The state Senate approved legislation Tuesday requiring the Legislative Reference Bureau to to officially recommend signed laws for release a day after being passed instead of as long as 10 days later, a move that all but eliminates the secretary of state’s role in the legislative process.
Under current law, Secretary of State Doug La Follette has the option to wait ten days after the governor signs a bill before recommending the LRB formally publish it in the Wisconsin State Journal.
The new legislation is designed to remove the 10-day waiting period, and if passed would eliminate La Follette from the legislative process.
The 10-day waiting period made headlines in 2011 after Walker passed Act 10, the controversial bill limiting state workers’ collective bargaining rights. La Follette waited to release the law, which gave the Dane County Circuit Court time to issue an order blocking the law and sparked a negative response from Republicans. However, the state Supreme Court eventually upheld Act 10, and it was officially recorded.
Tom Evenson, communications director for state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the new proposal would benefit the legislature.
“The bill clarifies existing law and adds certainty to the legislative process,” Evenson said.
However, Democrats were critical of the proposal, saying it moved too fast through the state Senate and targeted Democrats.
“Rather than starting out the session in a bipartisan way, [Republicans went] after the only Democratic elected statewide office holder,” state Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said.
The bill’s author State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, could not be reached for comment.
