The Wisconsin Supreme Court has upheld Gov. Tony Evers’ partial budget veto that extended a temporary school funding increase by 400 years.
The lawsuit, decided Friday by the Supreme Court, was filed in March 2024 by two taxpayers from Green Bay and Kimberly. They asked justices to declare the Wisconsin Constitution forbids governors from striking individual digits in spending bills to create a new year and doesn’t authorize legislation to be extended by more than what legislators intended.
Writing for the majority, Justice Jill Karofsky said the court is “acutely aware” the 400-year school funding increase “is both significant and attention-grabbing.”
“However, our constitution does not limit the governor’s partial veto power based on how much or how little the partial vetoes change policy, even when that change is considerable,” said Karofsky.
Karofsky said the plaintiffs in the case never asked the court to overrule past decisions upholding various partial vetoes. A governor’s partial veto powers are limited, she wrote, when it comes to vetoing individual letters to create new words. But in the case at hand, Evers vetoed individual numbers to create a new number.
“In short, the plain language of the constitutional text permits striking numbers written out with digits,” Karofsky said.
Karofsky laid out options for state lawmakers upset with the ruling. She said they could address the 400-year funding increase in the next state budget, which is currently being drafted. She also referenced multiple ongoing efforts to amend the state constitution to restrict governors’ veto powers.
Lastly, Karofsky said lawmakers can exclude funding appropriations from bills they write “to avoid the governor’s partial veto.”