Madison -- The Legislature will put Gov. Scott Walker’s limits on collective bargaining into the state budget Tuesday if the state Supreme Court hasn’t ruled on the matter by then, Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) said Monday.

“If need be, we are going to have to pass collective bargaining again,” Fitzgerald said at a Capitol news conference. “My caucus is more solid on that collective bargaining vote than they ever have been.”

But he said he does not believe lawmakers will have to take that vote because he thinks the court will act soon. “I’m an optimist,” he said. “I still think they might rule yet.”

The Legislature in March voted to eliminate most collective bargaining for nearly all public workers, but a Dane County judge blocked the implementation of the law because she found a committee violated the open meetings law in advancing the bill to the Senate.

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week on the case. It could rule within hours or take weeks to decide whether to even accept the case.

Fitzgerald said he expects debate in the Assembly to last a day or two. He said the Assembly will pass the budget in extraordinary session, which will give Republicans the power to immediately send the budget to the Senate once debate is complete.

“We are trying to reach out to the Senate so we can make this the speediest process possible,” he said.

The Senate is also controlled by Republicans, and run by Fitzgerald’s brother, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).

Jeff Fitzgerald said the two houses are working together so that all amendments the two houses want are incorporated into the Assembly version of the bill. That way, the budget could go straight from the Assembly to the Senate to Walker.

But Jeff Fitzgerald acknowledged senators could make further changes to the budget that would require it to go back to the Assembly before heading to the governor.

While Republicans have acknowledged some changes may be made to the budget, they have said they will largely stick with the plan the Joint Finance Committee spent weeks drafting.

“We’re going to stop spending more than we have coming in,” Jeff Fitzgerald said. “This is about getting some fiscal sanity back to Wisconsin. And for the first time you begin to see a party that doesn’t just kick the can down the road.”

But Democrats said the budget is an assault on working families because of its cuts to education and local governments.

Assistant Assembly Minority Leader Donna Seidel (D-Wausau) said she was concerned about the use of the extraordinary session to pass the budget.

“It appears to be part of their strategy that anything can happen and anything can be rushed through with little or no scrutiny,” she said.