Gov. Tony Evers has won another legal battle with Republican lawmakers over when and how state agencies can publish rules carrying the weight of law.
The ruling from Dane County Circuit Court says agencies can publish new rules regardless of whether GOP-led committees have finished reviewing them.
Evers and Republicans have been in court for years arguing over the state’s administrative rulemaking process, which has led to big changes in the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.
In July 2024, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority struck down a change to the rulemaking process passed by Republicans before Evers took office allowing lawmakers to indefinitely suspend rule changes sought by state agencies. In August, Evers told his agency heads that meant they didn’t have to wait for what are known as “standing committees” of lawmakers, focusing on specific subjects like agriculture or natural resources, to review them before submitting for publication.
Evers’ message was received, and agencies sent a slate of 27 proposed rules to be published — some of which were stalled for years by Republicans.
The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, headed by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and state Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, rebuked Evers’ directive by voting to order the Legislative Reference Bureau not to publish any rules that hadn’t been fully reviewed by the “standing committees.”
Evers sued the joint committee two months later in Dane County Circuit Court, and on Thursday, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Nia Trammell sided with the governor. Trammell wrote that the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling applied to all legislative committees.
“For the same reason, if the Court found that the standing committee had an ability to pause promulgation for up to sixty days, if not possibly months, it would also be unconstitutional,” said Trammell.
Trammell also said there are no other state laws that prohibit rules from being published before the committees finish their reviews, and any that did would be unconstitutional.