Taxpayers Jeffery LeMieux and David DeValk filed an original action petition to bypass lower courts and head to the state’s high court, according to the. They are asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to strike down the partial veto, which increased school funding for the next four centuries.
“The law is clear,” WMC Litigation Center Deputy Director Nathan Kane said in a statement. “Voters and their elected legislators are the ones empowered to increase taxes, no one else.” Evers used his partial veto powers to strike through a hyphen and “20” from a reference to the 2024-25 school year. In doing so, he increased school funding by $325 per student per year for the next 402 years. Before his partial veto, the budget was set to increase school funding by $325 per student for only the next two years.
In Wisconsin, governors can single out words, numbers, or punctuation. While 44 other states have line-item vetos, Wisconsin is unique, the only state with a partial veto. have used the partial veto as well. Former Gov. Scott Walker used his partial veto powers to make one state program last indefinitely, in what is known as the “thousand-year veto.
“In no uncertain terms, 402 years is not less than or part of the two-year duration approved by the Legislature — it is far more,” WMC Litigation Center Executive Director Scott Rosenow. “The governor overstepped his authority with this partial veto, at the expense of taxpayers, and we believe oversight by the Court is necessary.”