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LRB-2431/1
MLJ&CMH:wlj&kjf
2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
March 27, 2019 - Introduced by Representatives Tusler, Ott, Brooks, James,
Kurtz, Murphy, Mursau, Petersen, Pronschinske, Quinn, Shankland,
Thiesfeldt, VanderMeer and Wichgers, cosponsored by Senators Jacque,
Bernier and Wanggaard. Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice and
Public Safety.
AB145,1,10 1An Act to repeal 978.001 (1p) and 978.11; to renumber and amend 977.08 (3)
2(b); to amend 13.093 (2) (a), 16.971 (9), 16.971 (10), 230.08 (2) (e) 7., 230.33 (1),
3977.02 (5), 977.08 (3) (c), 977.08 (4m) (c), 978.03, 978.045 (1g), 978.045 (1r) (bm)
4(intro.), 978.045 (2), 978.05 (9) and 978.12 (1) (c); and to create 13.0967, 15.77,
520.548, 20.923 (4) (f) 7x., 227.118, 227.19 (3) (em), 230.08 (2) (qp), 230.12 (13),
6977.08 (3) (b) 2., 977.08 (4m) (d), 978.001 (1b), (1d) and (1n), 978.003, 978.004
7and 978.005 of the statutes; relating to: creation of a prosecutor board and a
8state prosecutors office; funding for the department of justice, assistant district
9attorneys, the public defender, and the courts; Public Defender Board
10regulation, and making an appropriation.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Courts and procedure
Public defender
Under current law, the Public Defender Board may promulgate rules to assure
that representation of indigent clients by the private bar is at the same level as the
representation provided by the state public defender. Under this bill, the board's

authority to promulgate rules is expanded to include setting standards for and
imposing conditions upon private bar attorney certification, decertification, or
recertification to represent clients. The bill also adds the following list of reasons as
grounds for which the office of the state public defender may exclude a private bar
attorney from a public defender list: 1) the attorney has failed to meet minimum
attorney performance standards adopted by the state public defender; 2) the
attorney has failed to comply with the supreme court rules of professional conduct
for attorneys; 3) the attorney has engaged in conduct that is contrary to the interests
of clients, the interests of justice, or the interests of the state public defender; or 4)
the state public defender learns of any information that raises a concern about the
attorney's character, performance, ability, or behavior.
The bill changes the rate at which the public defender must pay a private local
attorney to whom a case is assigned from $40 per hour for time spent related to a case
to $70 per hour for time spent related to a case. The bill provides $16,612,700 in each
fiscal year of the 2019-21 biennium for the rate increase.
The bill provides $1,767,900 GPR in fiscal year 2019 and $3,535,800 in fiscal
year 2020-21 to fund the assistant state public defender pay progression plan, which
is a plan in current law that consists of 17 hourly salary steps, with each step equal
to one-seventeenth of the difference between the lowest hourly salary and the
highest hourly salary for the salary range for the assistant state public defender
positions.
The bill directs the Public Defender Board to conduct a student loan payment
pilot program for private bar attorneys who accept public defender appointments.
The program would provide a payment to private bar attorneys that they may use
to repay student loans of up to $20,000 per year for attorneys in counties with a
population of 25,000 or less who agree to accept at least 50 state public defender
appointments per year. The bill provides $250,000 in each fiscal year of the 2019-21
biennium for the program.
District Attorneys
The bill creates an independent prosecutor board that oversees and sets policies
for a state prosecutors office, also created in the bill. Under the bill, the executive
director of the state prosecutors office manages the office; prepares personnel
policies, fiscal estimates, and an annual report; and represents the board before the
governor, the legislature, bar associations, and courts. The executive director may
also identify methods and practices for district attorneys that promote professional
competence and ethical practices. Under the bill, the state prosecutors office
assumes duties relating to district attorneys that current law assigns to the
Department of Administration, such as preparing a budget for all of the prosecutorial
units, approving appointments of special prosecutors when needed, and making
requests for assistant district attorneys in certain prosecutorial units. The bill
requires any rule that directly affects the state prosecutors office to be reviewed by
the office and for the office to submit a report on the proposed rule that includes
information about the effect of the proposed rule on the state prosecutors office. The
bill requires DOA to provide the state prosecutors office with general access to a case

management system currently used by the Department of Justice to manage
case-related information and to share the information among prosecutors.
