The Weekly Update

Joint Committee on Finance

Last week, the Committee held a Section 13.10 meeting and voted unanimously to release $26.5M GPR for fiscal year 2025-26 and $26.5M GPR for fiscal year 2026-27 that was included in the 2025-27 biennial budget for the Universities of Wisconsin.

Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges

The Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges held an executive session on three bills related to the UWs last week and voted via paper ballot. The bills on the agenda included:

SB 640 – Relating to: tuition and fee remission or grants for certain veterans and their dependents enrolled in the University of Wisconsin System, a technical college, or a private nonprofit institution of higher education; and the University of Wisconsin System nonresident tuition exemption for certain veterans. The bill passed out of committee on a 4-1 vote.

SB 652 - Relating to: race-based higher education programs and requirements. The bill passed out of committee on a 3-2 vote.

SB 591/AB 582 – Relating to: dual enrollment programs, creating the Council on Dual Enrollment, and transfer of postsecondary course credits. The bill passed out of committee on a 3-2 vote.

Assembly Floor Session

The Assembly convened two times last week (1/13 & 1/15) and voted on a number of bills including the Assembly versions of the Collective Bargaining Trades Agreement Bills which all passed unanimously (99-0).

• 2025-26 UW System & trades: 2025 AB 787.
• 2025-26 UW-Madison & trades: 2025 AB 788.

The Assembly also voted on the following resolutions below:

AJR 102, Relating to: prohibiting governmental entity discrimination (second consideration), was adopted on a 54-45 vote.

Assembly Resolution 10, Relating to: congratulating the University of Wisconsin–River Falls Falcons football team on winning the NCAA Division III National Championship. The resolution passed via voice vote.

You can view the full floor calendar for 1/13 here, and all floor actions here.

You can view the full floor calendar for 1/15 here. and all floor actions here.

Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety

The Committee held an executive session on Wednesday, January 14, at 11am. Below were bills of note on the agenda:

• AB 673: Relating to: banning the use of genetic software from foreign adversaries in medical and research facilities, the storage of any human genome sequencing data within the borders of a foreign adversary, and providing a penalty. The bill passed out of committee on a 10-5 vote. The UWs and UW-Madison also submitted testimony for information only on this bill.

Universities Of WI AB 673 Testimony pdf

UW-Madison AB 673 Testimony pdf

Senate Committee on Government Operations

The Senate Committee on Government Operations met last week for a public hearing and executive session on the following bill impacting the UWs:

Assembly Bill 102: Relating to: designating University of Wisconsin and technical college sports and athletic teams based on the sex of the participants. This bill passed out of committee with a 3-2 vote.

Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities

The Committee will hold an executive session on Thursday, January 22 and will vote on the following UW related bills:

• AB 545, Relating to: course fees at University of Wisconsin System institutions. The UWs testified in opposition to this legislation.

Universities Of WI AB 545 Testimony pdf

• AB 659, Relating to: tuition and fee remission or grants for certain veterans and their dependents enrolled in the University of Wisconsin System, a technical college, or a private nonprofit institution of higher education; and the University of Wisconsin System nonresident tuition exemption for certain veterans. The Universities of Wisconsin submitted testimony for information only on this legislation.

Assembly Floor Session

The Assembly will convene on Tuesday, January 20, at 1pm.

You can view the full floor calendar here.

Senate Floor Session

The Senate will convene on Wednesday, January 21, at 11am and will be voting on a number of bills including the Collective Bargaining Trades Agreement bills that passed unanimously on the Assembly Floor last week:

• AB 787, Relating to: ratification of the agreement negotiated between the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee, for the 2025-26 fiscal year, covering employees in the building trades crafts collective bargaining unit, and authorizing an expenditure of funds.
• AB 788, Relating to: ratification of the agreement negotiated between the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee, for the 2025-26 fiscal year, covering employees in the building trades crafts collective bargaining unit, and authorizing an expenditure of funds.

The Senate will also consider the following:

• SB 652, Relating to: race-based higher education programs and requirements.
• SJR 119, Relating to: congratulating the University of Wisconsin– Oshkosh women’s volleyball team for winning the 2025 NCAA Division III National Championship.
• AJR 102, Relating to: prohibiting governmental entity discrimination (second consideration).

You can view the full floor calendar here. You will also be able to stream the floor session live on the legislative website.

Assembly Committee on Jobs and Economy

The Assembly Committee on Jobs and Economy will be holding an executive session on Wednesday, January 21, at 10am. The committee will consider AB 397, Relating to: reporting requirements for recipients of economic development grants and loans. The Office of Business and Entrepreneurship at the Universities of Wisconsin registered in favor of this legislation during the public hearing.

Department of Education Delays Involuntary Collections

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced they will “delay the implementation of involuntary collections on federal student loans, including Administrative Wage Garnishment (AWG) and the Treasury Offset Program (TOP).” As further described by the Department, this will allow the Department time to implement the changes contained within H.R. 1 and give borrowers more options to repay their loans.

At the time of the announcement, Under Secretary of Education Nicolas Kent said, “After the Biden Administration misled borrowers into believing their student loans would not need to be repaid, the Trump Administration is committed to helping student and parent borrowers resume regular, on-time repayment, with more clear and affordable options, which will support a stronger financial future for borrowers and enhance the long-term health of the federal student loan portfolio. The Department determined that involuntary collection efforts such as Administrative Wage Garnishment and the Treasury Offset Program will function more efficiently and fairly after the Trump Administration implements significant improvements to our broken student loan system.” 

For more, you can review the Department's Press Release.

Departments of Education and Labor Take Steps to Implement Postsecondary Education Partnership

Last week, the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor “announced that they have taken additional steps to integrate the nation’s postsecondary education and workforce development programs. Beginning the week of January 20, 2026, staff in the Higher Education Programs (HEP) Division of ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) will be detailed to work at DOL as the agencies work together to better coordinate Federal postsecondary education programs.”

If interested, you can read more on this partnership at the following links:

• S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor Take Next Steps to Implement Postsecondary Education Partnership
• ED-DOL partnership
• Returning Education to the States

FY26 Appropriations Update

On January 19, the House Appropriations Committee released the conferenced Defense; Homeland; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bills.

The full House of Representatives is expected to consider this the package later this week, and assuming House passage, the Senate will then need to consider the legislation in advance of the January 30 funding deadline.

If interested in reviewing the status of all FY26 appropriations bills, you can do so via the following Appropriations Status Table.   

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

When the House of Representatives and Senate return to Washington, a full list of votes will be found on the respective websites for the House of Representatives and the Senate.