Shareholder (and Wisconsin native) Joe Richie wrote Can Wisconsin’s Governor Use a Line-Item Veto to Extend School Funding by 400 Years in the State Court Report, an online publication dedicated to covering legal news, trends, and cutting-edge scholarship, offering insights and commentary from a nationwide network of academics, journalists, judges, and practitioners with diverse perspectives and expertise.
In his analysis, Joe digs into the issues in the current case and provides valuable historical context on Wisconsin’s long history with the line item veto:
But Wisconsin takes a unique approach to vetoes. Since 1930, the Wisconsin Constitution has permitted the governor to approve appropriations bills “in whole or in part” — a significant deviation from the traditional line-item veto. In 2023, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers used his partial veto to rewrite a bill that increased school funding limits “for the 2023–24 school year and the 2024–25 school year” to increase the limits “for 2023–2425” (emphasis added).
That is, by crossing out words, digits, and punctuation, Evers transformed a two-year increase into one that lasts for four centuries. Two taxpayers, with the assistance of a conservative manufacturing and commerce group, have filed an original action in the Wisconsin Supreme Court challenging the veto under the state constitution. The petitioners argue Evers’ veto exceeds his powers to approve appropriation bills “in whole or in part” and violates the constitutional prohibition on “creat[ing] a new word by rejecting individual letters.”
Read the full article here.