Could the current Assembly and Senate pass a law that forces these people back or, if they don’t come back, to forfeit their office?
The state senate needs a 2/3 quorum to vote to discipline any member.
What they should be doing is start sailing through all kinds of non-fiscal dream legislation (which don’t require the higher 20 person quorum): make WI a right-to-work state, concealed carry, etc. The pressure on the missing 14 to come back while that was going on would be irresistible.
Plus, they can strip out of the Budget Repair Bill the most controversial part — eliminating collective bargaining — and pass it right now. It’s not fiscal. Once that’s done, what reason would the 14 have for staying away? That’s really the overriding issue for them.
Just do it.
They could pass all kinds of laws like open carry, voter id and right to work. Stuff the missing RATs would love to vote against.