{"id":4094,"date":"2023-07-06T21:37:17","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T21:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4094"},"modified":"2023-07-06T22:07:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T22:07:37","slug":"wisconsin-needs-an-explicit-constitutional-amendment-to-rein-in-gubernatorial-goofiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=4094","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin needs an explicit constitutional amendment to rein in gubernatorial goofiness\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/wisconsin-needs-a-constitutional-amendment-to-rein-in-partial-veto\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Evers\u2019 school funding partial veto may well hold up in court\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n

I see that Greenland sharks can live 400 years \u2014 almost as long as Tony Evers\u2019 spending plan for public schools.<\/p>\n

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\"Pens<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Really. On both scores.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to laugh a little about the absurd state of our democracy and Wisconsin\u2019s odd partial veto \u2014 though there are serious constitutional issues, and tax dollars, at stake.<\/p>\n

Our governor, you likely have heard by now, is the talk of the nation for using his unique veto power to essentially try to lock in tax increases and big spending until sometime close to Armageddon. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the end of the world, exactly, given the fact there will be other governors down the road who will probably want to reverse course.<\/p>\n

Plus, by the time his gambit to increase the per-pupil revenue cap each year by another $325 would play out fully in 2425, the impact will be practically meaningless due to inflation \u2014 if we even still have traditional schools by then.<\/p>\n

Still, there could be a real impact over the next decade, and this should be the end of something \u2014 Wisconsin\u2019s goofy gubernatorial partial veto. We need a constitutional amendment \u2014 an explicit one this time \u2014 to kill this thing once and for all.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin has had some version of America\u2019s craziest veto authority since 1930, when voters amended the constitution to give governors the power to veto budget bills \u201cin whole or in part.\u201d For 40 years after that, according to a Legislative Reference Bureau paper, the veto was rarely used. Then, in 1969, Gov. Warren Knowles issued 27 partial vetoes and set off decades of veto chicanery never intended or foreseen back in 1930.<\/p>\n

Tommy Thompson was the king. In 1991, he issued 457 partial vetoes. But every governor since and a couple before have used it frequently as well:<\/p>\n