MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The state Assembly has approved a bill that would allow University of Wisconsin institutions to perform classified national security research.
Currently UW System and UW-Madison policies prohibit researchers from undertaking work on campus that can’t be published, preventing them from engaging in classified government work on campus.
The bill would allow such work on campus if students’ educational needs are protected and the institutions make an annual report to the Legislature’s budget committee on how many classified contracts were considered.
The Assembly approved the bill on a voice vote Thursday. It now goes to the state Senate.
The measure initially would have exempted all UW research materials from the state’s open records law. The bill’s author, Republican Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, dropped that language after open government advocates cried foul.
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