MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) — The first COVID-19 bill to pass the Wisconsin legislature was dead on arrival as soon as it hit Gov. Tony Evers’ desk.
The governor’s office wasted no time stating Evers had no intention to sign the legislation. Just moments after the measure, dubbed Assembly Bill 1, cleared the state senate around one o’clock, the Evers Administration released a statement promising the governor would veto it.
“Wisconsinites know a compromise when they see one, and this isn’t it,” Evers declared in his initial statement, noting that his Administration and senate Republicans had previously reached a deal only to see it fail in the Assembly.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) fired back at the governor.
“It appears Governor Evers cares more about his own power than the people of Wisconsin,” they wrote.
The two also said that people experiencing food insecurity would be disadvantaged from the veto.
“It is sad that Gov. Evers is playing games at the expense of disadvantaged people by putting $50 million in food assistance benefits in jeopardy should the court eliminate the unlawful public health emergency,” they said.
Within hours, Evers had followed through on that promise. Within two hours, he issued a statement confirming the veto. In it, he specifically targeted how the bill would have constrained the ability of the Dept. of Health Services to limit the size of gatherings.
To win Assembly support, lawmakers started adding items Evers previously said he would oppose, including a provision that barred employers from requiring their workers be vaccinated, another point Evers cited in this veto statement.
“While [the compromise version] did not contain every provision that each side would have liked, it would have nevertheless moved Wisconsin forward in addressing many issues including flexibilities for unemployment benefits,” Evers wrote in his veto statement.
The compromise legislation included an extension to increased unemployment benefits that are set to expire this weekend, with the governor’s office noting the compromise bill would have waived the one-week waiting period for new applicants. Prior to the announced veto, Senate Maj. Leader Devin LeMahieu tweeted that if Evers did not sign AB1 unemployment recipients would miss out on $1.3 million per week in enhanced unemployment benefits.
The Senate had met Friday morning an Extraordinary Session specifically to vote on the proposal after it passed the Assembly the previous day. The bill did not garner enough support to override a gubernatorial veto.
“Unfortunately, Republicans once again chose to put politics before people, abandoned that compromise, and passed a bill they knew I wouldn’t sign,” Evers said.
A spokesperson for Evers’ office told NBC15 the governor does not have the power to use his line-item veto on this legislation to strike only the elements he opposes. He must either allow the whole bill to pass or reject it in its entirety.
In his statement, Evers encouraged lawmakers to send the bill to his desk, so he could officially reject it.
He also criticized the legislature for taking so long to present any bill to him. Lawmakers had not passed a COVID-19 relief bill in ten months.
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