LRB-5212/1

ARG&JAM:km/eg/an/cs

2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE

2021 Senate BILL 744

November 30, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Roth and Darling, cosponsored by Representatives Murphy, Armstrong, Gundrum and Allen. Referred to Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges.

SB744,1,6 An Act to renumber and amend 36.65 (1); and to create 36.11 (61), 36.11 (62), 36.11 (63), 36.65 (1) (b) and 36.65 (2) (j) of the statutes; relating to: prohibiting foreign missions of China at University of Wisconsin institutions and University of Wisconsin System involvement with Communist Chinese recruitment or propaganda programs and requiring the University of Wisconsin System to report funding received from foreign missions of China.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill requires the University of Wisconsin System to do all of the following:

1. Ensure that no designated foreign mission of China is established at or recognized by a UW institution after the bill's effective date. A “designated foreign mission of China” is defined as an entity or operation designated by the federal Office of Foreign Missions as a foreign mission of the People's Republic of China within the United States, including the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, the Asia Society Chinese Language Partner Network, and the Center for Language Exchange and Cooperation. If a designated foreign mission of China has already been established at or recognized by a UW institution on the bill's effective date, the UW System must develop and implement a plan to ensure that the designated foreign mission of China does not remain established at or recognized by the institution after approximately one year from the bill's effective date.

2. Annually identify the amount and source of funding received from a designated foreign mission of China. This information must be included in an annual report that current law requires to be submitted to the governor and the legislature. With respect to UW-Madison, the report must be submitted by the UW-Madison rather than the UW System.

3. Identify, end, and provide a report regarding any “cultural exchange” programs the UW System has that are consistent with those identified by the U.S. State Department as Chinese Communist Party propaganda tools.

The bill also prohibits UW System employees and students from participating in Communist Chinese recruitment programs. The bill defines “Communist Chinese recruitment program” as a program established by the government of China, including the Thousand Talents Program, the Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Program, and the National High-End Foreign Experts Recruitment Plan, to recruit or partner with scientists, scholars, and other experts by offering them benefits or privileges, such as concurrent or short-term appointments at Chinese institutions or Chinese research laboratories. Under the bill, participation means entering into a written agreement with a Chinese institution, Chinese research laboratory, or the government of China that confers upon a person benefits or privileges associated with, or membership in, a Communist Chinese recruitment program. The definition of “government of China” includes an instrumentality of the People's Republic of China or of the Communist Party of China. The bill creates certain disclosure requirements and requires any UW System employee or student who is participating in a Communist Chinese recruitment program on the effective date of the bill to terminate his or her participation within six months after the bill's effective date, subject to an extension of no more than six additional months if certain requirements are met.

For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: