MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) – Wisconsin could be weeks away from any new rules dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Less than 24 hours after the state Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down the 'Safer at Home' order, the governor and Republican legislative leaders talked about how to move forward.

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The lawsuit challenging Gov. Tony Evers' emergency order by the Republican-controlled Legislature asked for a 6-day stay to give the state's Department of Health Services time to come up with a new rule, but the state Supreme Court didn't grant the stay in its ruling Wednesday instead relying on the governor and lawmakers to work together in a timely manner to address to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a Tweet after a meeting over the phone with the governor Thursday, Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) called his and Speaker Robin Vos' (R-Rochester) talk with the governor “good” and said he is looking forward to a back-and-forth discussion about the rules process.

 

 

Later in the afternoon, Gov. Evers called the meeting “respectful,” but expressed disappointment over lack of a statewide plan.

“It was obvious to me, through the conversations, that the majority leadership was pretty much unconcerned about the confusion that having multiple counties and municipalities having different rules and regulations, they're pretty okay with that,” Gov. Evers said.

Gov. Evers told reporters during Thursday's DHS teleconference he will probably meet with Republican leaders again next week.

Wednesday's state Supreme Court decision made it clear any emergency rules will need to be approved by the Legislature, which the governor says will take a minimum of two weeks to put in place.

The Evers administration is planning to publish a scope statement Monday, after which the public will have 10 calendar days to share thoughts on what could be proposed.

State Rep. Joan Ballweg (R-Maskesan) is the Assembly Chair of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules.

Rep. Ballweg says it would've been beneficial if the court had issued a ruling earlier, before the governor's 60-day emergency order expired, and granted the six-day stay.

“We maybe would have had the opportunity to get into this rule process sooner, so we wouldn't be talking about 14 days from now, you know, we could've been talking about—–maybe this would've been the 14th day instead of the first day,” Rep. Ballweg said.

A rule will automatically go into effect if committee members do not raise objections and vote otherwise. Rules developed by agencies can be in effect for up to 150 days. The committee can vote to renew a rule for up to 60 days twice.

Rep. Ballweg says the earliest a new rule could be in place would be May 29, assuming no members of her committee object.