Rep. Thiesfeldt's E-Update

May 26, 2011

Dane County judge voids the Repair Bill

There are many surprising and unpredictable things that have occurred when my term began in January. Today's decision by a Dane County judge was no surprise and completely predictable.

As I wrote on March 10 in my e-update:

There will likely be challenges to the legality of the open meetings laws but under the rules of the Senate the proceedings are all legal until the Democrats can find a judge to state otherwise. And if it is deemed not legal the bill will simply be reposted with 24 hours notice and I would assure you the results would remain the same.

Here is the latest news out of Madison if you missed it: Dane County judge strikes down collective bargaining law

The State Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on this case on June 6. I am not sure of the difficulty in the reading of the law. Let me elaborate.

Wisconsin Statute §19.87(2) states “No provision of this subchapter which conflicts with a rule of the senate or assembly or joint rule of the legislature shall apply to a meeting conducted in compliance with such rule.”

In other words, if there is a conflict between the Open Meetings Law and legislative rules, the legislative rules prevail. Moreover, the Wisconsin Constitution grants the legislature broad authority in carrying out its business in Article IV, §8 where it states, in part, that “[e]ach house may determine the rules of its own proceedings.”

The rules of the Senate were unanimously approved by Republicans and Democrats in January. Furthermore, Rob Marchant, the Senate Chief Clerk issued this statement about the Senate Rules on March 11:

"There was some discussion today about the notice provided for the legislature's conference committee. In special session, under Senate Rule 93, no advance notice is required other than posting on the legislative bulletin board. Despite this rule, it was decided to provide a 2 hour notice by posting on the bulletin board. My staff, as a courtesy, emailed a copy of the notice to all legislative offices at 4:10, which gave the impression that the notice may have been slightly less than 2 hours. Either way, the notice appears to have satisfied the requirements of the rules and statutes."

It is important to be reminded of the facts of March 9. It is quite clear that the State law was not violated and it is vital to be armed with the facts as you hear and discuss the legality of the actions taken. Judges ought not make rulings on what they would like the law to be, as in this case, but what the law actually says.

Lastly, as you may have heard reports, this bill will highly likely be inserted back into the State Budget so we can realize the savings the Repair Bill would bring and so that communities and school districts can plan accordingly, sooner rather than later. Of course, we may simply decide to do another stand alone bill as I suggested back in March. It is my hope that the Supreme Court will reverse this decision and uphold the law as written.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Thiesfeldt