[Edit - June 6, 2011 - 8:52 PM] Love you all!  Thanks.  WiscNet has our official “call to action” along with some tips/talking points for you legislators over at http://www.wiscnet.net.  It’s going to take each and every one of us to pull this off!

[Edit - June 8, 2011 - 6:53 AM] Thanks to @news3jessica for the great report on the news last night.  Link.

Attention Wisconsin…

Please call your Wisconsin Assembly and Senate legislators this week (search for your representative here) and ask them to remove sections 23 through 26 of the UW System Omnibus Motion introduced by Senator Harsdorf and Representative Strachota. No matter where in Wisconsin you live, we need you to contact your legislators ASAP.

Wisconsin cannot afford to return another $39 million in federal broadband stimulus money, especially after it returned $23 million earlier this year.

WiscNet, a 501c3 non-profit membership organization, relies on all aspects of University of Wisconsin, and vice-versa. These types of interagency collaborations promote consolidation of public services, cut costs, add jobs, and result in increased efficiencies due to our large scale.

Driving a wedge between WiscNet and the University of Wisconsin will result in significantly higher costs for all 450+ WiscNet members throughout Wisconsin. The cost of Internet access for all schools, libraries, municipalities, universities, and colleges will increase dramatically.

We need you to help to contact your legislators and ask them to eliminate sections 23 – 26 from the language contained in the UW System Omnibus motion headed into the budget bill.

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I’ve been at a complete loss as to how to describe the dramatic shift my “professional” life just took. I continually write and rewrite the story so that I can simply point people at a url and say “…this.” Jeff Bartig, one of our network engineers, did a great job on explaining it on Facebook. In the interest of staying focused on the hours, days, weeks ahead (read: saving WiscNet and a job I absolutely love), I’m going to steal liberally from Jeff’s post in order to tell the backstory.

On Friday, June 3rd, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee passed an amendment to the Wisconsin budget that will devastate WiscNet, my employer. It was a complete surprise to all of us. Four bullets tagged to the end of the legislation impacting the University of Wisconsin. Four bullets that have been completely overlooked by the media in a session that continues to spur big headlines. Four bullets that threaten to completely snatch away a job that I have fallen deeply in love with.

Boring Contextual Information About Me (Skip This Paragraph if You Like)

For the last 3 years, “professional life” has focused on WiscNet, Wisconsin’s Research and Education network. Most everybody is unfamiliar with WiscNet. It is a 501c3 non-profit member organization closely affiliated with the University of Wisconsin. WiscNet was started in 1989 and extended the first Internet access into Wisconsin to its initial 24 members. Since then, WiscNet has grown to over 450 members, including all 26 of the UW campuses, all of the tech colleges, most of the K12 school districts, most of the library systems, state government, local governments, non-profits, and health care. WiscNet is a non-profit cooperative, whose members work together to more efficiently and cost effectively solve our common problems. WiscNet’s tagline is “Connecting People, Connecting Strategies”. While the nature of what we do appears very technical, the spirit of WiscNet involves people connections. That’s what I get to do. Building and tending “people networks” is something I’ve dedicated both my personal and professional life to.

Here’s Where It Gets Really Interesting

Here are the details. The legislation starts by requiring the University of Wisconsin to return $39M in federal broadband stimulus money it received in August 2010. This project is well underway and is going to help out schools, libraries, colleges, universities, local governments, public safety, and health care in several communities across Wisconsin. Seriously. This after Wisconsin already returned the first $23M of broadband money earlier this year that was intended to help Wisconsin’s schools and libraries.

The legislation also cripples WiscNet by prohibiting the University of Wisconsin from hosting WiscNet and providing services to WiscNet. We contract with UW-Madison and UW-System for engineering services, payroll, HR, and business office sorts of things to keep costs down for our greater membership organization. This legislation prohibits the University from participating in partnerships or memberships in any organization or business that provides any type of telecommunications or IT services. This legislation is so broad that it will kill all IT collaboration any of the UW campuses are involved with. This includes Internet2, CIC, EDUCAUSE, BOREAS, and Northern Tier, just to list a few.

Furthermore, the University of Wisconsin’s budget will be reduced by any monies that have been spent in the past on the broadband stimulus grants. $1.4M UW’s budget that normally gets spent on buying service through WiscNet will be deleted. The legislation wants to not only cripple WiscNet, but also prevents the UW campuses from connecting to the Internet to support its research and education needs.

