By M.D. Kittle

MADISON — Bills making their way through the Legislature would “help safeguard the research and the intellectual property that is being developed” at Wisconsin’s universities, according to state Sen. Roger Roth. And the measures might just bolster U.S. security.

The Appleton Republican is chairman of the Senate’s Universities and Technical Colleges Committee, which held a hearing on the bills last week.

The measures would ban the University of Wisconsin System from admitting or employing Chinese People’s Liberation Army members, require UW schools to report funding from China, and disclose contracts with and gifts from foreign countries.

China’s interference with U.S. universities is well documented. The stakes couldn’t be higher, Roth told Empower Wisconsin’s M.D. Kittle last week on the Vicki McKenna Show.

The bills follow a forum on the growing threat of China that Roth hosted last year with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. His committee subsequently put together an extensive report outlining the vulnerabilities.

Sen. Roger Roth is our guest on this edition of PowerUp, Empower Wisconsin’s podcast.