Collective bargaining issue may be dealt with as part of the next budget

The Republican leader of the state Senate says a stalled plan to curb public employee union bargaining rights could be rolled into the next state budget.

Lawmakers already passed the collective bargaining proposal once, but it's currently on hold while a circuit court considers whether legislators violated the state's open meetings act. That case could drag on for weeks or even months.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says that if the plan is not straightened out in the court system, it will be rolled into the two years state budget lawmakers are debating right now.

“This is a slice of what we will be tackling and voting on, hopefully sometime in mid-June,” says Fitzgerald. “So it'll be rolled into that and it'll be fully debated. And I don't know how much debate it does need, it's probably the most well-known piece of legislation that's ever come out of this building. But it will be rolled into the full budget if in fact the courts don't rule some time soon."

Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi has said multiple times that lawmakers could render the open meetings challenge moot if they pass the collective bargaining proposal again with 24-hours’ notice. Fitzgerald had previously resisted that idea.

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