Wisconsin Legislators Rebuff Evers Fee Increases On Livestock Industry

WISCONSIN — In July, the liberal state Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom, handed down a ruling to remove legislative oversight from the Evers’ administration rulemaking power. It did not take long to see the consequences of this newfound power.

Soon after, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) proposed a rule to increase fees on animal markets, animal dealers, and animal truckers at extreme levels. In the proposal, animal dealer licenses would climb from $220 to $670, a 205 percent increase. The registration fee paid by truckers transporting livestock would increase 517 percent, from the current $60 to $370. And an Animal Market Class A license would jump from $420 to a whopping $7,430 – an increase of nearly 1700 percent!

Immediately we began hearing from neighbors, constituents, and those involved in the industry who shared their concerns that such sharp increases could potentially drive them out of business or force them to move into neighboring states where existing fees are more in line with Wisconsin’s existing license fees.

Unfortunately, under the new unilateral rules power given to state agencies, the legislature can no longer object to such rules, so the bureaucratic deep state is free to make these changes all on its own – with the blessing of Governor Evers.

In response we introduced legislation that will put the decision-making process back in the hands of the elected legislature, not unelected bureaucrats. The bill proposes to stop the massive fee hikes on our livestock industry by not allowing the governor or his agency to raise fees simply by rule. The bill keeps the current fees in place, codifying them in state statute where the elected legislature has oversight.

Unelected bureaucrats should not be able to drive farmers out of business or put a huge financial burden on their backs – and Governor Evers should not allow them to do so. Instead, he should listen to elected representatives when they put this bill on his desk.

Senator Romaine Robert Quinn (R-Birchwood) and Representative Clint Moses (R-Menomonie) introduced legislation to freeze livestock fees, along with southwestern Wisconsin legislators Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Travis Tranel.