Dane County judge strikes down part of Bill 10 • Wisconsin Examiner

In a decision released late Wednesday, on the eve of the Fourth of July holiday, Dane County Judge Jacob Frost overturned part of Act 10, the Wisconsin state law that stripped most public employees of collective bargaining rights.

Frost ruled that the law wrongly exempts public security employees from restrictions on unions.

Unions representing those classified as “general public employees” under the law argued in the lawsuit that the exemption from the law for police officers, firefighters and other public safety employees violated the equal protection principle of the Wisconsin Constitution.

State agencies and officials responsible for enforcing the disputed provisions of Act 10 filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The state legislature also intervened in the case, arguing for dismissal on the grounds that the lawsuit was filed too late due to the 13-year period since Act 10 went into effect. Frost denied the motions to dismiss. He also ruled that “the classification of public employees in Act 10 into the categories of public safety and general employees lacks any reasonable basis” and therefore violates the principle of equal treatment because it is based on an “irrational or arbitrary classification.”

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Bill 10, signed by then-Republican Governor Scott Walker in 2011, sparked historic protests. Hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin residents flocked to the Capitol and Democratic lawmakers temporarily left the state. This initially deprived the Republican-dominated legislature of the votes needed to pass the law.

Under Act 10, public employee unions can only negotiate for base wage increases no greater than the rate of inflation, must seek approval annually through re-registration elections, and cannot collect membership dues directly from their members’ paychecks. The law also limits the term of collective bargaining agreements to one year. Act 10 also requires general employees to pay the full employee contribution to the Wisconsin Retirement System and sets a cap on employer contributions to general employee health insurance premiums. None of these restrictions and requirements applied to public employee unions.

Reacting to Wednesday’s decision, Melissa Agard, the Democratic minority leader in the state Senate, said: “This ruling confirms that Act 10 has created divisions among Wisconsin’s working people and reaffirms the principle that workers must be treated equally under the law.”

“When I and countless others protested at the Capitol in 2011, we stood up for these rights,” Agard added. “As we celebrate this worker-friendly ruling tonight, we must not rest until Act 10 is repealed and collective bargaining is restored for all public sector workers.”

State School Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly also released a statement responding to the ruling and linking it to the July 4 holiday.

“The right to organize your fellow workers into a union and then bargain collectively is a fundamental American right,” Underly said. “It is appropriate that on this Independence Day we will celebrate the restoration of those rights for many workers.”

“Act 10 was used to justify massive cuts to school funding that continue to cause problems today,” Underly added. “To protect every child’s right to a quality education, now is the perfect time to invest in local schools and in Wisconsin’s future.”

Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, called The ruling is “another example of how courts make laws from the bench.”

“Once again, the only way Democrats can get their way is by having activist judges throw out rulings on a holiday weekend when no one is watching,” LeMahieu said. “If this decision stands, it will unfortunately cost Wisconsin’s hard-working families millions of dollars.”