Welcome to the Universities of Wisconsin Government Relations Newsletter. The Office of Government Relations provides legislative and political updates that impact the Universities of Wisconsin at the state and federal level.
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Board of Regents
The Board of Regents for the Universities of Wisconsin met in a special session virtually on Monday, October 19th.
You can access the meeting materials and agenda here.
State Relations
Please check back for updates.
State Building Commission
The next meeting of the State Building Commission is scheduled for Thursday, October 22nd. Below is the schedule for the day:
- 12:00pm – Administrative Affairs Subcommittee
- 1:00pm – Higher Education Subcommittee
- 3:00pm – Full State Building Commission
The meeting notice and agenda can be found here.
Federal Relations
House Select Committee Update
On October 13, the House Select Committee on China released a report titled, “How to Stop China’s Theft of America’s Taxpayer-Funded Research.”
At the time of the report’s release, Chairman Moolenaar said, “America's research enterprise is one of our greatest national assets, and protecting it requires facing the facts, and taking action. Arguments against strengthening research security do not hold up. This report shows why arguments against research security reforms fall short and demonstrate why greater accountability and stronger protections are necessary. Congress must pass the SIRA Act to establish clear, consistent safeguards across the federal government and ensure American taxpayer dollars are not used to support research collaborations with entities our own government has identified as national security risks.”
For more, you can review the Committee Press Release here.
Senate Appropriations Committee Update
On October 13, “U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, sent a letter to Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling on her to reverse the department’s significantly expanded use of “frontloading” grants.”
If interested, you can read the full text of the letter here, and you can read more via the Committee Press Release here.
House Committee on Education and Workforce Update
On October 15, Chairman Walberg of the House Committee on Education and Workforce released letters to “the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA Med) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) over concerns about race and sex-based discrimination in their admissions and hiring practices.”
If interested, you can read the letters to UCLA and UCSF; for more, you can review the Committee Press Release here.
Full House and Senate Hearing Schedule
If interested, you can see a full list of upcoming hearings on the Senate Hearings & Meetings Page. A review of the committee hearings in the House of Representatives is available via the Committee Schedule within the House of Representatives Legislative Activity section on the Chamber’s main page.
House and Senate Floor Schedules
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are in scheduled district and state work periods; each chamber is scheduled to return to Washington DC in November.
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