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Budget panel rejects elimination of Judicial Council

Budget panel rejects elimination of Judicial Council

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For the second time in a row, a powerful budget-writing panel has struck from the biennial budget Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to eliminate a body that updates the state’s rules of procedure.

The Judicial Council is a 21-member body composed of lawyers, judges prosecutors, other practitioners and lawmakers who volunteer their time to research various changes in the law. Walker had called for eliminating the council as well as transferring the administration of the Judicial Commission, a nine-member panel that investigates and disciplines the state’s judiciary, into the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The Joint Committee on Finance voted unanimously Monday to reject both proposals.

Chief Justice Pat Roggensack had asked members of the committee in March to not adopt the budget provisions, saying both bodies do their work effectively and their elimination would not save money. She also said that transferring the Judicial Commission to the Supreme Court would give rise to conflicts of interest.

This is the second budget in a row in which Walker has called for the elimination of the council and the transfer of the administration of the Judicial Commission. When confronted with the similar proposal in the state’s previous legislative session, lawmakers chose to reject the plan and instead have the council funded completely by revenue the Supreme Court receives from the Director of State Courts and State Law Library programs.

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