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Madison - Republicans who run the Legislature say they are putting jobs at the top of their agenda for the fall, but they are getting off to a slow start.

Little is planned for Tuesday, their first day back since a wave of unprecedented recall elections narrowed the Republican majority to one vote in the Senate. Two new Democrats will be sworn in on the Senate floor, but that house will not approve any legislation. The Assembly has a light agenda that day and will not be back again until October.

But leaders said they are focused on advancing major legislation later this fall on venture capital and mining in an effort to help create jobs.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said the Senate is slow to get started because of the recalls. Senators didn't have time to work on legislation as they focused on campaigns, and leaders had to reshuffle committees after the elections reshaped the makeup of the Senate and narrowed the Republican majority to one vote.

"It literally is going to be kind of jump-starting the Senate agenda after the recalls are behind us," Fitzgerald said. "It really took us off track, which might have been the goal of some of the people who launched them."

The slowdown in the Senate has affected the other house. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), the brother of the Senate majority leader, said state representatives got more work done on legislation than senators this summer, but must now find Senate sponsors for their proposals.

But Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said he was disappointed the Assembly wasn't starting the session by doing more to create jobs.

"For the whole month of September we're going to be in session for one day," Barca said. "It's woefully inadequate. I think we can work more than one day a month to advance an agenda to put people back to work."

Barca said Democrats would work with Republicans on the venture capital and mining bills, but they want to do more to boost the economy. Republicans have neglected Democratic proposals on the economy like one that would expand an existing program to provide tax credits for creating jobs, he said.

Impact of recalls

This summer, six Republican senators and three Democratic senators faced recall elections because of the positions they took on a new law approved by Republicans to curtail collective bargaining for most public workers. Two Republicans lost, narrowing the Republican majority from 19-14 to 17-16. It was the biggest set of state legislative recalls in the nation's history, and it kept relationships between the two parties bitter.

Half the senators and all the members of the Assembly were not eligible to be recalled this year because they are protected from recalls during the first year of their terms. However, they could be recalled in 2012, and both Fitzgeralds said they were worried more recall efforts could disrupt the work of the Legislature.

"If we start getting recalls again, it can slow the whole process," Jeff Fitzgerald said.

Barca and other Democrats said it would be up to average citizens, rather than party leaders, to decide whether to recall anyone.

"The party's not contemplating it, (but) that doesn't mean it's not going to happen," said Graeme Zielinski, a state Democratic Party spokesman. "There are still people out there who are pretty energized."

In the Senate, committees will need a couple of weeks to get moving on legislation again, Scott Fitzgerald said. He has not yet set a date for senators to come back to the floor after Tuesday's mostly ceremonial meeting.

The leaders from both houses said creating jobs was their top priority, but Scott Fitzgerald noted one of the senators defeated in the recall elections, Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), had been the chairman of the Senate Economic Development Committee. Hopper had also been the lead sponsor of the venture capital bill.

An early version of the venture capital legislation proved controversial because it would have provided $200 million in tax breaks to insurance companies and given hundreds of millions of dollars to out-of-state financial companies. Scott Fitzgerald said senators have not decided yet how they will reformulate it.

He said he would like to pass the bill by the first week of November, but said if it is not ready by then it could be passed early next year.

The bill to loosen mining regulations would help attract an open pit iron-ore mine in northern Wisconsin. The mine would employ about 700 people in its first phase, but the company says it could help create a total of more than 2,800 jobs. No legislation has been introduced, but an eventual bill would differ from a draft that circulated earlier this year, Scott Fitzgerald said. The draft came under fire from environmentalists for rolling back environmental safeguards and public reviews.

Scott Fitzgerald said he is considering creating a special committee to look solely at the mining bill. The committee may also include members of the Assembly, he said.

"I'd like to do it this fall," Scott Fitzgerald said. "(But) I don't want put an artificial deadline on the committee."

Jeff Fitzgerald said he wants to work closely with the Senate on the mining bill, which would allow it to pass more quickly. The Assembly would be willing to make more regulatory cuts than the Senate likely would, so the two houses will have to work together, he said.

Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar), whose district includes the mine site, and some other Democrats have shown interest in legislation that would give the mining company, Gogebic Taconite, more regulatory certainty while safeguarding the environment. With a tight majority, leaders have sought the support of Jauch, as well as some Republicans who have raised environmental concerns about the plans.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said the state has a good mining law and was concerned about weakening it. "That' could be an environmental destruction bill," he said.

Environmental groups and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, said that mining legislation is their top priority this fall.

Lee Bergquist and Kathleen Gallagher of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.