To:                   Members, Assembly Government Accountability and Oversight Committee

From:              State Bar of Wisconsin          

Date:               Dec. 20, 2017

Re:                  AB 231 – prosecutor board creation

The State Bar of Wisconsin encourages your support on AB 231, which creates a statewide prosecutor board, as well as a prosecutor’s office. The State Bar applauds the efforts of Sen. Ron Tusler to create this independent board that will oversee and set policies for the state prosecutor’s office, thus, protecting the interests and funding for elected district attorneys and assistant district attorneys in Wisconsin.

Currently, district attorneys, assistant district attorneys, and deputy district attorneys do not have a centralized organization to represent their interests at the Statehouse or set policies that would enhance the operations of district attorneys statewide. Nor do DA’s, ADA’s, and DDA’s have a legislative liaison to advocate on their behalf at the State Capitol. With the passage of AB 231 and the implementation of a state prosecutor’s office, they would have an independent advocate at the Capitol and professional staff who could focus solely on the needs of state prosecutors and their offices, without conflict.

The State Bar of Wisconsin looks forward to a partnership with this board as we have with the State Public Defender Board. This legislation is an opportunity to even the playing field between the state’s defense attorneys and state prosecutors, while creating an independent board to create uniform policies and set standards throughout the state for district attorneys and their offices. For these reasons, the State Bar of Wisconsin respectfully requests the Government Accountability and Oversight committee members’ support AB 231.

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact our Government Relations Coordinators, Lynne Davis, ldavis@wisbar.org, 608.852.3603 or Cale Battles, cbattles@wisbar.org, 608.695.5686.