A state lawmaker announced plans Monday to introduce a bill allowing state colleges to refuse employment to convicted felons.

The announcement came in response to a state audit released last week disclosing the University of Wisconsin System employed 40 felons as of the September 2005 payroll.

According to bill author Rep. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, the measure would give the UW System — as well as the technical college system — the discretion to employ or fire individuals based on their past criminal activity.

"What this is, is a tool," Petrowski said. "We're saying it is really up to the schools, the administration, the board to make that determination."

Petrowski added the bill would not require state colleges to refuse employment to felons, but would simply offer administrators the option without considering it employment discrimination.

UW System officials did not return calls as of press time to comment on the proposal.

While Petrowski views the measure as a means of providing state colleges with much-needed local control, some question whether the means constitute the ends.

The bill, some speculate, may promote adverse effects, damaging Wisconsin's record of fair employment.

Under current state law, employment discrimination based on an individual's conviction record is prohibited by the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act.

According to Petrowski, the bill, if passed, would create an exemption to the act in order to provide state colleges with the means necessary to keep students safe.

But Carousel Bayrd, a former UW-Madison lecturer and current civil rights attorney, said the bill might indirectly cause racial and socioeconomic discrimination.

"Indirectly, by having a law that doesn't have protection for convicted felons, you're disproportionately affecting minorities," Bayrd, who is also a member of the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission, said. "[Racial and economic] minorities in general are more likely to get convicted than whites."

Petrowski, however, stressed the special circumstances of college campuses, adding their atmospheres merit an exception.

"I think that we entrust the students in this atmosphere … to the school board, to the Board of Regents and to the administration in the university system," he said. "I think this just gives them the tools to do their job."

The bill is currently seeking legislative cosponsors, after which it will be forwarded to the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee for review.