MADISON - The Wisconsin Senate has voted to approve 82 appointees of outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker during a lame-duck legislative session.
The appointees were approved by a party-line vote, with Republicans in support and Democrats against.
Democratic senators objected, as did Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers in a letter submitted minutes before the Senate took up the appointments.
The appointees include naming Scott Beightol to the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents. The attorney replaces Bryan Steil, who resigned last week after winning election to Congress replacing retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Walker also appointed his top aide Ellen Nowak to a position on the state Public Service Commission, guaranteeing she'll have a job after he leaves office next month.
Wisconsin Republicans delayed by several hours action to diminish the powers of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general that brought opponents to the state Capitol this week to protest on its steps and pound on hearing room doors.
Lawmakers in the Senate had been scheduled to convene at 11 a.m. but likely won't meet until mid-afternoon as Republicans debated which measures to take up. Assembly lawmakers are also delayed.
To Democrats, the plan is a repudiation of the Nov. 6 election that felled Gov. Scott Walker and swept Democrats into state offices. To Republicans, it's the only way to ensure major changes enacted over the past eight years won't evaporate overnight.
Republican lawmakers will huddle behind closed doors Tuesday as they finalize their plans to clip the powers of Gov.-elect Tony Evers and incoming Attorney General Josh Kaul, limit early voting and give Republicans control of the state's job-creation agency.
Walker signaled Monday he largely supports it and would be willing to sign it before he leaves office Jan. 7. But there are a few GOP senators who aren't talking, making the legislation's fate unclear. Republicans control the Senate 18-15 and cannot afford more than one defection.
After 10 hours of testimony and debate, the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee took its last vote just after midnight Tuesday. It approved three bills on party-line 12-4 votes, but did not take up one measure that would have moved the 2020 presidential primary from April to March at a cost of nearly $7 million to taxpayers.
Lawmakers hope to act quickly to approve their lame-duck plan. GOP leaders expressed hope they could get the bill through that house and the Assembly by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
The action comes as Democrats and their allies warned they would sue over many of the elements of the plan, especially over a measure that would limit early voting in Wisconsin to two weeks.
A similar limit was found unconstitutional by a federal judge in 2016 and Democrats have threatened to take legal action again should the plan be signed by Walker.
The proposals to diminish the authority of Evers and Kaul and in many cases give that power to the Legislature has drawn the most public outrage — bringing at least 1,000 protesters to the Capitol on Monday.
"Unfortunately, I think this extraordinary session says that the Republicans don't believe that people of this state have the right or the intelligence to elect their leaders," said Sen. LaTonya Johnson, a Milwaukee Democrat.
Walker downplayed the significance of the legislation's proposed changes and said the measures seek to keep in place the current friendly dynamic between the Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature.
Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul says the GOP bill limiting the powers of the governor and attorney-general's office will be costly. Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Much of what we did over the last eight years is work with the Legislature, not at odds with the Legislature," he told reporters Monday after a menorah lighting ceremony at the governor's mansion. "For all the talk about reining in power, it really doesn't."
Among the numerous provisions included in the legislation are ones that would give Republicans more control of the state agency overseeing job creation; curtail the governor's ability to write state rules and adjust public benefits programs; and allow lawmakers to replace the attorney general with private attorneys at taxpayer expense.
At a stop in Wausau, Evers said Monday he would consider litigation should any of the measures become law.
"We will actively be looking at either to litigate or do whatever else in our power to make sure the people of Wisconsin are represented at the table," Evers told reporters.
Republican lawmakers are also considering passing legislation aimed at protecting insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions. The effort comes after Evers and Kaul focused heavily on the issue.
Fitzgerald said senators had not finalized a plan on the issue and did not say whether he could muster the votes to pass it.
Democrats are opposed to the plan because the state can't offer protections as extensive as those provided under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
They are also skeptical of the GOP plan because the lame-duck legislation would allow Republican lawmakers to keep alive a lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act that Evers and Kaul want to drop. Under the bill, Republicans could also gain control of litigation over redistricting, the voter ID law and other matters.
The legislation would:
- Limit early voting to two weeks. A similar limit was found unconstitutional in 2016 and Democrats have threatened to take legal action again.
- Give Republicans more control of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., including over its enterprise zone program that gives tax breaks to individual businesses. Republicans would appoint a majority of WEDC's board and the board, rather than the governor, would appoint WEDC's leader.
- Put lawmakers in charge of litigation, allowing them to keep alive a lawsuit to overturn the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare.
- Give lawmakers — instead of the attorney general — control over how court settlements are spent.
- Allow the Legislature to substitute the attorney general with taxpayer-funded private attorneys — picked by lawmakers — when state laws are challenged in court.
- Make it easier for lawmakers to hire private attorneys at taxpayer expense when they are accused of violating the open records law or other statutes.
- Eliminate the solicitor general's office, which oversees high-profile litigation.
- Modestly lower the state’s income tax rates next year to offset about $60 million in online sales taxes from out-of-state retailers that Wisconsin recently began collecting.
- Require Evers to get permission from lawmakers to ban guns in the state Capitol.
- Bar judges from giving deference to state agencies’ interpretations of laws when they are challenged in court. That could make it easier to win lawsuits challenging how environmental regulations and other laws are being enforced.
- Make it much more difficult, in numerous ways, for the Evers administration to put in place rules that implement current and future state laws. Lawmakers, meanwhile, would gain greater power to block any rules that Evers manages to put in place.
- Require state agencies to file quarterly reports on their spending.
- Require the Evers administration to report if the governor pardons anyone or his aides release anyone from prison early.
- Force Evers to get permission from the Legislature before asking the federal government to make any changes to programs that are run jointly by the state and federal governments. That would limit the governor's flexibility in how he runs public benefits programs. If the Legislature’s budget committee determined the administration was not implementing recent changes to those programs, it could reduce funding and staffing for state agencies.
- Require Evers to go along with a plan aimed at reducing premiums for insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces for individuals.
- Increase the number of members on the Group Insurance Board, which oversees state health benefits, from 11 to 15. The proposal would allow leaders of the Legislature to appoint the additional members.
- Channel federal money into a smaller number of state road projects, so that other projects could avoid having to comply with federal environmental and wage laws.
How To Contact Top State Officials
Gov. Scott Walker:
(608) 266-1212, govgeneral@wisconsin.gov, walker.wi.gov/contact-us.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester):
(608) 266-9171, rep.vos@legis.wisconsin.gov.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau):
(608) 266-5660, sen.fitzgerald@legis.wisconsin.gov.