Statutory History as an Intrinsic Aid: Service Employees International Union Healthcare Wisconsin v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (2025 WI 29)

Introduction

In Service Employees International Union Healthcare Wisconsin v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, 2025 WI 29, the Wisconsin Supreme Court confronted two questions of lasting significance:

1. Whether, after the sweeping public-sector labor reforms of 2011 (“Act 10”), the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority (“the Authority”) remains legally obligated to bargain collectively under the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act (“Peace Act”).
2. How Wisconsin courts should use statutory history—earlier versions of the same statute—when applying the “plain-meaning” rule announced in State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI 58.

The Court, in a unanimous merits opinion by Justice Hagedorn, answered “No” to the first question and delivered a decisive clarification to the second: statutory history is an intrinsic source and therefore part of the plain-meaning inquiry itself, not an after-the-fact tool used only upon finding ambiguity. Two concurrences—one by Justice R.G. Bradley and another by Justice Dallet—vigorously debated the future contours of textualism in Wisconsin, ensuring the case will reverberate well beyond labor law.

Summary of the Judgment

• The Court affirmed the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) and the Dane County Circuit Court, holding that Act 10 removed all statutory obligations for the Authority to bargain collectively with its employees.
• In reaching that conclusion, the Court declared that:
  • All “intrinsic” sources—text, context, structure, and statutory history—are examined together to determine a statute’s plain meaning (Kalal reaffirmed and clarified).
  • Because Act 10 excised every reference to the Authority in both the Peace Act and the Authority’s enabling statutes, the Authority no longer falls within the Peace Act’s definition of “employer.”
• The majority emphasized that the Legislature’s inclusion of the Authority as a Peace-Act employer in 1995 and its affirmative deletion of those provisions in 2011 must be given effect.
• Concurring opinions exposed an ideological divide: Justice R.G. Bradley defended strict textualism and warned against “holistic” interpretation; Justice Dallet critiqued the “rigid, two-step” reading of Kalal and urged greater candor in using extrinsic materials.

Analysis

Precedents Cited

1. State ex rel. Kalal v. Circuit Court for Dane County, 2004 WI 58: The cornerstone Wisconsin case on statutory interpretation. The majority relied on Kalal but clarified that statutory history is an intrinsic, not extrinsic, source—contrary to SEIU’s argument.
2. Brey v. State Farm, 2022 WI 7; Banuelos v. UW Hospitals, 2023 WI 25; Wis. Justice Initiative v. WEC, 2023 WI 38: Post-Kalal cases that already hint statutory history’s role as intrinsic; the Court cites them to reinforce its clarification.
3. Lang v. Lang, 161 Wis. 2d 210 (1991): Stands for the canon that a textual change implies a legal change unless shown otherwise—a crucial principle for reading Act 10’s deletions.
4. Rouse v. Theda Clark Medical Center, 2007 WI 87: Addressed the Authority’s classification as a “political corporation,” informing the Court’s analysis of whether the Authority is a “person” within the Peace Act.

Legal Reasoning

The Court proceeded through what it labels “plain-meaning interpretation,” but, importantly, treated statutory history as part of that very first step:

1. Text: The current Peace Act (§111.02(7)) omits any reference to the Authority. On its face, “employer” does not include “the state or any political subdivision.” The Authority is a “public body corporate and politic,” sounding more like a governmental entity than a private employer.
2. Context & Structure: Act 10 was a statewide overhaul aimed at limiting or eliminating public-sector bargaining. Reading the Peace Act in isolation would ignore the companion deletions in the Authority’s own chapter (ch. 233).
3. Statutory History:
   • 1995: Legislature inserted the Authority into the Peace Act and imposed bargaining duties.
   • 2011 Act 10: Legislature removed every such reference.
   The Court reasoned that inclusion would have been unnecessary in 1995 if the generic term “employer” already reached the Authority; likewise, deletion in 2011 must be given substantive effect.
4. Extrinsic Confirmation: The Legislative Reference Bureau’s bill analysis and an official statutory annotation both state that Act 10 “eliminates” the Authority’s bargaining rights. These were invoked only to confirm the interpretation already reached.

Impact

1. Labor Relations: Authority employees may still unionize voluntarily, but they cannot compel the Authority to bargain under state law. Their leverage thus shifts from statutory duty to voluntary, contract-based mechanisms (e.g., memoranda of understanding) and federal labor law if applicable.
2. Statutory Interpretation:
   • Statutory history is now unequivocally an intrinsic interpretive aid in Wisconsin. Litigants will incorporate prior versions of the same statute as a matter of course, even when the current text appears unambiguous.
   • The Court subtly deflated SEIU’s argument that judges must declare ambiguity before consulting statutory history—tightening the grip of textualism but widening the permissible textual lens.
   • The dueling concurrences forecast continued debate over whether Kalal’s “two-step” approach survives or evolves. Justice Dallet’s four-justice concurrence stops short of overruling Kalal but openly advocates a more “holistic” method; Justice R.G. Bradley vehemently defends classical textualism.
3. Legislative Drafting: Act 10 illustrates that deletions and insertions matter. The opinion implicitly advises drafters to be explicit when adding or removing entities from statutory definitions.

Complex Concepts Simplified

Statutory History vs. Legislative History

Statutory history = earlier enacted versions of the same statute (i.e., “what the law was”). Legislative history = committee minutes, bill drafts, floor debates, etc. (i.e., “what lawmakers said about it”). The Court treats the former as intrinsic; the latter as extrinsic.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Sources

Intrinsic sources are internal to the legal texts themselves (language, context, structure, statutory history). Extrinsic sources are outside the statutory text (legislative history, policy reports, dictionaries in some instances). Intrinsic sources carry primary interpretive weight.

Plain-Meaning Rule

If the statute’s meaning is clear after considering all intrinsic sources, courts generally do not resort to extrinsic evidence—except to confirm the reading or dispel lingering ambiguity.

Public Body “Corporate and Politic”

A hybrid entity created by statute that performs public functions yet possesses attributes of a corporation (e.g., ability to sue, own property). Such entities blur the public/private line, complicating which labor laws apply.

Act 10

2011 legislation that drastically limited collective bargaining rights of most Wisconsin public employees. Its reach into the Peace Act—traditionally for private employers—was under-litigated until this case.

Conclusion

SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin v. WERC simultaneously resolves a concrete labor dispute and refines Wisconsin’s interpretive doctrine. By holding that Act 10’s excision of the Authority from the Peace Act is dispositive, the Court shutters an era of mandatory collective bargaining for UW Hospital employees. Equally important, the majority opinion cements statutory history’s status as an integral component of the plain-meaning inquiry, ensuring that future litigants and courts must trace the genealogy of a statute, not just parse its current words.

The clashing concurrences ensure that the debate over Kalal’s methodology is far from settled. Whether Wisconsin gravitates toward a more expansive, “holistic” reading of statutes or doubles down on strict textualism, this decision will serve as a pivotal reference point. Practitioners should prepare to brief statutory history extensively and expect opposing counsel—whatever their interpretive philosophy—to do the same.