Wisconsin Legislative Council AMENDMENT MEMO One Ea st Ma in Stre e t, Suite 401 • Ma dison, W I 53703 • (608) 266-1304 • le g.council@le gis.wisconsin.gov • http://www.le gis.wisconsin.gov/lc Memo published: February 12, 2024 Contact: Emily Hicks, Staff Attorney 2023 Assembly Bill 140 Assembly Amendments 1 and 2 2023 ASSEMBLY BILL 140 Under current law, the Minnesota-Wisconsin student reciprocity agreement is overseen and administered by the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) for both the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) and the University of Wisconsin System (UWS). 2023 Assembly Bill 140 requires that HEAB provide the designated body representing Minnesota notice of the termination of the Minnesota-Wisconsin student reciprocity agreement with that termination to be effective July 1, 2023. Further, under the bill, HEAB and the Board of Regents (BoR) of UWS must each negotiate new agreements with the State of Minnesota, with those agreements to be effective July 1, 2023. Specifically, the agreement that must be negotiated by HEAB, called the Minnesota-Wisconsin public vocational school student reciprocity, must provide for reciprocity between WTCS and public vocational schools in Minnesota. The agreement negotiated by BoR, called the Minnesota-University of Wisconsin System student reciprocity agreement (“MN-UWS reciprocity agreement”), must provide for reciprocity between UWS and public institutions of higher education in Minnesota. The bill provides that payments for reimbursement obligations under the MN-UWS reciprocity agreement must be paid from the UWS’s general program operations appropriation, under s. 20.285 (1) (gb), Stats. Finally, the provisions of the bill take effect July 1, 2023. ASSEMBLY AMENDMENT 1 Assembly Amendment 1 removes the requirement that payments for reimbursement obligations under the MN-UWS reciprocity agreement be paid from UWS’s general program operations appropriation under s. 20.285 (1) (gb), Stats. ASSEMBLY AMENDMENT 2 Assembly Amendment 2 removes the requirement that the current reciprocity agreement must terminate on July 1, 2023, as well as the requirement that the new agreements become effective on that same date, and replaces them with a requirement that HEAB and BoR provide the designated body representing Minnesota with a notice of intent to modify the MN-UWS reciprocity agreement. The amendment removes the July 1, 2023 effective date from the provisions of the bill. As a result, under Assembly Amendment 2, the provisions of the bill will take effect the day after publication of the act. - 2 - BILL HISTORY Representative Zimmerman offered Assembly Amendment 1 on January 4, 2024 and Assembly Amendment 2 on February 2, 2024. On February 7, 2024, the Joint Committee on Finance recommended adoption of Assembly Amendment 1 and Assembly Amendment 2 and passage of the bill, as amended, on votes of Ayes, 15; Noes, 0. For a full history of the bill, visit the Legislature’s bill history page. EH:kp;jal