Wisconsin Legislature: vol75-127

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

Employe Trust Funds Board;

An appointee to the Employe Trust Funds Board whose appointment is based upon membership in the Wisconsin Retirement Board or Teachers Retirement Board continues as a member of the Employe Trust Funds Board even if he or she is no longer a member of the appointing board. The appointing board may, however, remove and replace their appointees to the ETF Board "at pleasure." OAG 26-86

August 12, 1986

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

GARY I. GATES,

Secretary

Department of Employe Trust Funds

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

You request my opinion on two questions relating to the appointment of Employe Trust Funds (ETF) Board members by the Wisconsin Retirement (WR) Board and Teachers Retirement (TR) Board.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

The WR Board and TR Board each appoint four members of the ETF Board for four year terms. At the time of appointment, each appointee must be a member of the appointing board. Sec. 15.16(1)(a) and (b), Stats. The situation which gives rise to your questions occurs when the ETF Board member's term continues past the end of his or her term on the WR Board or TR Board. You note the problem as follows:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

WR Board and TR Board members are appointed to serve staggered five year terms per s. 15.165(3), Stats. These Boards each appoint four members of the ETF Board pursuant to s. 40.03(8) and 15.16(1), Stats. Each ETF Board appointment is for a four-year term (s. 15.16(1)) and, at the time of appointment, each appointee must be a member of the appointing Board (s. 15.16(1)). It is therefore inevitable that frequently a member's term on the WR Board or the TR Board will end and a successor be appointed and seated prior to the expiration of that member's four-year term of office on the Employe Trust Funds Board.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

Your first questions asks:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 127 (1986)

In the circumstance described, does the Wisconsin Retirement Board (or the Teachers Retirement Board in like circumstances) have the authority to appoint a replacement to the Employe Trust Funds Board prior to the expiration of the four-year term of office on the Employe Trust Funds Board of the former WR Board incumbent?

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

The answer to this question is yes since the WR and TR Boards have, under section 17.07(6), Stats., the authority to remove and replace their appointees to the ETF Board at any time. That removal power exists even though the official is appointed for a specific term.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

Section 17.07 reads in part:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

Removals; legislative and appointive state officers. Removals from office of legislative and appointive state officers may be made as follows:

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

....

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

(6) Other state officers appointed by any officer or body without the concurrence of the governor, by the officer or body that appointed them, at pleasure.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

WR and TR Boards have thus been granted the statutory authority to remove their appointments to the ETF Board "at pleasure." As the Wisconsin Supreme Court stated in

Moses v. Board of Veterans Affairs

, 80 Wis. 2d 411, 414-15, 259 N.W.2d 102 (1977):

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

In this state the right to remove legislative or appointive state officers is given by statute to the person or body that made the appointment of such officer. This is codified in a removal statute creating certain categories of officers. These categories relate the right to remove an officer with the person or body that made the appointment. One such category is "state officers appointed by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the senate, or appointed by any other officer or body, subject to the concurrence of the governor." State officers in this category can be removed from office only "by the governor at any time, for cause." Another category is "[o]ther state officers appointed by any officer or body without the concurrence of the governor." State officers in this category can be removed from office "by the officer or body that appointed them, at pleasure." If the petitioner is in the first category, he can be removed only by the governor for cause. But if the second applies, he is removable by the board, at its pleasure.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128 (1986)

(Footnotes omitted.)

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 128-129 (1986)

This authority to remove appointees to the ETF Board "at its pleasure" rather than solely "for cause" is not diminished by the statutory specification that the appointment is for a four year term. I note that sections 17.20(1), dealing with "vacancies in appointive state offices," and 17.28, dealing with "when officers may hold office," both provide that appointees "shall hold office for the residue of the unexpired term." One could argue that this general language precludes the WR and TR Boards from exercising the "at pleasure" right to replace ETF Board appointees since they are appointed for a fixed term. I reject such a restrictive reading of this as a previous attorney general did by stating at 62 Op. Att'y Gen. 97, 100 (1973):

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 129 (1986)

It is my opinion therefore that despite the appointment of the board for a term of years, the legislature clearly intended to permit their removal at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Since the office is held absolutely at pleasure, a hearing is ordinarily not required for such removal.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 129 (1986)

"[W]hen there are several statutes relating to the same subject matter they should be read together and harmonized, if possible,"

City of Milwaukee v. Milwaukee County

, 27 Wis. 2d 53, 56, 133 N.W.2d 393 (1965). "A statute should be so construed that no part of it is rendered superfluous by the construction given."

State ex rel. Knudsen v. Board of Education

, 43 Wis. 2d 58, 65, 168 N.W.2d 295 (1969). "The general rule of statutory construction is that where two provisions are susceptible of a construction which will give operation to both, without doing violence to either, it is incumbent on the court to search for a reasonable theory under which to reconcile them so that both may be given force and effect."

State ex rel. Thompson v. Gibson

, 22 Wis. 2d 275, 292, 125 N.W.2d 636 (1964) (footnote omitted). Sections 17.20(1), 17.28 and 17.07(6) are properly harmonized by my construction. While ETF Board members are appointed and hold office for a four year term (or until a successor is appointed), the WR Board or TR Board may remove their appointees at pleasure during that four year term. Any other construction would effectively eliminate the authority to remove appointees "at pleasure" granted by section 17.07(6) and would preclude the WR Board or TR Board from replacing a holdover ETF Board member against his will, except for cause.

75 Op. Att'y Gen. 127, 129-130 (1986)

Once appointed, an ETF Board member serves for a four year term (and as a holdover thereafter) unless a vacancy, as defined by section 17.03, is created. Where there is an incumbent lawfully holding the office of ETF Board member, there is no vacancy to be filled by appointment. As the Wisconsin Supreme court stated in

State ex rel. Thompson v. Gibson

, 22 Wis. 2d at 290: