Wisconsin Capitol locked down

Madison, Wisconsin (CNN) -- Throngs of protesters gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, Thursday, pounding on the windows of the state legislature one day after the Senate passed an amended form of a controversial bill that curtails the bargaining rights of most state workers.

Their actions prompted Capitol police to close the building and forcibly remove demonstrators inside who refused to leave. Police later re-opened one entrance of the building.

"These arrogant actions are what I had a nightmare about last night," said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, a Democrat, who called the lockdown an "outrage."

More protesters began filling up the Capitol building Thursday morning as the state Assembly prepared to vote on the new version of the proposal.

The Assembly was expected to convene at 11 a.m. (12 p.m. ET) to vote on the revised measure, which was left only with provisions taking away collective bargaining powers and increasing health insurance and pension fund contributions.

But placard-wielding demonstrators blocked the building's entrances, chanting "Let us in!" as police struggled to keep order. Shortly before noon, lawmakers were able to access the building through the one open entrance.

The Assembly is expected to pass the amended bill, which could then reach Gov. Scott Walker's desk later Thursday for final approval.

Walker defended the proposal as an integral measure that allows Wisconsin to avoid property tax hikes and public employee layoffs.

"It's about giving local government the tools they need to make reforms," he told reporters, saying it's part of an effort to address the state's impending $3.6 billion deficit.

While the proposal has a fiscal impact, he said, the new version of the bill does not have an appropriations component -- something that allowed Senate Republicans to approve the measure Wednesday night, despite the absence of Democratic senators.

Fourteen Democratic senators, who fled the state in mid-February to prevent the 20 votes necessary for a quorum on spending bills, remained absent from the state Capitol Thursday.

"The dirty trick is what those Democrats have played for the last three weeks," Walker said to critics' claims that the Senate had pulled a fast one.

Nearly 200 protesters refused to leave the Capitol after the Senate vote, sleeping on the floor of the rotunda and in front of the Assembly doors. Capitol police had initally allowed the protesters to stay despite a court order that prohibits people from remaining inside the building at night.

In announcing the vote on the measure Wednesday night, Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, the chamber's Republican majority leader, said, "Tonight, the Senate will be passing the items in the Budget Repair Bill that we can with the 19 members who actually do show up and do their jobs."

Senate Democrats have called the bill an attack on the negotiating rights of state employees.

Barca filed a complaint with the Dane County District Attorney's office, claiming Wednesday night's committee hearing on the collective bargaining bill violated Wisconsin's Open Meetings Law.

"The state Senate and the state Assembly violated Wisconsin's very strict Open Meetings Law, by failing to give proper notice of their intended activities," said Lester Pines, an attorney for a teachers' union called Madison Teachers Incorporated. "When you act in violation of the law to pass a bill, the bill itself is void."

Republicans were able to move ahead by voting only on the non-financial aspects of Walker's proposed bill, which requires fewer members for a quorum.

"The Senate Democrats have had three weeks to debate this bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come home, which they refused," Walker said in an earlier statement on the vote. "In order to move the state forward, I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government."

But the move drew howls of outrage from outside the chamber, where pro-union demonstrators chanted "shame" and "you lied to Wisconsin" as the bill passed. Thousands more began to converge on the building, and a chorus of horns from passing cars echoed in the streets around the Capitol after the vote.

James Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said officers with the Madison police department and Dane County sheriff's deputies had been placed on alert ahead of Thursday's protests.

Walker and GOP lawmakers are trying to close a $137 million budget shortfall with a plan that calls for curbs on public employee union bargaining rights and requires public workers, with the exception of police and firefighters, to cover more of their retirement plans and health care premiums.

Public employee unions agreed to financial concessions that they say will help meet the state's fiscal needs, but Walker has said the limits on public bargaining are a critical component of his plan. His original bill, which already had passed the state Assembly, would bar public workers other than police and firefighters from bargaining for anything other than wages.

Raises would be capped to the rate of inflation, unless state voters approve. The legislation also would require unions to hold a new certification vote every year, and unions would no longer be allowed to collect dues from workers' paychecks.

Unions mobilized their supporters to oppose the bill, drawing tens of thousands of workers to rallies opposing Walker and supporting the fugitive Democrats.

Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the state AFL-CIO, said Wednesday night's maneuver "shows that Scott Walker and the Republicans have been lying throughout this entire process."

"None of the provisions that attacked workers' rights had anything to do with the budget," Neuenfeldt said. "Losing badly in the court of public opinion and failing to break the Democratic senators' principled stand, Scott Walker and the GOP have eviscerated both the letter and the spirit of the law and our democratic process to ram through their payback to their deep-pocketed friends."

But the Tea Party Express praised the developments, saying Walker was "holding strong" to his principles.

"Under tremendous pressure from union bosses, who have become irrelevant other than in their unquenchable thirst for power, Gov. Walker held fast and did what was best for the people of Wisconsin," a statement from the political action committee said. "This is a victory not only for the state, but for the nation, as many states now face their own budget battles, and will be forced to put a stop to union bullying that has become almost commonplace."

The vote in the Senate on the amended measure was 18-1, with Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz -- who earlier had floated a compromise that neither side bought into -- the lone opponent.

"The gig is now up. The fraud on the people of Wisconsin is now very clear. They are now going to pass a bill to take away people's rights," Barca said.

And Sen. Mark Miller, the Democratic Senate leader, said Republicans "conspired to take government away from the people."

"In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin," Miller said in a statement condemning the vote. "Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten."