The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this at 4:38 pm:
The state Senate abruptly sent the state's budget-repair bill Wednesday to a committee of legislators from both parties...The move puts the bill in front of a committee of six legislative leaders. They will re-craft the bill and then send it to the Assembly and Senate for votes. The bill could not be amended in either house.
What changes would be made remains unclear. Senators took up the measure with no notice and largely declined comment after the vote. They have scheduled a conference committee for 6 p.m.
http://www.jsonline.com/...
The newspaper further reports:
The senators on the committee will be Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) and Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona). Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) is on the committee but it is unclear what other representatives are. The move came as Miller shot down an offer from Gov. Scott Walker to resolve the state's budget impasse, as lawmakers learned they may have more time to resolve the situation and as Republicans fined Democrats boycotting the Senate.
Apparently they are stripping the collective bargaining part of the legislation from the bill, and will vote on the collective bargaining part separately. Since the collective bargaining part of the bill is not about the budget, this separated bill could be passed in the legislature by simple majority.
This is the nuclear option that we have all been wondering about and if Walker would implement it.
It wasn't about the budget after all. What a surprise.
I will update this as more information becomes available.