The bill provides $1,600,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 and $3,200,000 in fiscal year
2020-21 to fund the deputy and assistant district attorney pay progression plan,
which is a plan in current law that consists of 17 hourly salary steps, with each step
equal to one-seventeenth of the difference between the lowest hourly salary and the
highest hourly salary for the salary range for the deputy and assistant district
attorney positions. The bill also provides $3,320,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 and
$4,427,000 in fiscal year 2020-21 to increase the authorized FTE for the assistant
district attorneys by 60.85 FTE positions.
Circuit courts
The bill provides $2,500,000 in fiscal year 2019-20 and $5,000,000 in fiscal year
2020-21 to fund court appointments made at county expense.
Justice
The bill creates a pay scale for DOJ state crime laboratory analysts that
consists of 17 hourly salary steps, with each step equal to one-seventeenth of the
difference between the lowest hourly salary and the highest hourly salary for the
salary range for DOJ state crime laboratory analysts contained in the state
compensation plan. The compensation plan goes into effect on July 1, 2019.
The bill creates within DOJ 25 FTE positions and provides $1,378,700 in fiscal
year 2019-20 and $3,378,900 in fiscal year 2020-21 to fund ongoing law enforcement
investigations, forensics activities, and operations.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as
an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB145,1 1Section 1 . 13.093 (2) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB145,4,212 13.093 (2) (a) Any bill making an appropriation, any bill increasing or
3decreasing existing appropriations or state or general local government fiscal
4liability or revenues, and any bill that modifies an existing surcharge or creates a
5new surcharge that is imposed under ch. 814, shall, before any vote is taken thereon
6by either house of the legislature if the bill is not referred to a standing committee,
7or before any public hearing is held before any standing committee or, if no public
8hearing is held, before any vote is taken by the committee, incorporate a reliable

1estimate of the anticipated change in appropriation authority or state or general
2local government fiscal liability or revenues under the bill, including to the extent
3possible a projection of such changes in future biennia. The estimate shall also
4indicate whether any increased costs incurred by the state under the bill can be
5mitigated through the use of contractual service contracts let in accordance with
6competitive procedures. For purposes of this paragraph, a bill increasing or
7decreasing the liability or revenues of the unemployment reserve fund is considered
8to increase or decrease state fiscal liability or revenues. Except as otherwise
9provided by joint rules of the legislature or this paragraph, such estimates shall be
10made by the department or agency administering the appropriation or fund or
11collecting the revenue. The legislative council staff shall prepare the fiscal estimate
12with respect to the provisions of any bill referred to the joint survey committee on
13retirement systems which create or modify any system for, or make any provision for,
14the retirement of or payment of pensions to public officers or employees. The director
15of state courts shall prepare the fiscal estimate with respect to the provisions of any
16bill that modifies an existing surcharge or creates a new surcharge that is imposed
17under ch. 814. The executive director of the state prosecutors office shall prepare the
18fiscal estimate with respect to the provisions of any bill that affects prosecutors or
19the state prosecutors office, including bills modifying or creating crimes or
20sentencing practices.
When a fiscal estimate is prepared after the bill has been
21introduced, it shall be printed and distributed as are amendments.
AB145,2 22Section 2 . 13.0967 of the statutes is created to read:
AB145,5,3 2313.0967 Review of bills affecting state prosecutors office. Any bill that
24is introduced in either house of the legislature that directly affects the state
25prosecutors office shall have a notation to that effect on its jacket when the jacket is

1prepared. When a bill that has that notation on the jacket is introduced, the
2legislative reference bureau shall submit a copy of the bill to the state prosecutors
3office.
