Gov. Walker: Judge's Ruling on Act 10 'Fundamentally Flawed'

The state partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week.  Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses.  To download an mp3 file, you can right click the radio address link and click “save link as.”

Hi, this is Scott Walker.

As you may have heard, recently, a Dane County judge in Madison issued a ruling that struck down key provisions of the budget reforms enacted late last year.  We are confident this ruling will be overturned because Act 10 is constitutional.  This would not be the first time a Dane County judge's decision on Act 10 was held to be wrong by a higher court.

Since enacting the reforms contained in Act 10, taxpayers have saved more than one billion dollars, property taxes on a median value home have decreased for the first time in twelve years, we balanced a $3.6 billion budget deficit at the state level without increasing taxes, and government services have improved.

This week, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen filed a brief seeking a stay of the ruling, which would help keep Act 10 in place, until the appeals process is complete.

Independent legal experts and those from both sides of the aisle already noted the judge’s ruling is fundamentally flawed and pointed out that seeking a stay is the reasonable course of action, given the confusion caused by the judge’s flawed ruling.

While we are confident the law will be upheld, if the current ruling on Act 10 stands, it would result in public employee layoffs, increased debt for local units of government and school districts, and it could return us to a system where a handful of special interests control huge portions of our government budgets.  This ruling strips power from local elected and school board officials and reduces their ability to effectively manage their budgets.

Voters spoke more than two years ago about the need to reform government, reduce spending, and balance our budget.  The voters reaffirmed their decision on June 5 of this year. 

When this ruling is overturned the reforms will continue to be enacted, we will continue down the path of balanced budgets, and we’ll be able to focus on helping the people of our state create more jobs.