MADISON, Wisconsin (WMTV) – The first COVID-19 bill passed by the Wisconsin legislature died on arrival as soon as it reached Governor Tony Evers’ office.
The governor’s office wasted no time in declaring that Evers did not intend to sign the legislation. Just moments after the measure, dubbed Assembly Act 1, eliminated the state senate around 1 p.m., the Evers Administration released a statement promising that the governor would veto.
“Wisconsins know a compromise when they see one, and it’s not,” Evers said in his initial statement, noting that his administration and Republicans in the Senate had previously reached an agreement only to see it fail in the Assembly.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) fired on the governor again.
“Governor Evers seems to care more about his own power than the people of Wisconsin,” they wrote.
The two also said that people facing food insecurity will be disadvantaged by the veto.
“It is sad that Governor Evers is playing games to the detriment of disadvantaged people, endangering $ 50 million in food benefits if the court eliminates the illegal public health emergency,” they said.
Within hours, Evers kept that promise. Within two hours, he issued a statement confirming the veto. In it, he specifically aimed at how the bill would have constrained the ability of the Department of Health Services to limit the size of assemblies.
To win the support of the Assembly, lawmakers began adding articles that Evers had previously said would oppose, including a provision banning employers from requiring vaccination of their workers, another point Evers cited in this veto. .
“While [the compromise version] it did not contain all the provisions that each party would have wanted, yet it would have advanced Wisconsin in addressing many issues, including flexibility for unemployment benefits, ”Evers wrote in his veto.
The compromise legislation included an extension of the increase in unemployment benefits that is due to expire this weekend, with the governor’s office noting that the compromise bill would have waived the one-week waiting period for new applicants. Prior to the announced veto, Senate General Leader Devin LeMahieu wrote on Twitter that if Evers did not sign AB1 unemployment benefits, it would lose $ 1.3 million a week in increased unemployment benefits.
The Senate met a special special session on Friday morning to vote on the proposal after passing the Assembly the day before. The bill did not get enough support to lift a government veto.
“Unfortunately, the Republicans have again chosen to put politics in front of the people, abandoned this compromise and passed a bill that they knew I would not sign,” Evers said.
An Evers spokesman told NBC15 that the governor did not have the power to use his veto on the legislation to hit only the elements he opposes. He must either allow the entire bill to be passed or reject it in its entirety.
In his statement, Evers encouraged lawmakers to send the bill to his office so that it could officially reject it.
He also criticized the legislature for taking so long to present any bill. Lawmakers had not approved a COVID-19 bill in ten months.
Copyright 2021 WMTV. All rights reserved.