Will controversial changes to collective bargaining end up in the state budget? Joint Finance Committee co-chair, Representative Robin Vos, said that remains an option, with the matter still tied up in Dane County Court. “There’s been no decision that it’s going to be put in the budget,” says the Republican co-chair, “That is one option that’s on the table.” Vos said he and JFC co-chair, Senator Alberta Darling, remain optimistic that the court action underway now will be resolved, and that Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi will have to be overturned if she rules against the legislature and Governor Scott Walker. “I don’t know how much clearer it can be when you read those previous supreme court decisions that the legislature is the branch of government that gets to make the laws, not the judiciary,” he said.
A suit filed by the Dane County district attorney asserts changes which strip most ability to collectively bargain from public employees are not valid because Republicans in the legislature violated the open meetings law when passing them. Darling said local governments are looking for clarity and need the issue resolved, so that they can apply savings from the changes to collective bargaining to their budgets.