Republicans vote to block UW System COVID-19 fall protocols University of Wisconsin System leaders will have to run future COVID-19 rules past state lawmakers. On a 6-4 party line vote, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules declared Tuesday that the UW System must issue an emergency order to enact pandemic protocols like mandatory testing and masks. “No public hearing. No opportunity even for the legislators on the committee to discuss the issue at hand,” said Representative Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) a committee member. The committee voted by ballot on Tuesday. The action comes amid a steady increase in new COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin and across the U.S.