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Statutory Challenge

By: Derek Hawkins//July 11, 2016//

Statutory Challenge

By: Derek Hawkins//July 11, 2016//

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WI Supreme Court

Case Name: Sonja Blake v. Debra Jossart, et al

Case No.: 2012AP2578

Focus: Statutory Challenge

Constitutional challenge to statute that precludes child care licensure to individuals convicted of certain crimes falls short.

“We further decline to hold Wis. Stat. § 48.685(5)(br)5. unconstitutional as applied to Blake. She argues that revocation of her certification without an opportunity to demonstrate rehabilitation denies her equal protection of the law because people with convictions for other “dishonesty related offenses” do not suffer permanent ineligibility. Once again, though, she misidentifies the proper scope for evaluating the classification. Like the childcare provider in Brown, Blake “points to no evidence that she was treated differently from any similarly-situated childcare provider whose license was revoked under the new law.” Brown, 341 Wis. 2d 449, ¶43. Indeed, since enactment of Act 76, this is the third published case involving a childcare provider facing revocation based on a public assistance fraud conviction. See Jamerson v. DCF, 2013 WI 7, ¶23, 345 Wis. 2d 205, 824 N.W.2d 822; Brown, 341 Wis. 2d 449, ¶43. Like Milwaukee County reviewing the credentials at issue in Jamerson and Brown, Racine County revoked Blake’s license upon learning of her forbidden conviction. Brown, 341 Wis. 2d 449, ¶43 (“[T]he facts of Jamerson show that the Department treated [Brown] almost identically to other individuals whose licenses were revoked.”). Because Racine County treated Blake in a manner consistent with the treatment of similarly situated providers in published cases and Blake has not presented evidence to the contrary, her asapplied equal protection claim fails.”

Affirmed

Concurring:

Dissenting: ABRAHAMSON, J. and BRADLEY, A. W., J. dissent (Opinion filed).

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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