State Relations Update (May 27)
Barring any late surprises, the final piece of the 2009–11 biennial budget action by the Joint Committee on Finance will take place tomorrow. The committee is slated to take up the Capital Budget, also known as the Building Program for the next two years. As you may remember, last month, the State Building Commission approved the Governor's plan for the Capital Budget which included numerous items for the UW–Madison campus. The items of interest to the campus include:
- Madison Utility Improvements
- Gordon Commons Relocation, Parking and Offices - Phase 1
- Lakeshore Residence Hall and Food Service
- 21 North Park Street Office Building Purchase
- West Campus Athletic Facilities
- Agricultural Research Station Renovation - Various Locations
- Phase 1 Kohl Center Hockey Facility Addition
- Science Museum
- Tandem Press Relocation
- Wisconsin Medical Research - Middle Tower*
- Charter Street Heating and Cooling Plant*
- Wisconsin Energy Institute*
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has prepared budget papers on these proposals. Many of the projects are included in one paper, though, the LFB has prepared separate papers for three specific items. Those are denoted with an asterisk. The papers are:
- LFB Paper #182 - GPR Supported Bonding Authorizations and the 2009–11 Building Program Projects
- LFB Paper #183 - Wisconsin Medical Research-Middle Tower
- LFB Paper #184 - Charter Street Heating and Cooling Plant
- LFB Paper #185 - Wisconsin Energy Institute
- The complete list of LFB budget papers, including links to a pdf copy of each paper, is available at Legislative Fiscal Bureau Budget Papers
Today, a memo to legislators was distributed outlining UW–Madison's position on each of the alternatives suggested in the LFB papers. We are suggesting the committee adopt alternative 1 for each paper. Alternative 1 is the Governor's proposal and the position that the State Building Commission endorsed last month. As with any legislative action, there is always a possibility of a different outcome, however, it has been communicated to me from the Governor's office and the co-chairs of the Finance Committee that our proposals should be forwarded. Going forward, action by the full Legislature is still needed and we are hopeful that positive action on our items tomorrow will remain in place as the process moves forward. To that end, it is important that we remain sensitive to how portion of the Capital Budget is perceived across the state. Other campuses may not feel as if the process was as fair to their projects as it could have been, so it is important that our reaction be reserved so as not to raise our state legislators’ interest.
The most current known information on the budget and other related items, including a copy of the budget memo distributed to legislators, is posted to the new budget website which is the campus resource for the most current messaging and information (UW–Madison and the State Budget).
I hope these updates will be helpful. Please forward these updates to those in your units, schools and colleges. If you have any questions about the state relations effort on this or any other issue, please feel free to contact me.
Don Nelson
Assistant Director, State Relations
Office of the Chancellor
University of Wisconsin - Madison
96 Bascom Hall
608-265-4105 office
608-217-5110 cell
http://www.staterelations.wisc.edu