One-Hundred and Fifth Regular Session FRIDAY, July 9, 2021
The Chief Clerk makes the following entries under the above date:
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Governor’s Veto Message
July 9, 2021
To the Honorable Members of the Assembly:
The following bills, originating in the Assembly, have been vetoed in their entirety, and were returned to their house of origin, together with the objections in writing:
Bill Number Date of Veto
hist137885Assembly Bill 293 July 9, 2021 hist137886Assembly Bill 369 July 9, 2021 _____________
July 9, 2021
To the Honorable Members of the Assembly:
I am vetoing Assembly Bill 293 in its entirety.
The bill would criminalize a person enforcing or attempting to enforce certain federal firearm laws and would require firearm manufacturers in this state to stamp “Made in Wisconsin” on firearms.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety for several reasons. First, this bill is not permitted by the United States Constitution. Under Article VI, the United States Constitution and the laws made pursuant to it are the “supreme law of the land,” and this bill purports to nullify the enforcement of federal law. I am also concerned that by giving citizens conflicting directives and criminalizing noncompliance, this bill may also violate citizens’ due process rights. Additionally, I object to the confusion that the bill could cause among the public and law enforcement officers, which could pose a detriment to public and community safety. When I called a special session of the Legislature on gun safety in October 2019, I stressed that Wisconsinites desperately want their elected leaders to take action on gun safety and support having meaningful, thoughtful dialogue about common-sense solutions that will both respect and uphold rights while keeping our communities safe. These goals are not mutually exclusive, and I welcome constructive conversations to that end.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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July 9, 2021
To the Honorable Members of the Assembly:
I am vetoing Assembly Bill 369 in its entirety.
This bill would require county and municipal governments to delay redrawing county supervisory district plans and ward boundaries until after the 2022 spring election cycle. The bill would require city aldermanic plans to first apply in the 2023 spring primary and election and final county supervisory district plans to first apply in the 2024 spring primary and election.
The bill attempts to address a concern that counties will not be able to meet the deadline by which they must submit their tentative county supervisory district plans, which under current law is July 1. Under normal circumstances, counties would have already received the U.S. Census Bureau data upon which the new supervisory district plans will be based, which would give them at least two months to draw tentative district plans before the deadline. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local units of government are not likely to receive this data until sometime in August.
I am vetoing this bill, however, because I object to the way it seeks to address this issue. In attempting to solve one problem, the bill creates a larger one. The bill creates too great of a delay in creating the new maps. This will result in malapportioned maps that do not accurately reflect current populations, which violates the constitutional principle of one person, one vote. I will not support legislation that deprives people of their voice in the democratic process. There were ways to address the census data delay that would not risk malapportioned maps. The bill could have waived the July 1 deadline and made other changes to help municipalities expedite their redistricting efforts.
Instead of encouraging counties and municipalities to create new accurate and fair maps as soon as possible following the release of forthcoming census data, this bill would result in local elections occurring for one or two more years under old district lines that were created as part of the same process which resulted in some of the most gerrymandered congressional and legislative seats in the country. To deny Wisconsinites from having lawfully reapportioned local districts, even temporarily, is unjust and undemocratic.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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Communications
July 9, 2021
Edward A. Blazel
Assembly Chief Clerk
17 West Main Street, Suite 401
Madison, WI 53703
Dear Chief Clerk Blazel:
hist137873Please add my name as a co-author of Assembly Bill 431, relating to sale of surplus real property owned by the Department of Transportation. hist137874Please add my name as a co-author of Assembly Bill 433, relating to submitting copies of complaints filed with the Elections Commission to the legislature. hist137875Please add my name as a co-author of Assembly Bill 435, relating to incorporating cursive writing into the state model English language arts standards and requiring cursive writing in elementary grades. Sincerely,
CHUCK WICHGERS
State Representative
83rd Assembly District
