Here & Now

Democratic-Aligned Groups Challenge Lame Duck Bills

Frederica Freyberg:

There are dueling tax cut plans coming out of the state Capitol this week and a third lawsuit over last year’s lame duck legislative session that curtailed some of the governor’s executive powers. In tonight’s capitol insight, Wisconsin Public Radio Capital Bureau Chief Shawn Johnson is here to run down these developments. Shawn, thanks a lot for being here.

Shawn Johnson:

Thanks for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the lame duck legislation curtailed Governor Evers’ authority as well as Attorney General Kaul from doing things like pulling Wisconsin out of the multi-state lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act and there are now three lawsuits challenging that lame duck legislation. Detail the three.

Shawn Johnson:

They are distinctly different. So that’s the good news if you’re trying to keep track of all these. You have a federal lawsuit that is actually kind of an offshoot of a case that started back in 2016. This is specific to changes that the lame duck session made to voting rights, restrictions on early voting, for example. That case — in that case, the judge already issued an injunction and blocked that portion of the lame duck laws. That is now, you know, basically in the hands of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. You’ve got two state cases. The one this week that was filed by unions is about the merits of the stuff that was passed. It is saying that legislators took too much power away from the governor and gave the legislature too much veto power over the governor, basically. They said it’s a separation of powers issue and that’s unconstitutional. And then the other state case is strictly a process case. It’s saying that the way that they passed these laws in extraordinary session is not explicitly allowed in the state constitution and therefore the whole thing was unlawful and should all be thrown out.

Frederica Freyberg:

And yet what’s weird about that is that it’s clearly not the first time there’s been an extraordinary session.

Shawn Johnson:

It is not, no. I mean, they started having these back in 1980. So it is common, but not as common as you’d thing. Special sessions, which are called for specifically in the Constitution go way back to statehood. Whereas extraordinary sessions, which are called by legislator leaders, are in the history of the state relatively new.

Frederica Freyberg:

And that lawsuit was the first filed, presumably the premise being if the court goes for this and overturns this same luck legislation, then we’re done.

Shawn Johnson:

I mean, it is kind of like an open or shut question, right? Either the court’s going to agree with that or not. That was filed in Dane County Circuit Court. The union case was filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Democrats have had let’s say success, albeit fleeting, in some circuit court cases in Dane County in the past when they were challenging Walker administration initiatives. They have a chance to do that this time with two cases in circuit court.

Frederica Freyberg:

And as to that first case that challenges the session itself and the legislation emanating out of it, if the judge places an injunction on that or whatever the legal term would be, would Tony Evers and Josh Kaul move super quickly to assert their authority?

Shawn Johnson:

That’s a good question. I’m not sure what would happen there. I mean I think there would be a temptation to say, “Hey, we have the power to do things again that governors and attorneys general used to be able to do. Let’s do them.” I just am not sure exactly if that would be the path that was followed or if they would be also ordered to kind of hang tight while this thing is appealed.

Frederica Freyberg:

As usual, a lot of uncertainty there. Let’s move to the tax cuts, the dueling tax cuts that the Republican legislators and Governor Evers are putting forward. They both have their own versions. But they’re getting the money for these tax cuts from different places.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah. The Republican tax cut basically takes money that the state already has in its general fund, a balance in the general fund, and says, “Let’s use that for the tax cut. Let’s put the tax cut essentially at the front of the line when it comes to how to spend this money.” And in future budgets, that’s how it will be paid for. It will just come out of general fund. Evers’ tax cut does a little of that too, but he would also offset part of his tax cut by reducing a tax credit for manufacturers.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right. And that’s a sticking point for Republicans.

Shawn Johnson:

Yeah. You’ve got this week kind of a sticking point for Evers and for Republicans. I mean, Evers came out and said, “I can’t see myself supporting a tax cut like theirs, which isn’t funded in the future,” and then you had Assembly Speaker Robin Vos come out and say, “We’re not going to support Evers’ tax cut because it’s actually a tax increase if you scale back this tax credit for manufacturers.”

Frederica Freyberg:

Meanwhile, the Republican middle class tax cut hits the Assembly floor next week.

Shawn Johnson

It does. And, I mean, it gives them a way of saying, “Here’s the deal on the table.” I mean, they’re trying to drive the narrative there. Of course, Evers isn’t going to come out with his full tax cut until his budget, which has a lot of moving parts.

Frederica Freyberg:

So could or would Evers just veto that thing if it went through the Assembly and the Senate?

Shawn Johnson:

He didn’t come out and say that he would. He didn’t’ use the word veto but if you can’t sign something, you’ve got one other option as a governor. Everything that he’s told us lately is if that deal were to reach his desk, he probably would veto it. He also said that he’s willing to negotiating with Republicans, but it seems like they’re kind of far apart other than agreeing they want to have a tax cut. How they get there, they seem like they’re kind of polar opposite.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We’ll be watching. Shawn, thanks very much.

Shawn Johnson:

Thank you.