Judicial Council considers options after Evers rejects budget request

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The Wisconsin Judicial Council is considering its options after another unsuccessful attempt to restore its funding.

During a meeting on Friday morning, council chairman Bill Gleisner said Gov. Tony Evers’ 2021-23 budget did not include any money for the council. The non-partisan body had requested $87,600 to hire a staff attorney and pay for office space and supplies starting in 2022.

Adam Plotkin, the chairman of the council’s budget committee, said the state budget office thought it was not in a position of authority to grant the funding and that the Wisconsin Supreme Court still had the power to fund the council on its own.

Justice Rebecca Dallet, the council’s representative from the state Supreme Court, said the high court wouldn’t fund the council’s request. She said she called the budget office to tell staff that was the case.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, a Republican from Racine and member of the council, remained hopeful. He thought Republicans would write their own budget, giving the council another opportunity to advocate for funding. He said he talked with the Joint Committee on Finance about the request and “thought they were in a good place.”

“I think I feel better about this today than I did a week ago after having discussions with Joint Finance,” Wanggaard said.

Gleisner said the council’s potential fallback plan would be to share an office space with Legislative Counsel across the street from the Capitol in Madison. Wanggaard said the council would likely have a desk and help from a staff person for clerical and administrative matters, such as open-records requests.

The nonpartisan 21-member body — made up of judges, lawmakers, lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal system — has been operating without staff and a budget for years.

The council lost its staff attorney and budget in the state 2017-19 budget. Gov. Scott Walker then struck budgetary language that would have allowed the Wisconsin Supreme Court to provide money to the council. Evers did not restore any funding to the council in his 2019-21 budget.

The Judicial Council studies and proposes revisions of the state court system’s procedures and organization. Follow @“WLJreporter”