Madison - Milwaukee taxpayers once again would have to pay most fired police officers while they appeal their dismissals under a provision Republicans tucked into the state budget in the wee hours Friday.

"All this bill does is allow the unscrupulous officers we fire for untruthfulness to game the system at taxpayer expense," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said. "It is well known that officers in that position delay justice as long as possible, collecting money for no work."

The provision was written by Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and passed on a party-line 11-4 vote.

The Milwaukee Police Association union supported Republican candidates in the last election and was exempted from the new limits on collective bargaining passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker. The measure is now tied up in the courts. Republican lawmakers are also moving to undo city requirements that police officers live in Milwaukee.

Vos said the measure on police pay was adopted because Milwaukee is the only city that allows its police chief to fire officers "for basically no cause."

"That's an awful lot of power we don't grant to any other police chief in the state," Vos said.

Flynn said state law says he can't fire an officer without cause.

Fired police officers elsewhere in Wisconsin don't get paid, though outside Milwaukee, fire and police commissions, not chiefs, do the firing.

Police officers in Milwaukee are most often fired for lying, according to records. The proposal, passed at 12:30 a.m. Friday, would require taxpayers to continue paying those fired officers.

"It's probably not a coincidence it's the middle of the night and we're dealing with this," Rep. Tamara Grigsby (D-Milwaukee) remarked.

Under the measure, fired officers including Ladmarald Cates would continue to be paid. Cates is under federal investigation after a woman said he raped her while responding to her 9-1-1 call for help.

Flynn fired Cates in December for lying and idling and loafing, violations of department rules.

Cates initially claimed he did not have sex with the woman but later admitted it, saying it was consensual, according to the Fire and Police Commission complaint against him. Federal agents are investigating the case.

For years, the practice of paying fired cops drew controversy in Milwaukee, the only city in Wisconsin that was required to do so under state law until it was changed.

Under the old law, fired Milwaukee officers remained on the payroll for an average of nine months, in part because of lengthy appeals by the powerful police union, according to a Journal Sentinel investigation. Some fired officers collected paychecks for years.

The issue came to the public's attention after the police beating of Frank Jude Jr. in 2004. The three officers central to beating Jude collected nearly $500,000 in pay and benefits while they awaited trial. They were not removed from the payroll until they were convicted. State law says felons cannot be police officers.

Legislators changed the law first in 2008 - cutting off pay only for officers fired for conduct that also resulted in felony charges or Class A or Class B misdemeanor charges.

The following year, lawmakers went further, cutting off pay for any fired Milwaukee officer. Fired officers can appeal termination to the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, which has the power to overturn terminations. The law requires that reinstated officers receive back pay.

Rollback to 2008 law

Early Friday, Republicans who run the committee voted to roll back the law to the 2008 version.

Officers fired for breaking department rules or engaging in less serious criminal behavior would be required to be paid while they appeal.

Cates is one of five Milwaukee police officers who have pending appeals before the Fire and Police Commission, four for lying, according to records. Under the proposal, officers fired for lying would continue to be paid.

Patrick Curley, chief of staff to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, said the change passed Friday would take away authority from the chief and burden taxpayers.

"Officers aren't going to be fired for minor infractions anyway," Curley said. "Under this proposal, all infractions are treated equally, and we have a concern about that."

Milwaukee Police Association President Detective Michael Crivello did not immediately return a call for comment. The union represents 1,800 police officers.

The union's biggest victory in Madison may have been the 1980 law that, among other things, required the city to pay fired officers until their appeals were exhausted.

Between 1990 and 2006, the city paid more than $2.5 million in wages and benefits to fired officers, according to the newspaper's analysis. Officers who lost appeals did not have to repay the salary they received since termination.

Bargaining limits

The measure passed Friday also put some limits on union negotiations over health care by firefighters and police officers - a move that could further inflame the fight over collective bargaining for public workers.

The plan would prevent police officers and firefighters from collectively bargaining over the design and choice of their health care plans. Current employees would continue be able to bargain over how much they pay for health care.

But under another change the committee made, newly hired police officers and firefighters would have to pay more for their pensions and health care. In March, the Legislature passed a bill requiring most public workers - but not police, troopers and firefighters - to pay more for their health care and pensions.

That measure remains tied up in court, but Republicans say they are committed to making public workers pay more for their benefits. The measure the committee adopted Friday would continue to spare current police officers, troopers and firefighters from the requirement to pay more, but would require future hires to pay the larger amounts.

The measure was folded into the state budget that the Legislature is expected to pass this month.

Gina Barton of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report