A representative from Manitowoc County in Madison has submitted a bill as part of the “Red Tape Reset.”
3rd District Assemblyman Ron Tusler testified last week before two Wisconsin Legislative committees to encourage them to move forward on AB 275.
The Harrison Republican says the bill would “allow citizens to challenge unlawful rules and regulations put in place by Madison bureaucrats.”
According to the Legislative Reference Bureau, the bill would require a court, if it declares a rule invalid, to award the party asserting the issue of the rule reasonable attorney fees and costs.
Rep. Tusler gave a hypothetical scenario about a person wanting to purchase some land for a dream home.
However, a state agency like the DNR says the person can’t buy the land, and she takes them to court.
Tusler described, “If a court comes back and tells Mrs. Jones (the hypothetical person) you do have a right to build your house and the DNR was wrong to stop you from building, why does she have to pay those attorneys fees and costs to be right to the DNR?”
Rep. Tusler says the money used for court fees would cut into the person’s ability to build that home in a hypothetical situation.
“When a person is wrong about what’s constitutional, obviously, they got to pay their expenses,” he stated. “But when they were right and the government was wrong, why should they have to pay their attorneys’ fees and costs?”
Republicans call the “Red Tape Reset” a step in the right direction, pushing back against the unelected bureaucracy.
Rep. Tusler states that Wisconsin is the 13th most regulated state in the country and needs to be put on a path for fewer regulations.
AB 275 has been read only once and has not yet received a committee vote.
