Gov. Tony Evers has sued Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature for violating the Wisconsin Constitution and intruding into executive powers, according to a press release today.
The lawsuit, filed today at the request of the governor by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, argues that Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature are unconstitutionally and unlawfully obstructing basic government functions by blocking already-approved pay raises for approximately 35,000 UW System employees, conservation projects under the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program, and updates to the state’s commercial building standards and ethics standards for certain licensed professionals.
The petition argues the Wisconsin State Legislature has increasingly worked to violate the Wisconsin Constitution and its well-defined separation of powers by creating more and more “legislative vetoes” through which legislative committees comprised of only a few members of the full Legislature are enabled to operate outside of the ordinary lawmaking process to impede, usurp, or obstruct basic executive branch functions. In so doing, the governor argues, the Wisconsin State Legislature is violating the Wisconsin Constitution by effectively attempting to change state law without passing a bill through both houses of the Legislature and sending a bill to the governor for signature or veto.
Similar efforts made by legislatures in other states have been struck down by appellate courts in almost every other state where they have been challenged, including in Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and West Virginia.
