Lawmakers To Hear Testimony On Civil Service Bill

The public will have a chance to testify Tuesday on a Republican bill that would change Wisconsin’s civil service laws for state workers.

The GOP bill would speed up the hiring process for state workers and end the state civil service exam that’s currently given to all applicants. Workers would be on probation for longer and could be fired based on their job performance.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor Mordecai Lee, who wrote a book about federal civil service laws, said he’s concerned these changes will gradually undo Wisconsin’s merit-based workforce and leave employees subject to political pressure.

“We want civil servants to be able to say what the facts are, not what the governor — whether Democrat or Republican — wants them to say,” said Lee.

Wisconsin’s civil service laws are over a century old.

Tuesday’s hearing on starts at 8:30 a.m. and lasts until 6 p.m. In a highly unusual move, Republicans will postpone the hearing around noon so they can take a more-than two-hour break to meet in partisan caucuses.