State Senate Republicans Vote to Override Several Governor Vetoes in Mostly Symbolic Gesture

Thursday, May 16th, 2024 -- 10:01 AM

(Anya Van Wagtendonk, Wisconsin Public Radio) Senate Republicans voted to override nine of Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes Tuesday, rekindling fierce debates over partisan issues with the 2024 election on the horizon.

According to Anya Van Wagtendonk with Wisconsin Public Radio, among the bills that Evers had vetoed was one that would spell out how to spend $125 million to combat PFAS, a requirement to include people’s citizenship status on their voter IDs and a cap on the state’s wolf population.

Republicans had signaled a day earlier that they could take up dozens of overrides, arguing that Evers was stopping important legislative changes from going through.

They ultimately brought forward nine, each of which was passed on pure party lines, indicating the heightened partisan nature of the bills. Republicans hold a two-thirds majority in the Senate, so the party-line votes on each bill amounted to a successful override in that chamber.

For the overrides to go through in the full Legislature, thus enacting the vetoed bills into law despite Evers’ objection, they would also have to pass by a similar threshold in the Assembly.

Republicans there are two votes short of a two-thirds majority, and it’s not clear whether they will be brought to the floor at all.

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