Chair’s Report for October 28, 2003

Senate update

1. Important links to agendas, minutes, Chair's Reports and other sites of interest are available
on the Senate web site: http://www.uwec.edu/Usenate. Senate Chair’s Report will be available on this site by noon on the day of the Senate meeting.

2. During debates, Senators may speak only twice to any motion or amendment. Each speaking term is limited to 10 minutes. The Chair will add names of those wishing to speak to a speaker's list upon recognition.

Open Forum Items from Senate Executive Committee Meeting minutes

1. Nino Amato, an outspoken regent, subject of much speculation including editorial in Capital Times

· Regent Amato was critical of teleconference to raise executive salary ranges

· Has been some talk of threats of him being ousted by “friends of Doyle” from both Board of Regents and Wisconsin Technical College Board; issue has taken on life of its own

· Board of Regents just needs to get relationship with system worked out so can communicate without causing PR problems for board and system

2. Board of Regents recommended pay plan not accepted by Office of State Employee Relations

· Office has forwarded 0%/1% plan with three-tiered health care premiums to JCOER

· Indicated that is all compensation reserve can afford

· Senior executives remain at 0%/0% although this can be revisited at any time

3. System is putting together advisory task force on transfer of courses between technical college system and university system

· Looking at liberal arts based and general education type courses

· Apparently to be formed this week and include members from key areas on various campuses, including people from curricular committees, registration, admissions, and governance

Faculty Reps Meeting – October 31 in Madison

Board of Regents Meeting – November 6 & 7 in Madison

From the Legislative Update

Committee Hearings

1. The Joint Finance Committee on Tuesday passed SB-214, allowing persons to carry concealed weapons (Personal Protection Act). On a 16-0 vote, the committee adopted motion #811 (authored by Sen. Harsdorf and Sen. Darling) to exempt from the bill’s provisions “any building located on the campus of a public or private university, college, or technical college” and “any portion of a building used for instructional purposes by a public or private university, college or technical college.” The UW System had argued for an exemption for all campus property. Sen. Moore offered the broader exemption (motion #893), which failed on a party line 4-12 vote.

2. The Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) met on Tuesday, Oct. 21 to hear recommendations by the Director of the Office of State Employment Relations on the proposed 2003-05 compensation and benefit adjustments for UW System senior executives, faculty and academic staff. The committee approved a pay plan that includes a 0 percent increase for fiscal year 2003-04 and 1 percent for 2004-05. The Employment Relations Director told the committee that final decisions were not made on how much of the 1 percent increase would be funded by the state compensation reserve and how much would be covered by university funds. Committee Co-Chair Gard requested the secretary to report to both the JCOER and the Joint Finance Committee on the final decision.

3. The Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee will hold a hearing on Wed, Oct 29, at 10:30 a.m., Room 225-NW of the State Capitol. The committee will hear an informational presentation by the Attorney General’s office on the findings and settlement of the investigation of open meetings by the UW Board of Regents. The committee will also hear from representatives of the UW System. The committee may hold an executive session on: AB-543, which expands the requirements for notice of public meetings held by departments within the UW System. AB-532, which requires the Joint Finance Committee to vote on salary range adjustments for UW System senior executives.

4. AB-609 was introduced in the Assembly by Rep. Suder. The bill reinstates the determination of the amount of National Guard tuition reimbursement as it existed before the passage of 2003 budget bill.