Gov. Evers Sues GOP Legislators Again in Rulemaking Dispute
Supreme Court ended their power to block administrative rules, he insists.
Gov. Tony Evers. File photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is accusing Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature of ignoring a recent state Supreme Court decision about when proposed rules submitted by state agencies can be given the force of law.
The new lawsuit from Evers is the latest in a protracted power struggle with the GOP-controlled Legislature over the technical, but impactful realm of administrative rulemaking.
Evers’ lawsuit argues a July ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court allows state agencies like the Department of Natural Resources or Department of Health Services to seek publication of proposed rules even if Republican-led legislative committees haven’t finished reviewing them. In essence, Evers is claiming that while proposed rules must be submitted to lawmakers for review, his signature is all that’s needed before they can take effect.
While the Legislature writes the laws that govern Wisconsin, agencies like the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Health Services write the rules for how those laws are carried out. For years, those rules went through a lengthy approval process requiring sign off from the governor and various legislative committees.
In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down parts of state law that allowed the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules to block proposed rules indefinitely.
The following month, Evers told state agencies not to wait for any committees in the Legislature to sign off on rules before getting them published. That led to a deluge of 27 proposed rules, some of which had been held up by Republicans for years, being submitted to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, or LRB, for publication.
Included within those rule proposals, among others, were changes to Wisconsin’s wolf management plan and water quality standards first submitted to the Legislature in 2023.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Senate President Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, responded by using yet another committee under GOP control to direct the LRB not to publish any rule unless “standing committees” — the legislative panels focusing on specific subjects like agriculture or natural resources — had weighed in.
The latest lawsuit filed by Evers claims that maneuver was unlawful. All legislative committees have the power to hold public hearings, request agencies make voluntary changes, “and lodge non-binding objections to those rules.” But the power to approve those rules, Evers argues, rests solely with the governor.
Evers, Republicans, have had repeated disputes over separation of powers
Throughout the legal back and forth, Evers has accused Republican leaders in the Legislature of violating the Wisconsin Constitution’s separation of powers by usurping his administration’s legal authority. In a statement Friday, Evers said his lawsuit aims to end “unlawful behavior” by Republican legislators.
“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,” Evers said.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders have accused Evers of trying to cut the Legislature out of the process, giving unelected bureaucrats power reserved for lawmakers. A joint statement from Vos and Felzkowski regarding Evers’ lawsuit accused the governor of directing agencies “to violate valid provisions of Wisconsin law that no court has ever questioned.”
“That is not how the rule of law works,” the GOP leaders said.
In a video posted to social media Friday, Felzkowski criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling, stating it means Evers and “the bureaucrats that report to him are unrestrained.”
She pointed to a rule proposed by the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection that would raise fees on livestock auction barns from $420 to $7,430. Felzkowski also referenced a proposal from the Department of Health Services to remove the words “mother” and “woman” from rule language “in line with their ideology that says men can get pregnant.”
“Evers and his unelected bureaucrats are going to implement their ideology through administrative rules, knowing that the leftists on the Supreme Court shockingly gave them a green light,” said Felzkowski. “Gov. Evers and the court have taken your voice away by removing your elected officials from the process, instead allowing unelected bureaucrats to have the final say on rules that govern your life.”
Evers’ lawsuit was filed in Dane County Circuit Court, though it is likely to eventually make its way to the state Supreme Court, which has a 4-3 liberal majority.
Gov. Tony Evers sues Wisconsin GOP leaders again in state rulemaking dispute was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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