A New Turn to Wisconsin's Collective Bargaining Rights

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The fight in Wisconsin over
collective bargaining rights
has a new turn which is the
publishing of the law despite
a judge's order against it.

Lawmakers and observers
speculated Saturday if the
law had taken effect.

It started Friday afternoon
when the state's Legislative
Reference Bureau published the
controversial act that
restrains the collective
bargaining rights of most
employees.

The Legislature's web site
Saturday referenced the
publication of the law and
mentioned two points.

Dane County Circuit Court
Judge Maryann Sumi on March
18 stopped enactment of the
law and forbade Secretary of
State Douglas La Follette from
publishing it.

Wisconsin law requires the
Legislative Reference Bureau
to publish every act within
10 days of its passage.

The state's Department of Justice,
headed by Attorney General J.B.
Van Hollen, issued a statement
Friday, "no action by the
Secretary of State is required
by this section for the
legislative reference bureau to
publish an Act."

Monday, Van Hollen asked the state's
4th District Court of Appeals to
lift Sumi's temporary restraining
order stopping enforcement of the
act.

Sumi's injunction was in response
to a suit filed by a Democratic
district attorney alleging that
Republican legislators violated
the state's open meetings law by
calling a committee meeting to
amend GOP Gov. Scott Walker's
budget bill without providing
the public 24-hour advance notice.

Source: http://newsblaze.com/story/20110328071947writ.nb/topstory.html