- Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed 41 bills Friday, including a $3 billion tax cut, a pledge of political loyalty in higher education and a proposed wolf hunt.
- Evers is in his second term as a Democrat, governing alongside a Republican-controlled Legislature, and has vetoed more bills than any governor in Wisconsin history.
- Evers approved spending $400,000 on Holocaust education and the spread of mental health crisis centers across the Badger State.
Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed 41 bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature, including a $3 billion Republican tax cut, a pledge of political loyalty for higher education employees and an annual Rejected plans to set wolf hunting numbers.
Mr. Evers signed a bipartisan bill that provides $400,000 to support Holocaust education in Wisconsin schools. A 2021 law requires that the Holocaust be taught in grades 5 through 12 across the state. Funds approved by Evers will be donated to the Nathan and Esther Peltz Holocaust Educational Resource Center to support education.
He also signed a bipartisan bill aimed at increasing the number of mental health crisis centers across the state.
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Evers has vetoed more bills than any other governor in Wisconsin history during his five-plus years as governor in a Republican-controlled Legislature.
Evers vetoed a bill that would have prohibited the University of Wisconsin and other institutions of higher education from conditioning hiring and admissions decisions on diversity statements. Evers said the bill is unnecessary because the University of Wisconsin does not currently have such a verbal oath of allegiance in higher education.
Republicans passed the bill as part of an effort to limit diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on college campuses in Wisconsin and across the country.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers speaks on the floor of a joint session of the state Legislature during the State of the State address at the State Capitol on January 22, 2019 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mr. Evers also vetoed a bill that would have allowed school boards to hire superintendents without state education department licenses. Evers, who previously served as a principal and district superintendent, said he objected to the lack of standards for school management positions.
Republicans pitched it as a way to deal with turnover in superintendent positions across the state.
The bill, opposed by groups representing school officials, including superintendents, would create a similar exemption from superintendent licensing requirements only for Milwaukee Public Schools, the state’s largest school district.
Another bill signed by Evers would allow states to charge fees to edit recorded audio and video content provided under public records requests. News organizations and open records advocates opposed the bill. The bill passed with bipartisan support and received support from law enforcement.
Evers had vowed to veto the Republican tax cut bill, one of several that Republicans passed this session but the governor vetoed.
Under the repealed tax plan, individuals with incomes between $27,630 and $304,170 and married couples with incomes between $18,420 and $405,550 would have their state income tax reduced from 5.3% to 4.4%. was.
The bill would also exempt from taxes the first $150,000 of a married couple’s retirement income for people age 67 and older.
The measure would reduce tax collections by $3.2 billion over two years, but the governor called it “fiscally irresponsible” in his veto message. He said the state would not have been able to meet basic obligations such as funding schools and prisons.
Evers noted that he signed a more limited bipartisan tax cut proposal earlier this month that expands the state’s child care tax credit.
The wolf bill Evers vetoed would have required state wildlife managers to set firm numerical targets for the state’s wolf population. Republicans passed the bill after the state Department of Natural Resources failed to place strict limits on the state’s wolf population in a new management plan.
State wildlife officials told lawmakers that the lack of strict restrictions gives the DNR more flexibility in managing the species, allows local wolf packs to fluctuate, and allows wolf populations to grow. He said it gives us a better chance of sustaining wolf populations for years to come.
Hunting advocates support setting population limits, saying without targets both wolves and humans will remain unprotected.
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In his veto message, Evers said the numerical targets did not take into account the social, scientific, biological and legal complexities of a recovered wolf population. He also said he opposes Congress micromanaging the DNR.
