Local officials trying to determine authority after court overturns Evers’ order

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Editors note: This story was published Wednesday night before Rock County issued its own emergency order.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Governor Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order is creating confusion among local governments and their attorneys.

Rock County Administrator Josh Smith said his staff is trying to figure out if the court ruling changes their authority to issue local emergency orders along similar lines.

City of Beloit staff are working to determine their own municipal authority in light of the ruling, and WCLO was unable to contact any city of Janesville officials Wednesday night.

The court decision determined Evers and health secretary-designee Andrea Palm did not have the authority to extend the protective health order to May 26, ending it effective immediately.

“In the meantime we’re going to have 72 counties doing their own thing, and we were in a good place,” Governor Evers said in a conference call Wednesday night. “We are no longer in a good place.”

The court’s majority opinion was that Palm needed to issue the regulations as a rule instead of an order, which would give the legislature the ability to veto the policy.

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards said it does not believe the court’s ruling allows schools to reopen.

The Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the court’s ruling also does not affect the governor’s ban on evictions and foreclosures.

Dane County and the City of Madison issued their own orders Wednesday night, implementing many of the same rules previously in place under the governor’s safer-at-home policy.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett also said his city’s stay-at-home order will remain in place.