MacIver News Service | October 29, 2015
The Assembly voted to pass Assembly Bill 373 (AB 373), a bill to reform the state civil service, on Tuesday. The floor debate lasted several hours.
Rep. Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna), the main author and sponsor of the bill, started and ended debate.
.@jimsteineke starting off arguments on the floor for his bill, reforming civil service #WIpolitics
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
"You don't want someone to be working for the state who's been stealing from the state".@jimsteineke making the case for #civilservicereform
— MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) October 27, 2015
"We want the best&the brightest working for the state and we don't want to presuppose who that will be" .@jimsteineke defending ban the box
— MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) October 27, 2015
Minority Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Milton) followed up with a prediction that turned out to be true.
.@RepJorgensen making what he thinks will be the first of many references to Bob La Follette #CivilServiceReform
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
.@RepJorgensen saying after the bills GOP has passed this week, "it's like you're on drugs of some sort"
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Debate in the WI Assembly over the civil service bill has elevated to a moderate level of tension.
— Jason Stein (@jasonmdstein) October 27, 2015
Rep. Gary Hebl (D-Sun Prairie) also invoked the image of La Follette.
Rep. Gary Hebl rises in support of moving #CivilServiceReform back to committee.Mentions how ashamed Bob La Follette, a republican, would be
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Rep. Hebl says this bill would create a partisan political army for General Walker #CivilServiceReform
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Rep. Dianne Hasselbein (D-Middleton) questioned Governor Walkers’ motive and involvement.
.@RepHesselbein saying .@GovWalker pushed for this bill as an attempt to get political attention 48h after dropping out of presidential race
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
.@RepHesselbein says #CivilServiceReform bill will create fear in the workplace, "the nasty face of divide and conquer"
— MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) October 27, 2015
Private employment is generally at-will. After the civil service reform bill is passed, state employees still have strong protections.
— Chris Reader (@ReaderWMC) October 27, 2015
Rep. Daniel Knodl (R-Germantown) discussed the pay raises for strong employees included in the bill, and challenged Assembly Democrats to vote against pay raises for strong workers.
"A vote against this is a vote against pay raises for the best people on our force" .@RepKnodl mentioning the $6m in bill for pay raises
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) struck back at Democrats who said they weren’t involved in the bill’s full process. He questioned why they introduced nine amendments on the floor without letting Republicans consider them beforehand.
.@SpeakerVos says Democrats repeating same talking points "over and over and over and over and over…" etc. That is a direct quote.
— Shawn Johnson (@SJohnsonWPR) October 27, 2015
.@SpeakerVos says politics didn't drive bill: "All of us ran because we believe in something. I believe in reforming government."
— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) October 27, 2015
.@repvos says even with reforms, public system will still be "much less nimble" than the private sector #CivilServiceReform #wipolitics
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
.@repvos says its funny that those on the left don't want to test kids in schools as much, but defend exam for civil service workers
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) acknowledged that he liked the ban the box provision in this version of the bill. As the MacIver Institute previously reported, Rep. Steineke’s Assembly version bans the box on thats asks individuals if they have substantially related felony charge. The Senate version of the bill keeps the box, which may lead to issues down the line. Barnes said the provision actually didn’t go far enough, and said it should extend to public and private employees across the state.
.@TheOtherMandela likes the #banthebox provision in .@jimsteineke's version of this bill but wishes it was extended to private employees too
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
Throughout the night, legislators clashed on whether or not resumes are an appropriate method of whittling down candidates.
.@RepKessler says resume selection is "absolutely a subjective thing, and the perfect occasion to put your political allies into state jobs"
— MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) October 27, 2015
As part of his closing argument, Rep. Steineke read from Obama administration documents which support the reform of civil service. He argued that if the President supports civil service reform, then it’s not a strictly republican issue or a power grab, as Assembly Democrats alleged throughout the night.
Author .@jimsteineke back up to defend the bill: says it is not partisan, reading from article saying Obama's administration doing the same
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
"Imagine that, that right-winger Obama, doubling the probationary period to two years" .@jimsteineke challenging Dems via heavy sarcasm
— MacIver News Service (@NewsMacIver) October 27, 2015
In the end, the bill was voted through on a 57-35 vote and will now go to the Senate.
Civil service bill passes the Wisconsin Assembly 57-35.
— Jason Stein (@jasonmdstein) October 28, 2015
Thanks to all of my @WIAssemblyGOP colleagues for standing strong on #RealReform tonight #TaxpayersandEmployeesWin #Wiright
— Rep. Jim Steineke (@jimsteineke) October 28, 2015