Politics

Wisconsin Senate votes to override vetoes on school funding, taxes and utility service

Republican lawmakers in the Wisconsin Senate have voted to override three vetoes by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, but they don't have enough votes in the Assembly in order to undo them.

Associated Press

September 14, 2023

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People sit in multiple, curved rows of desks equipped with microphones and look at laptop computers and speak to each other, in a room with marble masonry and pillars, large paintings, and a second-level seating gallery.

The Wisconsin Senate holds a floor session on June 28, 2023. Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate by a two-thirds margin voted to override three vetoes by Gov. Tony Evers, but they don’t have enough votes in the Assembly. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)


AP News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate voted Sept. 14 to override three of Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes, including one that attempted to enshrine school funding increases for 400 years.

Republicans had the necessary two-thirds majority to override the vetoes in the Senate and did so in a series of 22-11 votes along party lines, but they don’t have enough votes in the Assembly. Vetoes must be overridden in both chambers in order to undo them.

Two of the votes on Sept. 14 attempted to undo partial vetoes Evers made in July to the state budget passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature. One Evers veto undid nearly all of a $3.5 billion income tax cut. Another attempted to lock in a school funding increase for 400 years.

Evers’ creative use of his partial veto authority in that case drew widespread attention and criticism.

The Senate also voted to override Evers’ veto of a bill that would prohibit state and local governments from restricting utility service based on the energy source, such as natural gas.

Republican proponents and other backers, including the state chamber of commerce and energy companies, said the measure was needed to prevent any type of ban in Wisconsin like those discussed in other states. But environmentalists said the bill was in search of a problem as no community or the state was contemplating such a ban.

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