Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Wednesday that the Evers administration is “drunk with power” and is upending a process “that has literally worked for generations.” Vos speaks to reporters in Jan. 2024. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

The Joint Committee on Employment Relations unanimously approved pay raises for state and University of Wisconsin employees Wednesday morning, but not without criticism from the top Assembly Republican of Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to implement them ahead of the committee. 

The budget — passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Evers in early July — included a 3% pay increase in the first year of the budget and a 2% increase in the second year. Evers, seeking to get the pay raises to employees as soon as possible, instructed the Department of Administration (DOA) to implement the raises without getting the additional go-ahead from the committee in mid-August. 

DOA Deputy Secretary Anne Hanson told the committee that the raises should be reflected in paychecks starting this week.

“When the Wisconsin Supreme Court clarified that the state separation of power doctrine in Evers v. Marklein last year, it became clear that the implementation of raises established and funded by the state budget legislation would no longer necessitate separate approval by a legislative committee under the direction of Gov. Evers,” Hanson said. “DOA staff worked quickly to carry out the law.”

The Evers v. Marklein case centered on the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program and projects being blocked by the Joint Finance Committee. The Court found 6-1 that it was unconstitutional for the committee to withhold already appropriated funds for the program. 

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) complained about Evers’ actions before the committee voted Wednesday, saying the Evers administration is “drunk with power” and is upending a process “that has literally worked for generations.” 

“Really seems like rather than trying to be collaborative and go through the normal process where Republicans, Democrats, legislators, executive branch, all sit down and work out a deal, they’re just going to try to impose their will on the state, which will mean unfortunately that during the next budget discussion, it will be dramatically different,” Vos said. “It’s really a shame that the Evers administration has decided to play politics with it and do something which is clearly outside the scope of norm and what should be outside the scope of the law.” 

The conflict over the powers of the Legislature and of the executive branch goes beyond the implementation of pay raises. Republicans lawmakers are also trying to stop the implementation of administrative rules by the Evers administration, which was seeking to put some in action without going through the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. Evers in this case cited another recent state Supreme Court decision as clarifying his authority.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine), the Democrats on the committee, did not speak to the issue, though Hesselbein said she is concerned that the pay for employees isn’t enough. 

“I’m glad we’re doing this adjustment, but I would like to note after a conversation with representatives of hard-working men and women throughout the state providing public services… that the compensation for the average state employee does remain 18% below inflation since 2012,” Hesselbein said. “While this is a small step in the right direction, we have a lot more to do.”

Gov. Tony Evers implementing pay raises for state employees that were approved in the state budget without additional approval from the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Employment Relations. Evers signed the budget, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 15, at 1:32 a.m. in his office Thursday, less than an hour after the Assembly passed it. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Gov. Tony Evers is implementing pay raises for state employees without additional approval from the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Employment Relations, citing a recent state Supreme Court ruling.

The state budget, which was passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Evers last month, included about $385 million to provide state and University of Wisconsin employees with a 3% pay increase in the first year of the budget and a 2% increase in the second year.

“I fought hard in our bipartisan budget negotiations to secure much deserved pay increases for our talented state workers,” Evers wrote in a letter to state employees on Monday, adding that he was proud to sign the budget last month and it was important to him that state workers receive the wage adjustment as soon as possible.

Eligible employees will receive the 3% base pay adjustment to their current pay rate with their Sept. 4 paychecks, including a lump sum back pay from June 29. The second year of raises is supposed to be implemented June 28, 2026.

“The work that we do together every day on behalf of the people of Wisconsin is so important — perhaps never more so than it is today,” Evers wrote. “With Washington creating continued uncertainty through devastating cuts to investments and programs that so many across our state rely on, Wisconsinites will continue looking to us to lead, support them and build upon the work we’ve done together over the last six years. There is, as always, much hard work ahead of us. Having committed and exceptional partners like you in this good work will make all the difference.” 

The Joint Committee on Employment Relations has been tasked by state law with holding hearings on changes to state employee compensation and approving those changes. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate President Mary Felzkowski (R-Tomahawk) and Co-chairs of the Joint Committee of Employment Relations have not responded to requests for comment on Evers’ announcement. 

In a bulletin about the raises, the Department of Administration cited the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in the case Tony Evers v. Howard Marklein, which addressed the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and the ability of the Joint Finance Committee to hold up already appropriated funds. The Evers administration asserted that the decision clarified its authority to implement the raises without the additional approval of the committee.

The Court ruled 6-1 in July 2024 that the ability for the committee to withhold funds was unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers. 

Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote for the majority that a statute that authorizes lawmakers to “exercise core powers of the executive branch violates the constitutional separation of powers and cannot be enforced under any circumstances.” 

“While the constitution gives the legislature the power to appropriate funds, the power to spend the funds the legislature has appropriated for a specific project belongs to the executive branch,” Bradley wrote. “While the legislature has the power to create an agency, define its powers, and appropriate funds to fulfill the purpose for which the legislature established it, the power to spend appropriated funds in accordance with the law enacted by the legislature lies solely within the core power of the executive to ensure the laws are faithfully executed. We conclude these statutes interfere with the executive branch’s core function to carry out the law by permitting a legislative committee, rather than an executive branch agency, to make spending decisions for which the legislature has already appropriated funds and defined the parameters by which those funds may be spent.”

The original lawsuit filed by Evers in October 2023 included the Knowles-Nelson program and two other issues: JOCER’s ability to withhold raises approved in the budget and the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules’s block on administrative rules related to conversion therapy. At the time, JOCER was withholding pay raises approved in the budget for University of Wisconsin employees, so the raises could be used as a bargaining chip in Republican lawmakers’ efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the system. The pay raises, approved in the budget in July, were released by JOCER in December 2023. 

The majority decided in February 2024 that it would only take up the Knowles-Nelson issue and leave the other two “held in abeyance pending further order of the court.” Conservative justices were critical of the majority allowing original action in the case and separating the issues from each other at the time.

Justice Annette Zeigler wrote in her dissenting opinion in the case that taking all of the issues at once could have produced consistency. 

“Selecting an issue that only impacts the Republican-controlled legislature and the longstanding Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program should raise eyebrows,” Zeigler wrote. “Determining all issues at the same time could serve to hold my colleagues to application of the same principles in the same way, even when it comes to a Democratic-controlled branch of government. Unfortunately, we will wait to see if that consistency will be forthcoming, as the majority handpicked and now limits only the legislative branch’s longstanding, statutorily authorized practice.”

The Court dismissed the compensation and Joint Committee on Employment Relations issue in October 2024 when it decided to take up the conversion therapy and Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules issue. The Court issued a ruling in July limiting the committee’s ability to block administrative rules.

The University of Wisconsin system will also be implementing the general wage raises. 

“We are grateful to Governor Tony Evers and the Wisconsin State Legislature for their continued support of our workforce and recognition of the vital role our faculty and staff play in education, research, and public service,” UW President Jay Rothman wrote in a memo to employees on Monday. 

The implementation of the raises is not the first time the administration has moved ahead with releasing funds following the ruling. The administration announced funding for 12 Department of Natural Resources projects under the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program in October of 2024.