Madison - Gov. Scott Walker gained the power to block rules written by state agencies and other elected state officials, under legislation he signed Monday.

The Republican governor also signed into law a bill at the Capitol allowing the City of Milwaukee to sell vacant public school property held under the city's name, something that could open up opportunities for voucher or charter schools that have been trying to expand in Milwaukee.

The rules measure, which cleared the Legislature this month, allows the governor to reject proposed administrative rules used to implement state laws.

Previously, the administrative rules were written by state agencies and reviewed by the Legislature. Under the measure - put forward as part of a special legislative session on jobs that Walker called in January - the governor will sign off on rules before sending them to the lawmakers.

"This is just one more way that we're making it more appealing to do business in the state of Wisconsin," Walker said.

But Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said the law weakens the Legislature and gives Walker "unprecedented authority" while doing little to boost businesses.

"It will limit our ability to perform our duty as a separate but equal branch of government," Barca said.

Most state agencies are already controlled by the governor, making this new oversight less important in those cases. But the bill would give the governor a say for the first time in rules written by agencies such as the Department of Justice and Department of Public Instruction, which are overseen by independently elected constitutional officers.

On Monday, John Johnson of the Department of Public Instruction said the agency will be "keeping options open" on how to respond to the new law.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, has taken no position on the measure.

Walker said that even under the previous system, rules proposed by elected officials such as the state superintendent were still subject to review by lawmakers.

"The state superintendent or any other elected official can't act arbitrarily," Walker said.

Democrats have argued that the law actually complicates the process of passing administrative rules and cedes too much power to the governor, and that Republicans would regret the move when a Democrat is elected governor. They say the law also would weaken the independence of the Government Accountability Board, which oversees the state ethics laws and campaign finance regulations.

But Walker and other Republicans say the changes made the process of writing administrative rules more accountable to the public.

Reid Magney, a spokesman for the accountability board, had no comment.

The law also would allow court challenges to administrative rules to be made in any county. Now, those challenges can be made only in Dane County.

The school property measure passed the Legislature this month on largely party line votes with Republicans supporting it and Democrats opposed.

Voucher and charter school operators have been thwarted in their attempts to buy empty Milwaukee Public Schools buildings because the School Board doesn't want to sell its buildings to schools that would compete with the district for students.

MPS recently listed 27 buildings as surplus and considers 13 of them empty. A spokeswoman for the School District did not respond to a request for comment.

Walker and other Republicans point out that the legislation has the support of City of Milwaukee officials. Democrats counter that allowing independent charter and voucher schools to take over MPS buildings would further undermine the district.