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Evers’ budget plan calls for more prosecutors, increased private bar rate

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//March 1, 2019//

Evers’ budget plan calls for more prosecutors, increased private bar rate

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//March 1, 2019//

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In his first proposed budget, Gov. Tony Evers called on Thursday for increasing the private bar rate, adding more prosecutors and giving merit-based raises to certain government attorneys.

Evers is proposing adding about 19 new assistant prosecutors over the next two fiscal years at a cost of more than $2.5 million.

Evers also plans to restore several positions that had been eliminated in previous budgets because grant money had run out and providing $1.7 million over two years to turn part-time positions for assistant district attorneys into full-time positions in 14 counties.

Thirty-four of Wisconsin’s 72 counties would see an increase in staffing. Only three counties would keep the same staffing levels, according to budget documents released by Evers’ administration on Thursday.

Evers is also proposing providing a one-time infusion of $1.2 million over two years for pay progression for assistant district attorneys and deputy district attorneys.

As for the State Public Defender, Evers is proposing spending $25 million to increase the rate paid to private attorneys who take appointments from the public defender, raising it from $40 an hour to $70 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2020.

As he did for assistant district attorneys, Evers is also proposing a one-time infusion of $1.2 million over two years for pay progression for assistant public defenders.

Evers’ budget proposal also calls for raising the age of adult jurisdiction in state circuit courts and municipal courts to 18 starting on Jan. 1, 2021. His proposal would have $5 million set aside in fiscal year 2020-21 to reimburse counties for any cost increases that result from the change.

Outside criminal justice, Evers’ other proposals call for:

  • Setting up a Bureau of Natural Resources Science and giving the state Department of Natural Resources $850,000 and five full-time positions to regulate large-scale farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations.
  • Setting up an Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy by combining the State Energy Office with positions from the Public Service Commission, which regulates the state’s utilities. The office will carry out the State Energy Office’s duties and promote the development and use of clean and renewable energy throughout the state, according to budget documents.
  • Attaching the Labor and Industry Review Commission, an independent body that hears appeals of decisions involving jobless benefits, equal rights and worker’s compensation, to the Department of Workforce Development. The goal here would be to “better align agencies with overlapping areas of expertise.”
  • Repealing Wisconsin’s “right-to-work” law and reinstating prevailing-wage requirements. Both were actions taken by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and weakened unions in Wisconsin. However, Evers’ proposed budget wouldn’t touch Act 10, the law that ended collective bargaining for most public workers.
  • Repealing 2017 Act 369, which is the legislation resulting from the Legislature’s lame-duck session in December. Four lawsuits have been filed challenging all or parts of the laws

Evers’ proposal is just one step in the budget process. The budget will next be reviewed by the state’s budget-writing body, the Joint Committee on Finance, and then considered by the full Legislature. Whatever the Legislature signs off on will then head back to Evers, who may choose to veto parts of the plan.

The state’s new budget year starts July 1. If the Legislature has not passed a budget Evers can sign by then, the old one will remain in effect.

In 2017, when Walker was governor and Republicans controlled the Legislature, disagreement over money for transportation delayed the budget’s passage until September.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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