The proposal, written by Sen. Dale Schultz and first floated in the Republican caucus early last week, calls for most collective bargaining rights of public employee unions to be eliminated – per Mr. Walker’s bill – but then reinstated in 2013, said Mr. Schultzs’s chief of staff Todd Allbaugh.

“Dale is committed to find a way to preserve collective bargaining in the future,” said Mr. Allbaugh in a telephone interview.

On Sunday Mr. Walker reiterated his confidence that Republicans would pass their proposal intact…

Mr. Schultz was first elected to the state senate in 1991 and was the Republican majority leader in 2005 and 2006. He earned a reputation for working across party lines and was endorsed in his 2010 re-election bid by the state’s largest teacher’s employee. He won with nearly 65 percent of the vote.