Williams earns State Bar’s Scales of Justice award

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The State Bar of Wisconsin on Friday gave Rep. Mary Williams, R-Medford, its Scales of Justice award for helping block Assembly Bill 54 last session.

AB 54, the Equal Placement bill, was introduced in March by five Assembly  Republicans and Independent Bob Ziegelbauer of Manitowoc. After it was referred to the Committee on Children and Families, Williams broke from party lines and joined committee Democrats in opposing the bill. AB 54 then died in committee.

The bill would have implemented major changes to child custody decisions during divorce proceedings. AB 54 would have required courts to presume that children’s best interest was served by equal placement, or schedules that equalized time spent with each parent, according to an analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau. The presumption could only be rebutted if courts had clear evidence to the contrary.

Under current law, courts presume that joint custody, but not necessarily equal placement, is in children’s best interest.

The State Bar lobbied against AB 54 last session, according to data from the Government Accountability Board. Six other lobbying groups joined the Bar, including Legal Action of Wisconsin.