Madison — Pressure ratcheted up on absent Senate Democrats on Thursday, as they were found in contempt by GOP senators and Gov. Scott Walker said he will start sending layoff notices to state workers Friday if the standoff over his budget-repair bill isn't resolved.

Along with the finding of contempt came an order that law enforcement detain Democrats and bring them to the Senate chambers - an order that critics said was prohibited under the state constitution.

Walker said he hoped not to lay off anyone but would have to issue the notices because his plan to fill a hole in the state budget is stalled. Democrats have said that Walker has other options and does not need to resort to layoffs.

"Even today I hold out some hope that this can be resolved by the Senate coming back," Walker said in an interview Thursday. "But by the end of the day tomorrow, we have a legal and a moral obligation to start forewarning people."

At the same time, the Republican governor said his administration was in talks with Democrats, and he also showed a sign for the first time in the budget crisis that he might be willing to make at least one marginal change to his budget-repair bill. But Walker remained firm on the core of the proposal, which would eliminate most collective bargaining for public employee unions.

Meanwhile, one key Democratic senator involved in talks with Republicans said he no longer believed that his side could win over enough GOP senators to defeat Walker's bill.

And late Thursday, Republicans canceled Friday's session day, which they said was meant to help restore a sense of normalcy to the Capitol.

Warning of 1,500 layoffs

Walker said he would seek the layoffs of up to 1,500 state employees in an attempt to save $30 million to help address the state's fiscal problems. He said he would try to protect workers in around-the-clock jobs such as prison guards and medical staff.

All 14 Senate Democrats have been out of the state since Feb. 17 to prevent passage of the budget-repair bill. At least 20 senators must be present to pass the bill, but Republicans hold just 19 seats.

Walker's bill would require most public workers to pay more for their health care and pensions, eliminate most collective bargaining, and give the governor broad powers to reshape the state's health care programs for the poor and elderly. The provisions on bargaining rights have prompted unprecedented protests for nearly three weeks and put the Capitol in near lockdown.

Republicans voted, 19-0, to find the Democrats in contempt of the Senate and issued orders to Wisconsin law enforcement to detain them.

"We simply cannot have democracy be held hostage because the minority wants to prove a point," said Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).

The Senate voted in the morning that absent Democrats would be in contempt of a Senate rule requiring attendance if they did not return by 4 p.m. When they didn't return, the Senate reconvened and Fitzgerald signed for each missing senator an "order to detain (in the nature of a warrant to arrest and deliver)."

Fitzgerald said that Republicans were initially "nervous" about taking such a step, but that Democrats have created a "constitutional crisis."

"This is not about a budget-repair bill or about politics," Fitzgerald said. "This is much bigger than that, and the minority party has forced our hand. . . . They're insulting the very fabric of our representative democracy."

The state constitution says lawmakers can be compelled to attend legislative sessions but does not spell out how that can be done. But the constitution also says legislators can be arrested only for crimes, treason or breach of the peace.

"The Wisconsin Senate has absolutely no authority to order any of its members arrested or taken into custody in order to compel their attendance," said a legal memo from attorneys Lester Pines and Susan Crawford.

"This strikes me as more chest thumping than anything else," said attorney Jeremy Levinson. "They can't throw out the rule of law just because they're throwing a tantrum."

Levinson and Pines have been active in Democratic politics, and Crawford worked in the administration of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.

When asked if the resolution was lawful, Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he had not reviewed it.

Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said Democrats were united against Walker's bill and the tactics he is using.

"They're just going around the bend on this stuff," he said. "I just think it makes them look like bullies, look more divisive, than they have been already."

Dems need 3 GOP votes

Democrats have insisted they want to see changes to the collective bargaining portions of the bill, but to do that they would need to win support from three GOP senators because Republicans control the house 19-14.

Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) is the only Republican who is criticizing the bill.

"All I know is, we're not talking. We're wasting valuable time about collective bargaining, which I don't ever remember being a part of the last election whatsoever. But most of all, you know, to me, this just looks like the classic overreach we see every two years," Schultz said in an interview Tuesday on WEKZ-AM (1260) in Monroe.

Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) said late Thursday night that he no longer believed Democrats would be able to persuade two more Republicans to join Schultz and block the bill in the Senate. Jauch said opponents of the bill need to look for other ways to protect union rights.

"In order to kill this bill we could never go home. That's not practical and most people realize it," Jauch said.

Jauch said Walker was now actively trying to find a solution to the standoff. But he said now it was more difficult to find a compromise since the state Assembly has voted to pass the bill in its current form, committing Republicans in that house to it.

Walker said he has been working through Fitzgerald to negotiate with the Democrats, but he declined in an interview in his Capitol office to offer details of what Democrats or his administration had offered.

The governor repeated his long-held stance that he needs to keep in the bill provisions that would save local governments and schools money and help them absorb the roughly $1 billion in cuts that he is proposing in state aid over the next two years. He has said those provisions include the cuts in worker benefits and the overall changes to union bargaining laws.

But Walker acknowledged Thursday at least one provision in his bill wouldn't necessarily save local governments money. That measure would require unions to hold a vote with workers every year and win at least 51% of the vote to recertify and remain active.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said he came away from a meeting with Walker on Thursday with hope that an agreement could be reached. He said Walker was talking to Senate Democrats and understood the two sides needed to come up with a "win-win" solution to bring them back.

Discipline for senators

Fitzgerald said citizens who see absent Democrats in Wisconsin could report them to police.

Once they return, Democrats would be able to challenge the contempt finding. But Fitzgerald also said that even after Democrats return, Republicans would consider possible discipline for them, such as reprimanding them, censuring them or expelling them from the Senate.

Expelling senators appears unlikely because it would require a two-thirds vote - the Republican majority is well short of that level. Reprimanding or censuring senators would require a simple majority.

Fitzgerald said the contempt resolution was in part a response to a judge's decision Wednesday not to immediately order Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) to attend the Senate.

Oconto County Circuit Judge Jay N. Conley ruled Wednesday that Holperin appears to be violating a rule that requires senators to attend sessions. But he wrote that it is the Senate - not the courts - that enforce those rules.

"The Senate must enforce Senate rules, if it chooses to do so. It can, also, ignore its own rules, if it chooses to do so," Conley wrote.

The case was filed Tuesday by Kevin Barthel, a constituent of Holperin's who lives in Lakewood, and is being financed in part by the Wisconsin Club for Growth. R.J. Johnson, who served as a political strategist for Walker's campaign, is a key adviser to the Club for Growth.

Lead counsel for the case is Jim Troupis, who also advised the Senate on the contempt resolution and is working on the new maps they are drawing for legislative districts.

The resolution is the latest attempt to put pressure on Democrats to return to Wisconsin. If they miss the next session day, they could be fined $100 each, and would face similar fines for missing future sessions. Republicans have also decided absent Democrats can no longer have their paychecks directly deposited into their bank accounts and will have to pick them up from Fitzgerald on the floor of the Senate.

Daniel Bice and Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel staff, writing in Milwaukee, contributed to this report.