Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes down 'legislative veto' powers in win for Evers

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday ruled powers long used by a key committee of the state Legislature are unconstitutional in a significant win for Gov. Tony Evers.

The court, which flipped to having a liberal majority in 2023, ruled the Joint Committee on Finance (JCF) has exceeded its authority by using committee votes to essentially stymie state agencies, many of which operate under the governor, who picks their secretaries.

It was 6-1 ruling, with Chief Justice Annette Zeigler being the dissenting vote.

Evers argued the Republican-controlled Legislature had been using committee votes as a workaround to avoid sending bills to his desk, knowing he would veto them.

One instance noted in the lawsuit was the JCF requiring 12 of its 16 members to approve certain land acquisitions by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

However, the ruling's affects could reach far beyond disputes between lawmakers and the DNR; they could extend into other areas where legislative committees have stalled state agencies' plans to spend previously approved state dollars or enact new rules.

In a brief submitted to the court in March, a pair of UW-Madison law school professors, Miriam Seifter and Bryna Godar, noted similar legislative committee powers in other states were almost always struck down when challenged in court.

"Wisconsin’s outsized committee lawmaking power makes the state a national outlier," they wrote.

Seifter and Godar also noted the laws related to DNR land purchases allowed individual members of the committee to anonymously block conservation plans that cost more than $250,000.

The Legislature's attorneys, as well as the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, argued stripping the committee of those powers would give too much authority to the governor's office on a number of matters involving the JCF.

"Governor Evers and Gathering Waters say that all this Court needs to do to accept their arguments is overrule one supposedly wrong court of appeals decision," WILL's brief read. "But, in actuality, the change they seek is foundational."

The ruling could affect other high-profile disagreements between Evers and Republicans in charge of the JCF.

Evers sued the Legislature in May, citing clashes over the JFC not releasing $125 million to address harmful contamination in groundwater sources, known as PFAS, $15 million to maintain healthcare quality in western Wisconsin after hospital closures and $50 million to implement tools tied to a new state law aimed at improving K-12 literacy.

Evers' action was a counterclaim to a lawsuit the Legislature filed one month earlier over the literacy funding.

Currently, Republicans have majorities in both the state Assembly and Senate. The JCF's current makeup is 12 Republicans and four Democrats.

Under new legislative voting maps, experts predict Democrats could win back the Assembly while the GOP will almost certainly keep its Senate majority.

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