(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers iwants a court order to enforce his interpretation of a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on rulemaking that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, recently described as “outside of the law.”
Evers directed Wisconsin agencies to create rules and then send them to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication without those rules being first submitted to a committee.
That process led Vos to speak out at a recent meeting of Wisconsin’s Joint Committee on Employee Relations, saying “I would say that it’s unfortunate that something that has literally worked for generations, not just decades but generations, is being upended by an administration that is drunk with power.”
Vos then added that he believes Evers’ directives to bypass rules being heard in a committee is “outside the law” and beyond what the Wisconsin Supreme Court said about rulemaking in a recent ruling.
Agencies have submitted 12 rules to the Legislative Reference Bureau since the supreme court ruling but the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization has asked that nine of those rules not be published.
The new rules are leading to increased costs for a variety of businesses, including an increase in the livestock market fee from $420 to $7,430 from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, according to Badger Institute.
The agency will also increase the registration fee for livestock truckers from $60 to $370 in 2027 because its registration programs will be $1.1 million short of budget by then, the group said.
Many of the new rules being pushed through without committee approval were previously rejected in committee. Evers, however, contests that the agencies are following the new interpretation of the law.
“The Legislature cannot continue to indefinitely obstruct my administration from doing the people’s work – and the Wisconsin Supreme Court agrees, but Republican lawmakers are continuing their unlawful behavior anyway,” Evers said about the filing. “At the end of the day, this lawsuit is about following the law and making sure there’s accountability for elected officials if they fail to do so.
“It shouldn’t take going to court to get Republican lawmakers to comply with state law and Supreme Court decisions, but it seems like that’s what it’s going to take, unfortunately. Elected officials have to follow the law just like everyone else, folks. It’s pretty simple stuff.”
The Assembly Republicans have created a rulemaking task force to explore legislation in the upcoming session to address rulemaking in response to Evers’ orders to state agencies to bypass the committee process.
They called Evers’ directive a “180” from how the legislature has operated in the past.
Vos went as far as stating that the rulemaking debate will lead to issues when state leaders work on the next Wisconsin budget.
“It really seems like, rather than being collaborative and go through the normal process where Republicans, Democrats, Legislators, executive branch all sit down and work out a deal, they’re just going to try to impose their will on the state,” Vos said. “Which will, unfortunately, mean a that during the next budget discussion it will be dramatically different.”
Senate President Mary Felzkowski created a social media video on Friday to explain the process to the public and her concerns about the changes that Evers has attempted to implement.
“Until a few weeks ago, rules went through a review process by the Legislature, which is very important, and why?” Felzkowski explained. “To make sure they follow the intent of the law that your elected officials wrote. This review process also included time for public input meaning anyone could come to the Legislature and express concern or support for a rule.”
