Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Act 10 has been overturned. Here’s what to know about the controversial law.

Published

1 year ago

December 2, 2024

Wisconsin’s Act 10 has been overturned. Here’s what to know about the controversial law.

Collective bargaining rights of public employees in Wisconsin were restored Monday in a ruling by Dane County Judge Jacob Frost.

Public employee unions largely lost their ability to collectively bargain in 2011 with the passage of Act 10.

Here’s a look back at the origins of Act 10 — and the possibility of Frost’s ruling being challenged and ending up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court:

What is Act 10?

Shortly after being elected governor in November 2010, Scott Walker introduced what would become his signature piece of legislation, essentially ending collective bargaining rights for public employee unions in Wisconsin.

Act 10 ended the ability of most public-sector unions to negotiate over any issues other than raises, and those raises were capped at the rate of inflation. In addition, unions were required to hold annual elections to maintain their ability to negotiate for those raises. For those elections, they must win a majority of all eligible members, not just those who cast votes.

The measure cut public workers’ paychecks and siphoned off most of the strength of their unions.

Public workers earning $50,000 a year saw their take-home pay shrink by about 8.5% because they had to pay more for their benefits, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau at the time.

How much money did Act 10 save taxpayers?

PolitiFact Wisconsin previously checked Walker’s claim that Act 10 has “saved the taxpayers some $3 billion.” We rated that quote, from summer 2014, Mostly True.

At that point, there had been about $2.35 billion in savings associated with retirement and about $682 million associated with health insurance — though that incomplete number leaves out municipalities.

When public employee unions launched the lawsuit last November, Republican lawmakers cited an estimate that Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers over $16.8 billion.

PolitiFact Wisconsin investigated that claim and found that number came from the MacIver Institute, a conservative think tank. That number fell in line with previous reports and studies from other groups, though little research has been conducted on the subject in the past two years.

And as previously noted, the costs didn’t simply disappear. Rather, they were transferred from other taxpayers to public employees, who also pay taxes and now pay a higher share of their retirement funding and health-care costs.

How did Frost justify overturning Act 10?

Act 10 immediately affected public school teachers’ unions. It also ended unions at UW Health. It didn’t, however, unilaterally apply to public safety employees, a point noted by Frost.

“Rational basis review provides a simple premise,” Frost wrote in a July ruling that denied a motion filed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to dismiss the case. “Can you explain a law’s differing treatment of different groups in a way that makes sense and supports a public policy? If not, the different treatment is irrational and violates the right to equal protection of the laws.

“Because nobody could provide this Court an explanation that reasonably showed why municipal police and fire and State Troopers are considered public safety employees, but Capitol Police, UW Police and conservation wardens, who have the same authority and do the same work, are not.”

That unequal treatment of public safety employees remained at the heart of Frost’s ruling Monday.

How did lawmakers and the public respond to Act 10?

Walker announced his plan to curb union rights in February 2011. He believed he would be able to push the legislation through the GOP-controlled Legislature in a week. Democratic lawmakers foiled his plan by heading to Illinois to delay a vote.

In their absence, tens of thousands of people protested at the Capitol daily.

In March, Democrats returned to Madison and a vote approving the legislation that would become known as Act 10 would pass the Legislature and was signed into law. Act 10 took effect in June 2011.

Consequently, Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and 13 state senators faced recalls over Act 10 — 10 Republicans and three Democrats. Most incumbents won, but Democrats managed to unseat three Republicans. That was enough to give them control of the Senate in summer 2012, but the victory came when the Legislature was out of session and was short-lived. Republicans took back the majority that fall.

Walker became the first governor in U.S. history to survive a recall challenge. Kleefisch became the first lieutenant governor to face one, as well as the first to survive one.

Act 10 saved taxpayers money. How was it also political?

Reining in the political power of unions was part of the plan behind Act 10, as Scott Fitzgerald, who was the majority leader of the state Senate, made clear at the time.

“If we win this battle, and the money is not there under the auspices of the unions, certainly what you’re going to find is President (Barack) Obama is going to have a much more difficult time getting elected and winning the state of Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald, who was elected to Congress last year, told Fox News in 2011.

What does Walker think about Frost’s ruling?

While no longer in office, Walker responded to Frost’s decision on X, calling it “brazen political activism.”

“This makes the April 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race that much more important. We want a state where legislators and the governor make the laws, not the courts?” Walker said.

“Collective bargaining is not a right. It is an expensive entitlement,” Walker said in a second tweet.

What happens to Act 10 next?

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) agreed with Walker and promised an appeal.

“This lawsuit came more than a decade after Act 10 became law and after many courts rejected the same meritless legal challenges,” Vos said. “Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $16 billion. We look forward to presenting our arguments on appeal.”

