Vos Expresses Support For UW Tuition Cap, Increases In State Park Fees

Assembly Speaker Discusses Budget Proposals At Tuesday News Conference

By
Shawn Johnson/WPR

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos held a news conference Tuesday in which he expressed support for a cap on University of Wisconsin tuition increases, as well as funding changes for state parks and a prescription drug program.

The conference was held the day before the Legislature’s budget committee will begin voting on different pieces of the budget proposal.

Vos said he supports Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cap future tuition increases to no more than the annual change in the consumer price index. Walker formally unveiled the inflation-based tuition cap on Monday in what’s known as an “errata memo,” which is normally reserved for technical changes to the budget. The inflation-based cap would take effect in the 2017 academic year. Walker’s budget would freeze tuition until then.

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“Having a tuition cap is good, because it takes the worry and the stress out of worrying about an 8, 9, 10 percent tuition increase for parents across the state,” he said.

But even with the new cap, Vos said he opposes Walker’s plan to give the UW more autonomy, saying that the creation of a public authority would be questionable “when so many people have concerns about the regents actually using the authority in general.”

Vos also said he supports a recent vote by the UW Board of Regents to raise tuition on students from other states and graduate students.

Vos also touched on a budget proposal to cut all state tax funding to the state park system. While Vos did not say whether he supports that move, he did say he supports raising user fees.

“I mean, I utilize state parks. I think they’re a good value. So if we had to increase the cost for a family to use a state park all across the state for an entire year, that’s probably a reasonable place to be,” he said.

Vos said he’s also fine with corporate sponsorship of the parks: “We’re hoping we’re going to get that for the Bucks arena, so I certainly think having that for other state amenities isn’t a bad idea, either,” he said.

Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp did not rule out corporate naming rights for state parks when she spoke to the Legislature’s budget committee last month.

Vos also said Republicans might more than double the premiums Wisconsin charges for its SeniorCare prescription drug program. Republican lawmakers have said they oppose Walker’s plan to force SeniorCare participants to apply for Medicare Part D, but Vos said he’s open to raising the program’s annual premium from $30 to as much as $84.

“Five or seven dollars a month for a really good coverage plan I don’t think is an unreasonable place to be. It still would be literally one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest plan for seniors in the state, so it might be a reasonable compromise, somewhere in there,” said Vos.

Vos also said that encouraging people to sign up for Medicare Part D while also leaving SeniorCare as an option is a reasonable route to take.