Throughout this week, the Washington Examiner’s Restoring America project will feature its latest series titled “Reforming the Deep State: Reining in the Federal Bureaucracy.” We invited some of the best policy minds in the conservative movement to speak to the issues of what waste, fraud, abuse, and unaccountability exist throughout the federal government and what still needs to be done. To read more from this series, click here.

Since 2011, Wisconsin has served as a model for states interested in enacting regulatory reforms. Throughout the administration of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Wisconsin conservatives enacted some of the boldest reforms in the nation, all geared to protecting the prerogatives of Wisconsin legislators to actually set policy for the state, as opposed to relying on unelected bureaucrats, as well as preventing the federal government from exerting undue influence over state policy.  

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The overall success of Wisconsin’s administrative reform revolution was reflected in the State Policy Network’s Center for Practical Federalism Scorecard, where Wisconsin leapfrogged Utah in 2024, ranking as the state least likely to be impacted by federal pressure. 

However, federal guidance documents flowed into states such as Wisconsin during the Biden administration, often unbeknownst to state lawmakers. Even in the current environment, prioritizing the detection and review of federal guidance will ensure federal influence over states is dragged out of the shadows into the sunlight of legislative oversight.

Despite the shifting political landscape in Wisconsin, many Wisconsinites still agree that bureaucrats should be viewed warily, some even going so far as to registering agreement that unaccountable bureaucrats are a greater “threat to democracy” than many of the other “threats” portrayed by the media.  

IRG polling from early 2025 establishes the following — voters remain focused on reigning in the power of the bureaucracy with 32% saying that the legislature should make important policy decisions and only 8% favoring bureaucrats at state agencies. 

ENDING DEI PROGRAMS MEANS AMERICANS WIN AND BUREAUCRACY LOSES

Furthermore, 76% of voters believe voters and their elected officials should have a chance to overturn burdensome regulations. This IRG polling consistently shows Wisconsinites prefer that the legislature, not bureaucrats, control the rulemaking process. And if they don’t trust Wisconsin bureaucrats, then they almost certainly don’t trust nameless and faceless bureaucrats from Washington, D.C.

While Wisconsin indeed made great strides toward maintaining control over the administrative state by empowering state legislators to exercise real oversight over the rulemaking process, including passing the first state-REINS Act with teeth, the work is not done.

Legislators still do not have a complete grasp on the flow of federal guidance to state agencies. As state agencies regularly communicate with their federal counterparts, elected officials are left without the full picture of how the federal bureaucracy is influencing Wisconsin policy. Without specific public records requests, legislators are often left in the dark. Legislators need to be informed about any and all federal guidance issued by federal bureaucrats looking to influence state policymaking. Further, the center-right grassroots, regulated communities, and even media outlets (at least those that remain interested in objectively reporting on outside influences to state operations) can also play a critical role in highlighting examples of federal agencies attempting to influence state counterparts by pushing federal guidance.

IRG recently analyzed examples of federal guidance issued to five Wisconsin state agencies that directly resulted in substantive action by Wisconsin state agencies, enabling the agencies to bypass any real oversight by the Wisconsin legislature. 

In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency created a guidance document to encourage states to promote environmental justice in state-implemented programs. The guidance urged states to pursue environmental justice by engaging disadvantaged communities early and often in decision-making processes and by focusing enforcement efforts in communities disproportionately affected by environmental hazards to ensure compliance and protection. The following year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources utilized the EPA guidance to evaluate Wisconsin’s construction permitting process and determine if environmental justice is appropriately addressed in the current process.

The Department of Justice issued guidance on federal statutes regarding voting methods and post-election audits. The guidance document emphasized how certain post-election audit practices by state and local governments could run afoul of the Civil Rights Act or be construed as voter intimidation. Shortly thereafter, the Wisconsin Elections Commission communicated to county and municipal clerks informing them of the DOJ guidance. The WEC communication did not specifically comment on the DOJ guidance, but said that clerks with questions about the DOJ guidance could contact the WEC Helpdesk for more information. The Legislature was never consulted on this critical guidance.

The need for robust oversight is now all the more critical in light of recent decisions from the decidedly progressive Wisconsin Supreme Court. 

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE ‘REFORMING THE DEEP STATE’ SERIES

In Evers v. Marklein II, the court held the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules authority to pause, object, indefinitely object, suspend, or repeatedly suspend administrative rules violated the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirements of bicameralism and presentment. 

Without this important tool, it is now even more critical that the legislature exercise robust oversight over any federal guidance that may be used by Wisconsin agencies to set state policy. Without such oversight, federal agencies will continue to exert influence over state policy, all using the shadowy tool of guidance documents.

Jake Curtis is General Counsel at the Institute for Reforming Government in Wisconsin and previously served as an agency Chief Legal Counsel in the Governor Scott Walker Administration.