The Wisconsin Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee can’t legally block conservation projects initiated by Democratic Governor Tony Evers’ administration, the state Supreme Court ruled July 5.
The court ruled 6-1 that provisions that require the Joint Finance Committee to unilaterally block projects and land acquisitions funded with money from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program violate the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.
The Legislature gave the executive branch the power to distribute stewardship money when it established the program, Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote in the majority opinion. Once that power was conferred, lawmakers lacked authority to reject decisions on how to spend the money short of rewriting spending laws, she wrote.
The Legislature created the stewardship program in 1989. The state Department of Natural Resources uses money from the program to fund grants to local governments and nongovernmental organizations for environmental projects. The gubernatorial cabinet agency also uses money from the program to acquire land for conservation and public use. The Legislature has currently authorized the agency to spend up to $33.2 million in each fiscal year through 2025-26 for land acquisition, according to court documents.
Republicans have long criticized the program, saying it prevents land from being developed and takes parcels off local tax rolls. The finance committee in April 2023 blocked the DNR’s plan to spend $15.5 million from the program to acquire a conservation easement on 56,000 acres of forest, which would have been the largest land conservation effort in Wisconsin history. Evers ended up going around the committee in January by securing federal money for the purchase.
The Governor sued in October, arguing that legislative committees controlled by a handful of Republicans have overstepped their constitutional authority.