The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld a significant decision allowing the state’s Democratic governor to use a potent veto power to ensure a substantial school funding increase for the next 400 years. The court’s decision affirms Wisconsin’s status as the only state where governors can partially veto spending bills by modifying words, numbers, and punctuation, an authority that both Republican and Democratic governors have previously utilized to alter legislative spending proposals.
In a close ruling, the court supported the governor’s ability to adjust spending measures, confirming that the state constitution permits the alteration of digits to create extended timelines. This decision arose from a legal challenge against Governor Tony Evers, backed by the Republican-majority Legislature. The challenge is part of broader efforts, including a proposed constitutional amendment, to restrict gubernatorial veto powers.
Governor Evers employed his unique veto power in 2023 to extend a $325 annual per-student revenue increase for K-12 public schools until the year 2425. His veto reinterpreted legislation intended for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years by eliminating ’20’ and a hyphen, thereby creating a four-century-long funding plan. Evers described this move as a bid to secure perpetual funding boosts for school districts.
The Legislature, along with Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobby, argued that Evers’ veto was unconstitutional, referencing a 1990 amendment that prohibited altering individual letters to form new words, known as the “Vanna White” veto. They contended that allowing such vetoes grants governors excessive power to modify budget numbers. However, Evers maintained that the “Vanna White” restriction applies solely to letter changes and not to numerical modifications, asserting that his actions adhered to established veto practices.
Wisconsin’s partial veto power, introduced through a 1930 constitutional amendment, has faced gradual limitations due to reactions against prior vetoes by both Republican and Democratic governors. In 2020, the state Supreme Court, then conservative-majority, overturned three of Evers’ partial vetoes, yet provided little clarity on permissible actions.
The practice of reshaping state budgets via partial vetoes remains a strategic maneuver between Wisconsin’s governor and Legislature, as lawmakers attempt to draft bills that withstand creative amendments. Republican leaders indicated that they awaited the outcomes of this ruling and another pending case concerning the governor’s veto authority before addressing the current session’s spending bills, including the two-year state budget.
The additional case examines whether Governor Evers appropriately exercised his veto power on a bill outlining funding for new literacy programs. The Legislature claims Evers’ veto was invalid as the bill did not allocate funds, while Evers argues the Legislature seeks to control executive spending and curtail his veto authority. A court decision favoring Evers could expand the scope of bills subject to partial vetoes.
