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Judicial Council asks Evers to veto amendment to SPD pay parity bill

By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//February 25, 2020//

Judicial Council asks Evers to veto amendment to SPD pay parity bill

By: Michaela Paukner, [email protected]//February 25, 2020//

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Members of the Wisconsin Judicial Council are asking Gov. Tony Evers to save the independent body from elimination. The council’s chair sent Evers a letter on Tuesday requesting a veto to an amendment recently tacked on to a pay-parity bill for state public defenders.

The amendment would eliminate the Judicial Council, a 21-member body that makes recommendations relating to court procedure and operations. Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, introduced it to a bill that would provide money for merit pay for assistant state public defenders in 2020 and 2021. The Assembly passed the amended bill unanimously on Thursday.

Bill Gleisner, chairman of the Judicial Council, sent Evers a letter on Tuesday asking him to veto the amendment if the bill makes it to his desk.

“(T)he amendment that would eliminate the Council was proposed in the dead of night, and we have never heard any justification for eliminating the Council,” Gleisner wrote. “We respectfully ask you to permit the Council to continue its important work by removing Assembly Amendment 1.”

Gleisner said the council contributed to the quality of justice in Wisconsin with little cost to taxpayers. A partial veto by Gov. Scott Walker eliminated funding for the council in the 2017-19 biannual budget, causing the council to lose its support staff. Gleisner said the lack of staff and money has yet to prevent council members from working.

“The Judicial Council has worked diligently over the past seventy years to ensure that Wisconsin courts are able to deal fairly and efficiently with all disputes which find their way into our court system,” Gleisner wrote. “With or without staff, the Council has always strived to do its work in a non-partisan manner.”

The state Senate will take up the bill during its final floor session on March 24.

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