Will Democrats quickly repeal Act 10? Answers among the party's leaders vary
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On the campaign trail, Wisconsin Democrats broadly voiced support for repealing Act 10, the 2011 law that largely stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights. Now that they're about to actually take control of state government, the soon-to-be top elected officials have offered different answers in recent days when asked about erasing the controversial labor law.
At the state Capitol Tuesday, incoming Assembly Speaker Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) offered clear support for moving ahead with a repeal of Act 10.
Neubauer was about the law at press conference introducing the newly election Democratic majorities in the Assembly and Senate.
"We support the restoration of rights for the people of Wisconsin, including collective bargaining rights and the rights of workers in the public and private sector," Neubauer said. "We're going to be, of course, discussing with Governor-elect Crowley and our caucus here about the right timeline."
When asked specifically about Act 10 Tuesday, a spokesperson for Governor-elect David Crowley's transition team provided a vague response that did not discuss the labor law.
"Governor-elect Crowley is focused on assembling a strong transition team," the statement read. "He looks forward to working with legislative leadership to advance shared priorities that deliver results for all Wisconsinites."
Throughout the campaign, Crowley avoided specifics when asked how he'd pay for big-ticket pledges, such as free pre-K for all three-year-old children.
While one staple was a commitment to legalize marijuana as a revenue stream, Crowley often summed up answers by voicing support for a big-picture review of Wisconsin's finances.
"We also have to take a long long-term look as it relates to how we do our spending, as well as how we bring in new revenue," Crowley said at an October 9 campaign stop in Racine. "So, we want to put together a blue-ribbon commission."
When asked about Crowley's timeline, incoming Senate Majority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) said, "I haven't had a conversation with him about that yet, to hear exactly what he's thinking about.)"
Act 10 was the signature legislation of the Republican trifecta in Madison that lasted from 2011 to 2019 under former Gov. Scott Walker and a GOP-controlled Legislature.
A lawsuit seeking to have the courts strike down portions of Act 10 is now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has had a liberal majority since 2023 and expanded to a 5-2 split with the election of Justice Chris Taylor this past spring.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), a right-wing think tank, published a study in 2025 estimating school districts and local governments would be paying $2 billion more statewide if Act 10 were never implemented.
The estimates are based off salaries, retirement pay and additional benefits that were in place prior to the law's adoption. Will Flanders, WILL's research director, said repealing Act 10 would gradually drive up costs for school districts and local governments.
"That wouldn't come into play immediately," Flanders told CBS 58 Tuesday. "It would require these new negotiation processes with re-empowered unions to take place, but we think, over time, that's likely where we'd end up."
WILL's estimates find that if Act 10 never happened, property taxes in Milwaukee would be $1,310 more for a home valued at $300,000. For Waukesha, there's be an $865 increase, and it'd be $650 more in Racine. However, those numbers don't tell the entire story.
Democrats have said they will increase state funding for K-12 schools, which would offset much of the increased costs tied to higher salaries and more generous benefits.
Flanders said another key result of Act 10 was school districts being able to consider performance when drafting its scale for raises, as opposed to only seniority.
However, Steve Kimball, a researcher at UW-Madison's School of Education, studied how Act 10 affected a collection of 25 school districts over a 10-year period.
Those findings, published last year, found most districts that adopted performance-based raises eventually moved back to a seniority-driven model.
"What we found over time is most of those districts we looked at dropped those and reverted back to the traditional approaches," Kimball said. "In some cases with performance, making performance distinctions became controversial."
Kimball said some administrators shared developing metrics for teacher performance and applying them to a pay scale provided to be too time consuming, and it also led to an unhealthy amount of friction between principals and teachers.
If Democrats do repeal Act 10, Kimball said the core challenge would be increasing state funding in a way that covers increased pay and benefits while still maintaining a balanced budget.
"Stay tuned. It's gonna be really interesting to see how this all plays out," Kimball said. "Difficult considerations but a big opportunity, too."