Legislative session ends without veto overrides

Wisconsin State Capitol (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

The Republican-led Assembly didn’t attempt to overturn any of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes during a two-day veto review session Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing the legislative session to an end without any successful overrides.

The Senate voted to overturn nine of Evers’ vetoes on Tuesday including a bill directing how funding to combat PFAS can be spent and a bill to direct how the Department of Health Services (DHS) would spend $15 million in funding on grants for capital improvements for emergency medical services in Eau Claire and Chippewa counties. 

While Republicans in the Senate hold a two-thirds majority, Republicans are two seats short of the two-thirds supermajority that would allow them to override a veto without any Democratic votes. Ultimately, the Assembly didn’t even meet  to attempt to override any of Evers’ vetoes. 

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) celebrated the failure of Republicans’ veto override attempts in a video posted to social media on Wednesday. 

“We protected the veto all session long,” Neubauer said. “I am extremely proud of our team of Assembly Democrats who worked very hard over the last year-and-a-half to prevent the GOP from moving our state backwards. It was a long year-and-a-half of constant vigilance but above everything else, we knew that protecting Gov. Evers’ veto was essential.”

According to the Legislative Reference Bureau, Wisconsin’s Legislature has not overridden a governor’s veto since 1985.

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