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A Wisconsin state judge temporarily blocked a law that would strip government employee unions of most of their collective-bargaining power.
Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi granted a temporary restraining order Friday blocking publication of the measure signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker on March 11. Publication gives the law full force and effect.
"The legislature and the governor, not a single Dane County Circuit Court judge, are responsible for the enactment of laws," Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen wrote in an email. He said the state plans to appeal Sumi's order.
The legislation championed by Walker, a first-term Republican, requires annual recertification votes for union representation and makes voluntary the payment of union dues. It exempts firefighters and police officers.
Organized labor and Democrats called the bill an attack on workers. Opposition sparked almost four weeks of mass protests at the Capitol.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne accused four Republican lawmakers of violating the state's open-meetings law when they gathered to craft a legislative measure that was then passed by both houses and signed by Walker.
State law required 24 hours' notice before the legislation could be considered by the joint committee of six senate and assembly members, the prosecutor said. The legislators gave less than two hours' notice of their March 9 meeting, according to Ozanne.
"No good cause existed such that the notice of 24 hours was impractical or impossible," the prosecutor said. The public's interest in enforcing the open-meetings law "outweighs any public interest in maintaining the validity" of their actions.''
Assistant Attorney General Maria Lazar on Friday told Sumi the joint committee had passed a rule that superseded the open- meetings law.
"The plaintiff is asking the court to interject itself into the legislative process. That cannot be done," Lazar said.
Open-meetings case law is "rock solid," Sumi replied.