Capitol clashes in Madison: A Tony Evers lawsuit duels with Republican veto overrides

MADISON - Gov. Tony Evers on Monday launched a new lawsuit against Republican lawmakers over their inaction on funding for programs addressing literacy and reading outcomes.

Evers' action came as Senate Republicans announced they would convene this week to override a number of Evers' vetoes, including some related to the reading and literacy funding at the center of the lawsuit.

The dueling announcements underscore the combative relationship GOP lawmakers and the Democratic governor continue to share under the Capitol dome in the fifth year of this era of divided government.

Evers in a new lawsuit filed Monday targets the lack of action from the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee on money set aside in the state budget to help improve reading outcomes and literacy for K-12 schools.

He used the funding being held up to address "forever chemical" contamination and to aid the western portion of the state where several hospitals have recently closed.

"The people of this state should not have to wait one day longer than they already have — these are taxpayer dollars, the Legislature and I already approved these investments months and months ago, and Republican legislators should not be able to single-handedly prevent us from doing the people’s work. Period,” Evers said in a statement. “I again urge Republican legislators to release all of these funds immediately and without any further delay.”

The $125 million to address PFAS was allocated nearly a year ago, while $15 million for hospitals and the $50 million for literacy was allocated months ago.

Evers has spent months urging the Republicans on the state's powerful budget committee to release the funding to the agencies and allow them to apportion the money as needed. Lawmakers have refused, and have insisted that the money should be disbursed through legislation.

The governor in April vetoed Republican legislation that would have created programs to use the PFAS funding, citing the limitations the legislation placed on the Department of Natural Resources to act. He also vetoed a bill aimed at spending the funding set aside for literacy as well.

Evers has repeatedly called for a special meeting of the Joint Finance Committee to release the funding for PFAS and hospitals in particular, but Republicans have refused, saying the governor does not hold the power to force them to meet.

After lawmakers failed to show up for the meeting he called, Evers made a rare appearance in the Joint Finance Committee meeting room and said he was considering a lawsuit.

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Senate Republicans on Monday held a series of news conferences across the state announcing they would convene Tuesday to take up the dozens of vetoes Evers issued this legislative session, including bills related to PFAS contamination, a post-election state audit, and hospital closures in western Wisconsin.

"Every day in Wisconsin, there are issues facing the average Wisconsinite. Fortunately, the Legislature has addressed many of those issues," Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, said at a press conference at the state Capitol. "Unfortunately, the governor has chosen to veto many of those bills that would have fixed a lot of these issues in our state."

The state Senate has enough Republican members to override Evers' vetoes, which require a two-thirds majority vote. But Marklein also suggested there's no agreement with Assembly Republicans to attempt the same overrides, which would be required to be successful.

Laura Schulte and Molly Beck can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Evers sues over literacy while lawmakers plan veto override