For three weeks, the Wisconsin Senate has been unable to take action on a controversial measure that strips public employee unions of many rights and powers because Senate Democrats fled to Illinois in a procedural move to deny quorum.  However, today the Senate managed to get around that by removing the financial portions of the bill, and bills that don’t involve spending have a lower quorum threshold.

The new law strips public employee unions of the right collectively bargain for anything other than wages, while capping raises at the rate of inflation.  It also requires them to cover a larger percentage of their pension accounts and health care premiums, and it prohibits unions from having mandatory membership with dues deducted from paychecks.