Will Be In Effect Wednesday, June 29th
On Tuesday, June 28, 2011, the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s office published Act 10, the law that included provisions to limit public sector unions’ ability to collectively bargain. The office says the law will be in effect starting Wednesday.
There weren’t any cameras or fanfare when Secretary Doug La Follette enrolled the law.
“It was business as usual,” Susan Churchill, Deputy Secretary of State, told the MacIver Institute.
Governor Walker signed Act 10 on March 11th. Secretary of State Doug La Follette decided to wait the full 10 working days allowed by law before enrolling it. That was originally scheduled to happen on March 25th, and the law would then be in effect on March 28th.
However, Dane County Judge Mary Ann Sumi placed a temporary restraining order on the Secretary of State from publishing the law. The controversy got even more convoluted when the legislative reference bureau, not named in the TRO, published the law on March 25th anyway, and the Department of Administration considered that sufficient to enforce it.
Sumi, again, took action to block the law, this time making the restraining order permanent. All this put Act 10 on a course to the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, pro-union interest groups made a strong effort to get Joanne Kloppenburg elected to the Supreme Court in April. That would have shifted the balance on the court in their favor. However, Kloppenburg lost the election and the recount that ended last month.
The Supreme Court took up Act 10 and the TRO earlier this month, and decided the law should go into effect.
La Follette again waited the allowed full 10 working days before finally enrolling and publishing it.
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