Attempts to provide domestic partner benefits for all state workers and collective bargaining rights for University of Wisconsin System faculty and staff were removed from the state budget Friday.

The policy removals came after negotiations between leaders of the Legislature's budget committee, over which nonfiscal proposals made by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle will be addressed in the budget.

The Joint Finance Committee co-chairs agreed to remove 48 policies from the budget, but not one was as important to UW as domestic partner benefits.

"This is simply an issue of competitiveness for our university," said David Giroux, UW System spokesperson. "We need to offer the same benefits other universities are offering."

UW-Madison is the only Big Ten school that doesn't offer domestic partner benefits. University officials have advocated for the benefits as a tool to better recruit and retain high-profile faculty, who often bring millions of dollars to the university through research grants.

The domestic partner benefits policy was effectively eliminated when co-chairs Sen. Russ Decker, D-Weston, and Rep. Kitty Rhoades, R-Hudson, agreed to tackle the budget by starting from the previous year's base budget rather than Doyle's proposed budget for certain state agencies.

The benefits were proposed through the Department of Employee Trust Funds, not the UW System. Most funding for state agencies will remain as the governor proposed, which, for the UW System, means it will keep the Doyle-approved $21 million Growth Agenda.

The Board of Regents has supported the authority to provide domestic partner benefits, Giroux said, but has remained neutral on collective bargaining rights and the ability to form faculty and staff unions.

Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, said the policies may be worthy of discussion but should be proposed as standalone legislation.

"These are policy items — major shifts in state policy — that don't need to be tucked along in the budget," Suder said. "These are policies that should receive their own public hearing."

The UW System could still receive domestic partner benefits — the new policy would require separate legislation — but it is a much more difficult route to pass. The Assembly, controlled by Republicans, has adamantly opposed the proposal.

But setting aside the removed policies, the Joint Finance Committee will now begin much broader talks on the budget this week. A controversial point of the budget will likely be some of Doyle's new sources of revenue, such as taxes on oil companies and the proposed $1.25 cigarette tax increase.

"We will be battling on taxes and tax and fee increases," Suder said. "That will really be the sticking point in the budget."

After the Joint Finance Committee — composed of eight Democrats and eight Republicans — approves its version of the budget, the bill will move to the Senate and Assembly, where each body will likely pass different versions that will be resolved in a conference committee.

After the budget leaves the Legislature, Doyle may use his broad veto power to further alter certain appropriations and eliminate certain language. The budget is supposed to take effect July 1, but it is possible the process may extend past that date.