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Jessica Van Egeren is a reporter and assistant breaking news editor with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at jvanegeren@gannett.com.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, wildlife advocates react to delisting of the gray wolf

Published

10 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, wildlife advocates react to delisting of the gray wolf

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – The Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association is speaking out about the U.S. House passing the “Pet and Livestock Protection Act”.

“I’ll be honest, our cattlemen are pretty fed up. I mean, they have been dealing with this issue for a long time, so. I mean just really felt like we are finally making progress here. And that’s really exciting that we can help our producers deal with this issue,” says Brady Zuck, a cow-calf producer and the past president of the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association.

Brady Zuck, one of many livestock producers in Wisconsin, is responding to the U.S. House passing a bill to delist the gray wolf from the “Endangered Species Act”.

The population of gray wolves is increasing, and according to the Wisconsin DNR, from April 2024 to April 2025, there were 70 verified wolf conflicts with livestock.

“That’s what’s been the most frustrating, is that we have producers locally here in northwest Wisconsin or your area by Green Bay that are dealing with this issue, and it’s all controlled in Washington, and we have people in our state that could make those management decisions, but their hands are tied,” says Zuck.

Supporters of the bill say non-lethal methods used to keep gray wolves away, such as strobe lights and music, are only short-term solutions.

“We’re asking, saying hey, if we’re having problems with wolves on farms, we need ways to effectively deal with that, that work,” says Zuck.

The Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance shared a statement from Thursday about the delisting, saying: “We are disgusted by this reckless abandonment of science-based wildlife management. However, our advocates showed up in extraordinary numbers against overwhelming odds, and their voices were heard. This organization and our supporters are not defeated.”

“As cattlemen, we never said we want to eliminate all wolves, we don’t want any wolves, we never said that. But we just need to make sure we have the tools in place that we can, you know, if we have wolves killing calves, we need a way to deal with it, right?” Zuck says.

The bill still has to pass the Senate and reach the president’s desk before changes are made.

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Wisconsin

Watch Live: Demolition of bridge between Iowa, Wisconsin

Published

22 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Watch Live: Demolition of bridge between Iowa, Wisconsin

LANSING, Iowa (KCRG) – The Black Hawk Bridge, connecting Iowa and Wisconsin over the Mississippi River will come down Friday morning.

The Iowa DOT and Wisconsin DOT are partnering on the demolition, which is set for 9:30 am on Friday. You can watch the demolition live in this article when it happens.

The bridge has been closed since October with plans to construct a new bridge, planned to open in 2027.

The Iowa DOT laid out safety plans for the demolition:

A zone around the bridge will be blocked off to protect people from debris.
The Lansing Ferry service will not run from 6:00 p.m. on December 18 to the morning of December 22.
Highway 26 will be closed from around 8:45 a.m. on December 19 and reopen around 30 minutes after the implosion. Detour signs will be posted.
The demolition zone will be closed to recreational boat traffic on December 18 and expected to reopen during the night of December 19.
No trains will run through Lansing for four hours on the morning of December 19.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin judge found guilty of obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal agents | CNN Politics

Published

1 day ago

December 18, 2025

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Wisconsin judge found guilty of obstruction for helping an immigrant evade federal agents | CNN Politics

AP
—

A jury found a Wisconsin judge – accused of helping an undocumented immigrant dodge federal authorities – guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.

Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count.

The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. Dugan faces up to five years in prison when she’s sentenced, but no date had been set as of late Thursday evening.

Dugan and her attorneys left the courtroom Thursday, ducked into a side conference room and closed the door without speaking to reporters. Steve Biskupic, her lead attorney, later told reporters that he was disappointed with the ruling and didn’t understand how the jury could have reached a split verdict since the elements of both charges were virtually the same.

US Attorney Brad Schimel denied the case was political and urged people to accept the verdict peacefully. He said courthouse arrests are safer because people are screened for weapons and it isn’t unfair for law enforcement to arrest wanted people in courthouses.

“Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle,” Schimel said. “While this case is serious for all involved, it is ultimately about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse. The defendant is certainly not evil. Nor is she a martyr for some greater cause.”

According to court filings that include an FBI affidavit and a federal grand jury indictment, immigration authorities traveled to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18 after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan learned that agents were in the corridor outside her courtroom waiting for Flores-Ruiz. She left the courtroom to confront them, falsely telling that their administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest him and directing them to go to the chief judge’s office.

While the agents were gone, she addressed Flores-Ruiz’s case off the record, told his attorney that he could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led Flores-Ruiz and the attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. The US Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported.

The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.

Prosecutors worked during Dugan’s trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judge’s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape.

Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that she’d take “the heat” for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.

Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didn’t intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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