MADISON, Wis. (CN) - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Friday announced a lawsuit in a bid to force the Republican-led state Legislature to comply with a state Supreme Court order and stop obstructing administrative rules.
"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," the Democratic governor said in a press release. "Elected officials have to follow the law just like everyone else, folks. It's pretty simple stuff."
In July, in Evers v. Marklein, the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down five statutes enacted by the Republican-controlled state Legislature giving itself the power to veto administrative rules from the governor and executive agencies.
In a 6-1 opinion, the court cited the importance of the separation of powers.
"By placing the power of the executive branch to carry out the law in a committee of the Legislature, the legislative branch subsumed the executive power," Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote for the majority.
One month later, a handful of executive agencies submitted for publication 12 administrative rules with Evers' approval.
With a Supreme Court order on their side, the executive branch expected swift publication.
The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, a branch of the Legislature which compiles and publicizes such rules, published three but withheld nine others. The bureau said legislative committees were still reviewing the rules, even though that review process was part of the statutes that the Supreme Court had just struck down.
On Friday, Evers announced that on Tuesday, he had filed a 37-page lawsuit in the dispute. He aims to force the Reference Bureau to publish the nine paused rules in accordance with the state Supreme Court ruling.
Evers is joined in the suit by the state agencies affected by the rule pause, including agencies overseeing natural resources, agriculture, safety and medicine.
Evers claims the Legislature's Joint Committee on Legislative Organization instructed the Reference Bureau not to publish the rules until reviews were complete. He says the Legislature is violating Evers v. Marklein, which allows committees to review new administrative rules but not to pause them.
Among the blocked rules is a rule from the state Department of Natural Resources to tighten water-quality standards, Evers says in his suit.
The rule has been under review since October 2023 - a delay he argues has risked harming water quality.
Evers' suit is the latest front in an ongoing battle between Wisconsin's Democratic governor and Republican Legislature.
Evers previously sued the Legislature in 2023 after it granted various legislative committees veto power over expenditures and rules by the state's Department of Natural Resources and Department of Safety and Professional Services, as well as by the University of Wisconsin.
According to Evers, Republican state lawmakers had used that power to withhold statutory pay raises for public university employees unless the system conceded to several policy changes, including those related to diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI.
The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on that case in May - leading to the July opinion at play in this lawsuit.
The Reference Bureau did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
In a joint statement Friday, Representative Robin Vos and Senator Mary Felzkowski - both Republican co-chairs on the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization - argued it was actually Evers who was directing state agencies to violate "valid provisions of Wisconsin law."
"Just because Governor Evers is now a lame duck who no longer believes he is accountable to the people, it does not give him the right to ignore laws that the Legislature enacted and a prior occupant of his office signed," the Republican lawmakers said. "That's not how the rule of law works."
Source: Courthouse News Service