AB145,3 4Section 3 . 15.77 of the statutes is created to read:
AB145,5,6 515.77 Prosecutor board. There is created a prosecutor board consisting of
611 members, appointed for staggered 3-year terms, as follows:
AB145,5,8 7(1) From each district under s. 752.11 (1) (b), (c), and (d), 2 district attorneys
8appointed by a majority of district attorneys from the district.
AB145,5,10 9(2) From the district under s. 752.11 (1) (a), the district attorney and a deputy
10district attorney appointed by the district attorney.
AB145,5,13 11(3) Two nonelected prosecutors, each from a different county, appointed by a
12majority of nonelected prosecutors. Under this subsection, “prosecutor” does not
13include a special prosecutor appointed under s. 978.045 or 978.05 (8) (b).
AB145,5,14 14(4) The attorney general or his or her designee.
AB145,4 15Section 4. 16.971 (9) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB145,5,2316 16.971 (9) In conjunction with the public defender board, the prosecutor board,
17the director of state courts, and the departments of corrections and justice and
18district attorneys
, the department may maintain, promote and coordinate
19automated justice information systems that are compatible among counties and the
20officers and agencies specified in this subsection, using the moneys appropriated
21under s. 20.505 (1) (kh) and (kq). The department shall annually report to the
22legislature under s. 13.172 (2) concerning the department's efforts to improve and
23increase the efficiency of integration of justice information systems.
AB145,5 24Section 5 . 16.971 (10) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB145,6,4
116.971 (10) The department shall maintain, and provide the department of
2justice and the state prosecutors office with general access to, a case management
3system that allows the state prosecutors office and district attorneys to manage all
4case-related information and share the information among prosecutors.
AB145,6 5Section 6 . 20.005 (3) (schedule) of the statutes: at the appropriate place, insert
6the following amounts for the purposes indicated: - See PDF for table PDF - See PDF for table PDF - See PDF for table PDF - See PDF for table PDF
AB145,7 7Section 7 . 20.548 of the statutes is created to read:
AB145,6,9 820.548 Prosecutor board. There is appropriated to the prosecutor board for
9the following program:
AB145,6,12 10(1) Coordination and administration of prosecutor functions. (a) Program
11administration.
The amounts in the schedule for program administration costs of
12the office of state prosecutors.
AB145,6,1513 (g) Gifts, grants, and proceeds. All moneys received from gifts and grants and
14all proceeds from services, conferences, and sales of publications and promotional
15materials for the purposes for which made or received.
AB145,8 16Section 8 . 20.923 (4) (f) 7x. of the statutes is created to read:
AB145,6,1717 20.923 (4) (f) 7x. State prosecutors office: executive director.
AB145,9 18Section 9 . 227.118 of the statutes is created to read:
AB145,7,10
1227.118 Review of rules affecting state prosecutors office. (1) Report
2on rules affecting state prosecutors office.
If a proposed rule directly affects the
3state prosecutors office, the agency proposing the rule shall, prior to submitting the
4proposed rule to the legislative council staff under s. 227.15, submit the proposed
5rule to the state prosecutors office. The state prosecutors office shall prepare a report
6on the proposed rule before it is submitted to the legislative council staff under s.
7227.15. The state prosecutors office may request any information from other state
8agencies, local governments, individuals, or organizations that is reasonably
9necessary for the office to prepare the report. The state prosecutors office shall
10prepare the report within 30 days after the rule is submitted to the office.
AB145,7,13 11(2) Findings of the office to be contained in the report. The report of the
12state prosecutors office shall contain information about the effect of the proposed
13rule on the state prosecutors office.
AB145,7,15 14(3) Applicability. This section does not apply to emergency rules promulgated
15under s. 227.24.
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