Speaker Vos: Assistant District Attorney wages should be increased ‘substantially’

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Published 2:14 p.m. CDT May 5, 2023 / Last Updated 7:40 p.m. CDT May 5, 2023

By Steve Schuster

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Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Friday he supports a “substantial” pay raise for Wisconsin Assistant District Attorneys (ADA’s).

“We have been working in our caucus to do a substantial raise, because we need to make sure we keep the people who are already there,” Vos said.

During Friday’s Milwaukee Press Club event, the Wisconsin Law Journal asked Vos: Given law students are graduating with significant student loan debt and are taking on serious cases as ADA’s, does he support increasing the current wages for Assistant District Attorneys.

In response, Vos said he supports raising the current starting wage of $27.24 per hour that Wisconsin Assistant District Attorneys currently earn.

“We just did a salary study for the State Legislature. … it made me realize that for a lot of these jobs, we have to think differently to attract the best and brightest people,” Vos said.

“I’m grateful for the public support from Speaker Vos to meaningfully address prosecutor pay in the budget and the positive support I’ve been hearing from so many others in the legislature. Addressing pay is needed to fill vacant positions and retain the prosecutors we have so the best and brightest prosecutors are working with law enforcement to protect our communities,” said Fond Du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney. Toney serves as President of the Wisconsin District Attorneys Association.

Vos also said, Gov. Tony Evers made a mistake by not proposing a high enough salary increase for Assistant District Attorneys.

“Gov. Evers proposed an increase and I think he made a mistake … he proposed an either $7 or $9 an hour pay increase, but it capped out. So, the highest paid people would basically get nothing (as far as a pay increase). Well, those are the most productive people doing the most cases,” Vos said noting that Evers proposal was to increase pay for new Assistant District Attorney hires, and Vos wants to increase pay for existing senior District Attorneys as well.

Evers had proposed an $8 an hour pay increase for starting ADA’s.

Vos said he also met with Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul this week. Vos said a budget increase to fund more DCI agents is “possible,” but if he had to choose between increasing salaries for funding more DCI agents or District Attorneys, he would fund an increase in ADA salaries.

Vos said he hasn’t discussed the raise with the Senate yet, but plans to in the coming weeks.

As previously reported by The Wisconsin Law Journal in March, Wisconsin is on the brink of a constitutional crisis, as courts face unprecedented District Attorney and Public Defender shortages across the state.

Republican Sen. André Jacque said he too supports the increase during an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal back in March.

“It’s certainly an issue with our criminal justice system in terms of having adequate resources. I think there is pretty broad support for addressing the overall needs of the court system,” Jacque said during an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal.

“There have been a lot of signals from all parties. I’m not aware of anyone fighting what was jointly proposed,’ Jacque added.

Across the political aisle, Wisconsin Democrat Sen. Chris Larson previously told the Wisconsin Law Journal in March that he supports Evers’ proposed $8 pay increase for state public defenders and assistant district attorneys.

“Wisconsin’s criminal justice system is in the midst of a staffing crisis at nearly every level. Given the fact that two-thirds of residents in local jails nationwide are being held pre-trial, having enough public defenders and assistant DAs to provide a speedy trial to these individuals is critical. I applaud Governor Evers for addressing this need in his biennial budget proposal, and I hope my Republican colleagues will agree to support it,” Larson said.

In March, The Wisconsin Law Journal also interviewed State Bar of Wisconsin President Margaret Hickey.

“It’s hard to attract good young lawyers. Assistant prosecutors and public defenders are getting $27.24 an hour. They come out of law school and they have large loans,” said Hickey, noting that Wisconsin’s criminal justice system is “in a state of huge disrepair.”

As of January, Hickey said there were 48 assistant district attorney vacancies throughout the state.

This story has been updated.