The Wisconsin Legislature’s agenda to cut costs, add jobs, increase efficiency, and promote consolidation are precisely the same things WiscNet has been doing for the past 20 years. WiscNet has been a shinning example of interagency collaboration creating better efficiency, better service, and lower costs for Wisconsin. The broadband stimulus grants are another exemplary example of interagency collaboration. We are making wise one-time infrastructure investments that will pay off over the next 20 to 40 years in efficiencies, better service, and lower long-term costs. If legislators understood this, I truly believe they would be finding ways to promote these activities, rather than kill them.

That’s where things stand now. This legislation is headed into conference committee this week and then to the floors of the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. The next hours, days, and weeks bring an interesting set of personal and professional challenges. We’ll be working relentlessly to rally support and tell our story.

Most importantly, thanks for your attention. Whether our connection is personal or professional, strong or weak, old or new, I’ve learned that these sorts of relationships are important beyond words. I’m going to need all of you in some way over the next few months.

[Edit - June 6, 2011 - 8:52 PM] Love you all!  Thanks.  WiscNet has our official “call to action” along with some tips/talking points for you legislators over at http://www.wiscnet.net.  It’s going to take each and every one of us to pull this off!

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Your @ijohnpederson Guide Tweet Guide to Important Issues

Big telecommunications corporations are taking something away from Wisconsin. Again.

Wisconsin communities are losing an important tool to create 21st century jobs within their cities and towns.

These moves will set networking back 20 years for Wisconsin. We are already behind and cannot afford to slip.

Legislation will drive a wedge between UW-Extension, UW-Campuses and the communities they depend on.

Wisconsin and our nation are well behind in advanced communications. These moves will cripple both.

Lack of infrastructure and high tech options are why jobs are going overseas. We know how to fix this.

Supporting research requires products that are not available in today’s telecommunications marketplace. Wisconsin relies on these networks as one of the tools to accomplish its mission. This legislation shuts research down.

Education needs products that are not available in today’s telecommunications marketplace. This legislation rips away critical options for schools.

The 21st century school needs access to the same technologies available to UW-Madison. This legislation cuts them off.

Schools need educational technology options at low prices. We accomplish this by sharing. This is going away.

Rural healthcare needs infrastructure that is not for sale. Working with the UW and UW-Extension provides cost affordable options to bring big city healthcare to small towns.

Cities need 21st century tools to efficiently share services and have access to experts. Cities will lose their University of Wisconsin partners.

WiscNet is a K20 buying and education services cooperative that saves the state money. It is not a network.

K20 education needs to work together – not apart – now more than ever. This too is going away.

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Here are the four bullets from the legislation as they stand after passing the Joint Finance Committee on June 3rd, 2011.  We are expected to be in a period of anywhere from 2 weeks (typical) to 2 days (atypical) before this language actually gets stuffed into an actual “bill” that moves to the Assembly and Senate.

23. Telecommunication Services: Prohibit the Board of Regents, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW Extension, directly or indirectly, from doing any of the following: (a) receiving funds from any award from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Building Community Capacity through Broadband (BCCB) project; (b) disbursing, spending, loaning, granting, or in any other way distributing or committing to distribute any funds received with respect to, budgeted to, or allocated for the BCCB project; and (c) participating in the planning, organization, funding, implementation or operation of the BCCB project. In addition, requires the Board of Regents to reduce the amount expended on telecommunications services during the 2011-12 biennium by the total value of any funds, goods, or services that have been or will be distributed by the or on behalf of the Board of Regents, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW Extension on or after May 1, 2011, to any participant, contractor, or supplier related to the BCCB project.

24. Modify current law to specify that the Board of Regents shall not offer, resell, or provide telecommunications services, directly or indirectly, that are available from a private telecommunications carrier to the general public or to any other public or private entity. Define telecommunications services as including data and voice over Internet protocol services, broadband access and transport, information technology services, Internet access services, and unlit fiber.

25. Prohibit the Board of Regents, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW Extension from becoming or remaining a member, shareholder, or partner in or with any company, corporation, non-profit association, joint venture, cooperative, partnership, consortium, or any other individual or entity that offers, resells, or provides telecommunications services or information technology services to members of the general public, or to any private entity, or to any public entity other than the Board, the UW System, any UW institution, or the UW Extension.

26. Specify that WiscNet could no longer be a department or office within the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology beginning on July 1, 2012, and delete $1,400,000 PR from the UW System related to WiscNet in 2012-13. Require the Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct a program audit and a financial audit of the Board of Regents’ use of telecommunication services and relationship with WiscNet.