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2022 Op. Wis. Att'y Gen. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.sag/sagwi2022 and id is 1 raw text is: STATE OF WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE Josh Kaul 114 East, State Capitol Attorney General P.O. Box 7857 Madison, WI 53707-7857 608/266-1221 TTY 1-800-947-3529 June 2, 2022 OAG-01-22 The Honorable Tony Evers Governor State of Wisconsin 115 East, State Capitol Madison, WI 53702 Dear Governor Evers: ¶ 1. You have requested an opinion regarding the power of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority (the Authority) to voluntarily engage in collective bargaining with an organization chosen by a majority of nurses it employs. Your request notes that the Authority is not mentioned in chapter 111 of the Wisconsin Statutes, which governs employment relations and collective bargaining. If that lack of express reference means that the Authority is not covered by chapter 111's collective bargaining provisions, you posit that the Authority is not prohibited from voluntarily engaging in bargaining, as state law would neither require nor prohibit it. ¶ 2. Before addressing your question about voluntary bargaining, I discuss a threshold issue of whether chapter 111's mandatory collective bargaining provisions apply to the Authority, meaning it would be required to bargain. Although this opinion does not reach a conclusion on this issue, it appears that the Authority would be covered by the plain language of chapter 111's subchapter known as the Peace Act. As to the direct question you pose, even assuming the Authority is not covered by the Peace Act-and, thus, is not required to collectively bargain-then it would still have the power to voluntarily bargain. The Authority has broad powers to contract with its employees and set their terms of employment, and it could choose to do so via a voluntary collective bargaining process. ¶ 3. Your request involves statutory interpretation, which applies the language of the statute. State ex rel. Kalal v. Cir. Ct. for Dane Cnty., 2004 WI 58, ¶ 45, 271 Wis. 2d 633, 681 N.W.2d 110. Statutory language is given its common,

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