2011 Wisconsin Act 10

2011 Wisconsin Act 10
100th Wisconsin Legislature
Long title An Act relating to: state finances, collective bargaining for public employees, compensation and fringe benefits of public employees, the state civil service system, the Medical Assistance program
Territorial extent	Wisconsin
Enacted	March 11, 2011
Signed by	Scott Walker
Legislative history
Bill title	2011 JR1 Assembly Bill 11
Introduced by	Committee on Assembly Organization, on behalf of the Governor
Introduced	February 15, 2011
Finally passed both chambers	March 10, 2011
Status: In force

2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also known as the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill or the Wisconsin Budget Adjustment Act,^[1][2] is a controversial law enacted by the 100th Wisconsin Legislature which significantly limited the rights and compensation of state and local government employees in Wisconsin. It was the signature act of Republican governor Scott Walker,^[3] who described it as a tool needed to address a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit.^[4] The introduction of this bill provoked immediate outrage from labor unions and their allies, and resulted in months of mass protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Democratic members of the Wisconsin Senate then fled the state to deny a quorum for the bill, remaining in Illinois for three weeks. Republicans in the legislature eventually stripped out budgetary items to circumvent budget-related quorum rules and passed the legislation on March 9, 2011.^[5] The law was signed by governor Walker on the morning of March 11 and was followed by a ceremonial signing later that day.^[6]

The legislation ended most collective bargaining rights for public employee labor unions, exempting certain public safety unions such as police, fire fighters, and sheriffs deputies.^[1][2] The law also made it much more difficult to certify and maintain a public employee union, and made it more difficult for unions to collect dues from members.^[2] The legislation also adjusted the public employee retirement system to shift the burden of contributions more onto employees, adjusted public employee health insurance plans to cap employer contributions, made it easier to fire employees who engaged in work stoppages or strikes, and enabled changes to state Medicaid programs.^[2]

The law was challenged in court, most notably in the case Madison Teachers Inc. v. Walker. The plaintiffs alleged that the law violated constitutional rights to association and equal protection, and separately charged that the law's rules for local government units violated the state constitution's home rule amendment and violated their rights to freely enter into contracts. Wisconsin circuit court judge Juan B. Colas initially heard the case and struck down several provisions of the law, but, on appeal, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned that decision in a 5–2 decision in July 2014, upholding Act 10 in its entirety.^[7][8] New litigation against Act 10 is currently underway in 2024, as Wisconsin circuit court judge Jacob Frost again struck down parts of the law where public safety unions were treated differently than other public employee unions.^[9]