>> All right.

We leave it there.

Thanks very much.

>> Thank you for hosting me today.

>> In state election news, conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley announced today she will not seek reelection in 2026, saying her work to rebuild the conservative movement is not as a minority member of the court.

Conservatives have lost the last two state Supreme Court elections by double digit margins.

Giving the court a Liberal majority until at least 2028.

In other news, on September 1st, new commercial building codes will go into effect, nearly two years after a legislative committee blocked a rule that would have brought Wisconsin building codes into compliance with international standards.

The rule update was at the center of a Wisconsin Supreme Court case that did more than just change building codes.

Here and now, senior political reporter Zach Schultz explains how this case is part of a series of court decisions that have dramatically shifted the balance of power at the Capitol.

>> Any discussion?

Hearing?

None.

Clerk will call the roll.

>> The Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules is probably not well known by most people outside the Capitol.

>> I've been on the committee the entire time I've been on the legislature.

Adam Neylon, it's one of the most important been the place where Republicans can stop what they view as executive overreach by the administration of Governor Tony Evers.

because the real world impact of administrative rules, people don't necessarily understand that rules have the same impact as law.

>> Administrative rules are proposed by state agencies.

So when the DNR wants to update the standards on how to clean up a hazardous waste spill, or the Department of Safety and Professional Services wants building codes, they have to go through a series of steps, including scope statements and public hearings, and eventually the proposed rule will end up in front of the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules.

>> On behalf of the Department, I respectfully request that this committee extend the expiration date for emergency rule 2502 by 60 days.

>> The committee can request changes, but one of the laws passed during the lame duck session at the end of Governor Scott Walker's term gave JCR the ability to indefinitely block rules.

Both new rules and old rules that have already been in effect for years.

In 2023, the committee blocked an update to the building codes.

>> When they proposed the building code, it went what we believe far above and beyond legislative intent.

>> The committee also blocked a proposed rule that would have banned gay conversion therapy.

>> We're not here specifically to discuss the merits of any conversion therapy or any other type of therapy.

>> Governor Evers filed a lawsuit claiming Jkr's ability to indefinitely veto and unconstitutional.

>> This case is as consequential for the operation of government is.

Maybe I've seen in my time on the court.

>> At oral arguments, conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn seemed to acknowledge the decades old arrangement may not be legal, but so many laws have been passed giving state agencies the power to make new rules.

With the understanding the to make sure they didn't go too far.

Constitution says, but hey, this is how we've been operating for a long time, and the legislature has passed a lot of laws accepting the framework that's been given.

>> Maybe it's not what the Constitution says was the key phrase from Hagedorn.

In a split decision, the Liberal majority struck down Jkr's ability to object and suspend rules.

>> Sanity will reign.

That's what I think.

We've been dealing with this for all the time I've been in office, and that is this committee, mainly the leadership.

We're able to stop everything dead in their tracks and then it things just don't happen.

>> Governor Tony Evers celebrated the decision.

While Republicans like Neylon fear what rules may be coming now that they can't object.

>> What we're seeing now is how much this has expanded executive authority and how The ability to sidestep the legislature and potentially have agency heads create a super legislature where they're able to implement rules with no oversight from the legislature.

>> This isn't the only case in the last term where the Wisconsin Supreme Court has eliminated legislative oversight.

In Evers v Marklein 1, the court ruled 6 to 1.

The Joint Finance Committee couldn't hold up purchases by the Noles.

Nelson Stewardship Fund in Kohl versus legislature, the court ruled seven zero.

The attorney general didn't need JFC approval to settle civil lawsuits.

>> Both at the national level and particularly at Wisconsin.

There is a redefining and shifting of what people thought was the balance of power and what the court is saying is now the balance of power.

>> Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jeanine Gajewski says as the partizan divides grow, the court is being asked to look at the constitutionality of old agreements on how government works.

there's a justification for it, not just the gentleman's agreement or party's agreement.

There has to be a constitutional legal justification, or if not, we're going to redefine it.

>> I think there's been a travesty of justice, honestly, because there has been absolute weakening of legislative oversight.

>> Neylon may not like it, but Democrats say the case was only filed because of what they call the excessive abuse of authority to shut down rules ranging from the DNR, setting safe levels for PFAS contamination, election rules on absentee ballots or the conversion therapy ban.

>> But I don't think the headline should be about conversion therapy.

I think the headline should be we lost legislative oversight because that's what really happened.

>> Gajewski says she was happy so many of the cases cut across the partisan labels on the bench, with conservatives joining with liberals, at least in part an all these cases.

>> I think that's healthy.

I really was glad to see that because I think a court that is totally predictable is really a court that looks like a legislature.

>> The decisions by the court are already having an impact.

Governor Evers cited the stewardship decision when he recently approved raises for state employees passed in the last budget without sending them to the Joint Committee on Employee Relations, as is required by law.

Republicans refused to fund the stewardship Fund in the last budget and are working on a new bill to give them some level of oversight.

Neylon says they were already drafting legislation in a more narrow fashion, to reduce the need for agencies to draft rules.

>> You're already seeing bills be much more prescriptive and not granting rulemaking authority explicitly through legislation.

>> Well, I think that's what happens on decisions that particularly upend what people have been doing.

And I think that what happens is that the the branches get more creative.

>> Neylon says his next bill will attempt to restore some oversight for Jcra in a way both sides can agree on.

>> I think there needs to be some sort of bipartisan agreement, some sort of working together to make sure that we put checks and balances back into our