Frederica Freyberg:

Governor Walker’s budget would also eliminate the authority of citizen boards that run large state agencies. Instead, agency secretaries appointed by the Governor would take on the rulemaking. But this week legislative budget writers got rid of the Governor’s proposal to make the boards for the DNR and the Department of Agriculture advisory only. That, however, doesn’t mean the changes won’t happen. Republicans expect to take up the issue as a stand-alone bill. In tonight’s “Budget Watch” report, Here & Now’s Zac Schultz explains what these changes would mean and why there is such fierce opposition.

[Applause]

Zac Schultz:

Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal contained a lot of surprises for the DNR, but perhaps none bigger than his proposal to strip the natural resources board of its rulemaking authority.

Preston Cole:

I was surprised.

Zac Schultz:

Preston Cole is chairman of the seven-member citizen board. Each month they gather to hear public and expert testimony and work on administrative rules that govern everything from hunting and fishing to pollution and mining.

Preston Cole:

We’re not policymakers. We are citizens. And it’s almost like the kind of work that a jury does. You know, we listen to people. We get through the facts and we render decisions.

Zac Schultz:

After the board has voted, the Legislature and the Governor have the ability to veto the rule, but not change it. They can only make them start over. Governor Walker’s budget would make the board’s recommendations advisory, putting all the power in the hands of his appointed DNR Secretary, Cathy Stepp.

Member of Joint Committee on Finance:

What’s gone wrong with that system that we need to change that?

Zac Schultz:

Stepp would not do an interview with us, but did testify before the Joint Finance Committee, calling the board unnecessary bureaucracy.

Cathy Stepp:

Well, I feel that it’s extra layers, that now that we’ve got some changes that have evolved since the current structure of the board was implemented about60 years ago, I think it’s duplicative. So I do believe there are opportunities where we can streamline the process, provide better, more efficient government to our constituents.

Christine Thomas:

We all know there’s always politics in Natural Resources.

Zac Schultz:

Board member Christine Thomas laid out the history of the board at their February meeting.

Christine Thomas:

So the Wisconsin Conservation Department under the direction of a six-man, unpaid citizen board came to be in 1927.

George Meyer:

I’ll tell you, there was a heck of lot more accountability.

Zac Schultz:

George Meyer was DNR secretary for eight years and says the board was vital for citizen input and rulemaking.

George Meyer:

The decisions were far better with the natural resources board involved because I had seven really smart people who lived across the state and had their thumb on the pulse of local citizens, what they thought.

Helen Sarakinos:

So it was the Eau Claire area, the Fox Valley.

Zac Schultz:

Helen Sarakinos is a lobbyist. She says stripping the board of rulemaking authority has nothing to do with efficiency.

Helen Sarakinos:

I think you have people who have a problem with the board and instead of dealing with the problem, they just try to blow the whole thing up.

Mary Czaja:

And I don’t think they always understand what their decisions mean to Northern Wisconsin or to the rural areas.

Zac Schultz:

Representative Mary Czaja is a Republican from Lincoln County in Northern Wisconsin. She says the rulemaking process takes too long.

Mary Czaja:

I just had a situation where we applied for an ATV trail through a wildlife area. So it went through the whole public process and listening sessions, got to the DNR board. They said we’re not sure everybody got a voice in this even though we went through the process and kicked it back to do it all over again.

Zac Schultz:

But it was Republicans and Governor Walker who passed a law in 2011 that made the rulemaking process stretch out for years.

Preston Cole:

Some of the changes that were put in place, were put in place by this Administration.

Helen Sarakinos

Sarakinos has highlighted the three steps where the board is involved in the rulemaking process. She estimates that they represent about three months out of a three-year process.

Helen Sarakinos:

I would argue that eliminating those three yellow squares is not going to make this any more efficient. It’s inefficient because it was designed inefficiently. What those three yellow squares do provide, however, is an opportunity for stakeholders to ask questions, to voice concerns.

Andy Diercks:

What happens at our board and DNR boards is a democratic process.

Frederica Freyberg:

The natural resources board is not the only one under threat in this budget. The Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection, or DATCP, has a fine-member citizen board with rulemaking authority. Andy Diercks is chairman and says making them advisory will make them less relevant.

Andy Diercks:

A bit of a power grab or centralizing of authority.

Zac Schultz:

All nine members are connected to farming and their input helps make the rules that govern that industry.

Ben Brancel:

It changes the authority of the board, but it does not change the responsibility of the board.

Zac Schultz:

DATCP Secretary Ben Brancel says he would treat the board the same.

Ben Brancel:

I would continue to rely on them for information, counsel, guidance.

Zac Schultz:

Brancel says he was informed of the changes two days before the Governor’s budget address. But the Governor never mentioned it in his speech. This was the closest reference we could find.

Scott Walker:

Our budget reforms reform government so we can operate in a way that is more effective and more efficient and ultimately more accountable.

Zac Schultz:

That vagueness has caused a lot of confusion in other parts of the state. The Kickapoo Valley reserve in Southwest Wisconsin is governed by a 11-member citizen board.

Audience Member:

What happens to the reserve if indeed it does become transferred to the DNR?

Zac Schultz:

Under the Governor’s budget, they maintain their rulemaking authority, but administrative services will be moved to the DNR. An overflow crowd demanded answers from their local legislators.

Lee Nerison:

I agree with you 100%. We got to get it back to Tourism.

Zac Schultz:

Representative Lee Nerison is a Republican and says he’ll have to educate his colleagues on keeping the reserve away from the DNR.

Lee Nerison:

The DNR, they interpret things their way. That’s why we got to make sure he get it completely out and put it back where it was.

Zac Schultz::

In the 1970s, the federal government used eminent domain to take the property away from local farmers. The plan was to dam the Valley and create La Farge Lake. But it never happened.

Marcy West:

It sat idle from 1973 to 1995

Zac Schultz::

The State got the land back and created the reserve. Marcy West is executive director.

Marcy West:

We have 8,600 acres that is jointly managed with the Ho-Chunk Indian Nation.

Zac Schultz:

West says they fear being under the DNR in any capacity, but especially if the Natural Resources Board has no power.

Marcy West:

That causes concern because these folks really have been able to develop unique policies and procedures. All of the trails are sustainably built. We have extra protections on the agriculture, forestry.

Helen Sarakinos:

When we see things like moving boards into the DNR, people get alarmed. They worry it’s just another step.

Zac Schultz:

Helen Sarakinos of the River Alliance says individually the moves can be explained, but when taken as a whole, it paints a different picture.

Helen Sarakinos:

Citizen engagement in some ways feels like it’s under siege.