Evers-GOP split escalates: Republicans to try overriding vetoes on PFAS, election bills; Evers sues GOP over reading funds

 

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Ongoing disagreements between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers escalated Monday with action set to unfold at both the state Capitol and in the courtroom.

Senate GOP leaders announced they will vote Tuesday on overriding a number of bills Evers had previously vetoed. Meanwhile, the Evers administration filed a counter-lawsuit against Republicans over their refusal to release $50 million that has been budgeted for improving early reading in the state's elementary schools. 

Evers and Republicans' statements indicate they share many of the same priorities: Releasing $125 million dedicated for mitigating permanent chemicals, known as PFAS, which have been linked to cancer and found in several water sources throughout the state, addressing the state's teacher shortage and improving early literacy.

However, the two sides remain unable to find consensus on how to solve those problems.

Tuesday's Senate calendar lists 36 bills Evers previously vetoed. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) told reporters Monday his caucus was still finalizing which bills will actually come up for a vote. 

While Republicans have a two-thirds majority in the Senate, they do not have enough votes in the Assembly to override any Evers vetoes without the help of Democrats. When asked by a CBS 58 reporter whether that meant this effort was purely political theater, LeMahieu insisted it was a worthwhile effort.

"It's not political theater to me. This is real," LeMahieu said. "We have the votes in the Senate to override. We're hoping that some sensible Democrats in the Assembly call on Speaker [Robin] Vos, call him up and say, 'We'll vote with you.'"

The Evers lawsuit seeks to force Republicans on the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee to hand nearly $50 million over to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The money is meant to help school districts implement phonics-based methods for teaching kids how to read.

Republicans on the committee have clashed with the DPI over which curricula should be eligible for state support. While the DPI supports a broader list of programs, joint finance Republicans want to limit the money to a shorter list of four programs recommended by the state's early literacy council.

"The people of this state should not have to wait one day longer than they already have -- these are taxpayer dollars," Evers said in a statement. "The Legislature and I already approved these investments months and months ago."

On the issue of PFAS, the source of disagreement is whether the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) would be empowered to set groundwater pollution standards and enforce them. Republicans said Evers' plan could lead to unwitting polluters facing harsh punishment.

"Farmers putting fertilizer in a field. It might come from municipal waste. It might have PFAS in it. Are we gonna hold these farmers responsible because they knowingly and with approval, put fertilizer in their field?" State Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Cedarburg) said.

Republicans instead passed their own bill outlining how the $125 million PFAS mitigation fund could be spent. Evers vetoed the bill, saying it protected polluters.

Another bill on Tuesday's calendar would have the Legislature's internal audit bureau conduct additional reviews of elections following reviews done by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. State Sen. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown), who chairs the Senate's elections committee, said it was important to have "an auditor of the auditor."

"To give people confidence in our elections," Knodl said. "Particularly in a swing state that we know is gonna be close."

Republicans will also try to override a vetoed bill that would've created a new teacher apprenticeship program. Evers vetoed the bill because the DPI is launching its own apprenticeship pilot program.

Conservatives are critical of the DPI's approach, saying it's too small and doesn't do enough to immediate address teacher shortages in both urban and rural districts.

“As it stands, Governor Evers’ program to solve the teacher shortage cuts out Milwaukee, Madison, and much of rural Wisconsin," Quinton Klabon, senior research director for the Institute for Reforming Government, said in a statement. "He has had months to promote and grow participation in a potentially good solution but has gone silent."

State Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), one of only four Democrats on the 16-member Joint Finance Committee and a former teacher, said she was fine with the DPI program starting out small.

"That's the whole purpose of a pilot program," she said. "You start small, you learn from it and then you scale up."

Andraca said Republicans could have had more bills signed during this session had they sought compromise with Evers when he signaled opposition to bills as they were drafted. 

"If [Evers] says he's going to veto something and then he does, that's when you change the bill," she said. "You don't just pass it and say, 'Oh, look what the governor did.'"