.”
“It raises a lot of serious questions,” he said. “I don’t think they can satisfy the standard for giving such short notice for that committee meeting.”
Moments later, the Senate adopted the bill, 18-1, with only Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, voting no. The Assembly is expected to take up the measure at 11 a.m. Thursday.
The bill approved Wednesday was sent to the Assembly, which is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Outraged Senate Democrats, still holed up in Illinois, said they may come home to join the protest.
“Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten,” said Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, D-Monona, in a statement released shortly after the vote. “Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people. We will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government.”
It has been three weeks since Senate Democrats left the state in an effort to stall the passage of Walker’s proposal.
In that time, both sides have failed to reach an agreement on a compromise to the bill. The sticking point has been collective bargaining.
Walker and Republican leaders have repeatedly said that collective bargaining is a budgetary issue and as such, they could not strip fiscal components from the measure. None of the Republican leaders would comment following the vote, but Walker issued a statement in which he praised the move.
This is depressing. What’s stop them from introducing a bill outlawing recalls and passing it 20 minutes later, like they’ve been hinting at doing? I don’t see any solution other than to hope that the population remembers this 2 years from now, a likelihood that I’m not at all optimistic about given our electorate.
Can we finally admit that we are at war? There is a civil war in this country. Conservatives want to ELIMINATE liberalism. Anything short of having it their way is not an option for them.
So, can we finally admit that we are at war?
We are going to recall these folks and impeach Walker and then role this back. Walker pretty much sealed his fate, handed Obama a huge boon for 2012 and finally made Americans notice the blight that is the Koch brothers.
When will we finally admit that the (un)civil war in this country is a class war. The stupified anti-working class tools who keep fawning over capitalism as we know it will be very surprised and sorry indeed when their masters eventually eliminate them, as well.
Stop sucking Koch now.
Only President Obama can stop the civil war that engulfs us all! He must intervene and restore the same basic human negotiating rights to the hard-working union members of Wisconsin that are enjoyed by Federal Employees!
Oh, that’s right, Federal Employees don’t collectively bargain. Remember when President SolarShingles unilaterally froze Federal salaries? Not a peep from all you nitwits.
I think they’ll find that the vote was incorrect if not illegal, and therefore invalid. It was a petulant act of foolishness that I hope is a signal to the country, that Republicans are the corporate party. it is an example of their systemic dislike of the people of the U.S.
Hey “Bern,” explain to me how the actions of the Wisconsin Republican Legislature is any more illegal, invalid, and foolish than the actions of President SolarShingles and the Democrat U.S. Senate and Congress in ramming through the ObamaCare boondoggle through the “reconciliation” process?
Oh, by the way, we are up to over 1000 ObamaCare Waivers, including the entire State of Maine…