MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The Legislature’s budget-writing committee rejected a pair of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposals during the first day of voting on the $76 billion state budget and delayed a decision on how much to raise salaries for judges.
The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee on Monday voted unanimously to reject Walker’s proposal putting an independent commission that investigates judges under control of the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court. The committee also unanimously rejected Walker’s call to eliminate a judicial advisory council.
But the panel punted, for now, on whether to go along with Walker’s call to raise judicial salaries by 2 percent in each of the next two years, which would be the same as what other state employees receive. Wisconsin judicial salaries are the 43rd-lowest in the nation, according to the National Center for State Courts.
The votes were among the first taken by the budget committee as it began working on Walker’s two-year spending plan for the state. The committee was expected to complete its changes to the budget in about a month and then send it to the state Senate and Assembly, which both have GOP majorities.
The Legislature can make further alterations to the budget, but it typically sticks close to what the committee proposes. Walker also has the ability to further revise it with his extensive veto powers.
Budget committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren told reporters at a news conference that he expected the panel to ultimately approve judicial salary increases closer to 2 percent a year, as Walker wanted, rather than the 16 percent that Chief Justice Pat Roggensack called for. Currently, state Supreme Court justices make about $147,000 while appeals court judges are paid about $139,000 and circuit court judges make around $131,000.
“There’s support for a pay increase, I guess it comes down to what level that may be,” Nygren said.
The committee voted unanimously to reject Walker’s call to put the independent Judicial Commission under control of the Supreme Court, which currently has a 5-2 conservative majority. The move was opposed by Roggensack, who said it would create a potential conflict of interest. The executive director of the commission, which was created four decades ago, also argued against the move.
The commission has investigated three justices on the state Supreme Court over the past 10 years.
Walker proposed the same thing in 2015, arguing both times that the move would create savings and be more efficient, only to have the proposal similarly killed by the committee.
The panel, just as it did in 2015, also on Monday rejected Walker’s call to eliminate a council created in 1951 that issues advice on judicial issues to the Supreme Court, governor and Legislature. Roggensack also opposed eliminating the Judicial Council.
The committee also:
- Voted along party lines, with all Republicans in support and Democrats against, to cut $390,000 and positions at the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, which administers labor relation law in the state. The budget would reduce the number of commissioners from three to one and cut staff from seven to five. The commission’s workload has dropped dramatically since 2011, when the Act 10 law that greatly reduced union protections and power for public workers went into effect.
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