Friday, March 25, 2011

Union Busting Law Gets Published Without Authority Of Wisconsin Secretary Of State

Dane County judge had ordered the Wisconsin Secretary of State not to publish law until case gets resolved and ordered otherwise.

By H. Nelson Goodson
March 25, 2011

Madison - On Friday, the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau published the controversal union busting bill Senate bill 11, which Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi had placed a temperary restraining order to keep it from getting published. The law was challenged by the Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne (D) claiming that Republicans from both the Senate and State Representatives violated the open meetings law when they met in an emergency joint legislative conference. They separated the bill from Governor Scott Walker's (R) budget repair bill and passed it within a two hour notice. DA Ozanne and Democrats claimed that the open meetings law requires 24 hour notice before a meeting.
On March 18, Doug La Follette (D), Secretary of State sent a letter to the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) director Steve Miller to remove the law from their publication schedule until further notice and a new date is provided to publish it, because of a restraining order not to publish the bill. La Follette confirmed the union busting law can't take effect until his office authorizes publication and a case is pending to determine, if it was passed legally. State law requires the Secretary of State to publish a law to make it official in the Wisconsin State Journal. Once the bill is published, the day after it becomes law.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that, "Bureau director Steve Miller said the action doesn't mean the law takes effect Saturday. He says that won't actually happen until Secretary of State Doug La Follette orders the law published in a newspaper, and a judge ordered last week that La Follette not do anything."
The LRB published the union busting bill at 3:15 p.m. on Friday and Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) told AP that he went to the Miller at the LRB with the idea to publish it, according to AP. The LRB in the last decade hasn't published a bill without notice and the authority of the Secretary of State to do so.
Senator Alberta Darling (R) says, the LRB has a right to publish it and the law will become law on Saturday. Senator Chris Larson (D) on the contrary says, the Secretary of State has the sole authority to publish a law and it only shows to what lenghts Republicans are willing to go in order to bypass legal procedures.
State Representative Peter Barca (D) has requested for the LRB to release all emails and correspondence leading up to their publication of the bill concerning key Republican legislators, including Senator Fitzgerald.
Most likely, the Dane County Court union busting bill case won't be resolve until August and an appeal by either party could send it to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, which would further delay implementation of the bill ending most union collective bargaining rights for most state employees.

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