TONY EVERS
Governor
Pursuant to s. 35.095 (1)(b), Wisconsin Statutes, the following 2021 Act(s) have been published: Act Number Bill Number Publication Date
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159696I am vetoing Senate Bill 89 in its entirety. This bill would prohibit the Department of Health Services from requiring an applicant who is applying for certification as an emergency medical responder to register with or take the examination of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT), effectively allowing an emergency medical responder to bypass this examination.
Our emergency medical responders are doing critically important work in our communities. I support making meaningful, long-term investments in our healthcare workers and infrastructure, including increasing shared revenue, which can help support local investments in emergency medical services across our state. Our emergency medical service providers have faced challenges over the course of the last decade. Since 2011, state aid to communities has gone down by more than nine percent, while public safety costs have increased more than 16 percent. At the same time, our state relies on nearly 800 emergency medical service providers, and more than half are either operated exclusively by volunteers or through a combination of volunteers and paid staff. This work is critically important for healthcare access, especially in our rural communities.
As our state has long faced workforce challenges that preceded the pandemic, and now has historically low levels of unemployment and the fewest number of people unemployed ever in state history, it has grown increasingly difficult to find new volunteers and paid employees to step into these important roles. Rising costs, coupled with the lack of available staffing, have forced some communities to make cuts or drastically scale back public safety efforts, including emergency medical services.
I was proud during my State of the State address to announce we are investing nearly $30 million into supporting emergency medical services and service providers across our state. This investment includes $20 million that will go to emergency medical service providers across the state for whatever help the need the most, whether it is increasing staffing support, getting first responders more training, or purchasing an ambulance, medical equipment, or supplies. I also am investing $130 million into finding innovative, community-based solutions to our state’s longstanding workforce challenges that will help support our talented workforce while bringing more talented workers to Wisconsin.
While we can and must do more to support our emergency medical service and responders by finding sustainable, long-term solutions to these challenges to ensure these services are available in communities across our state, I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to potentially lowering statewide educational qualifications needed to be certified as an emergency medical responder in Wisconsin. These are provisions in this bill I am open to considering. Specifically, I support ensuring someone can satisfy emergency medical responder certification requirements by demonstrating they have military service training, education, or experience that is substantially equivalent to the course required for emergency medical responder certification. This effort could help further ensure our veterans entering our workforce after their service face fewer barriers to finding work. However, I cannot support other provisions in this legislation that I am concerned would have negative, long-term effects on patient care by lowering educational and training qualifications.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159697I am vetoing Senate Bill 117 in its entirety. This bill would make multiple changes to the membership and duties of the police and fire commissions of the city of Milwaukee and the city of Madison. This bill would establish criteria for the selection of certain members of these commissions and mandates similarities between these two cities’ commissions. The bill would also make changes to the disciplinary trail process.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to minimizing or restricting local control and undermining trust in local governance. For example, under this bill certain membership changes do not require candidates to reside within the boundaries of the impacted community. This would erode local control over these protective service departments. In addition, the bill requires the city of Milwaukee’s commission to include a three-member panel evaluating a complaint against an officer or firefighter. Under this provision, that could include an individual who served with the individual under investigation or with the individual’s cohort. This could unnecessarily undermine public and community trust in disciplinary decisions.
I am also vetoing the bill because it may interfere with profess already made in protective service oversight. The city of Madison recently completed an independent review of its police department and created the recommended Civilian Oversight Board and an Office of the Independent Monitor. The changes mandated by this bill could disrupt local efforts to improve governance that are already underway.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159698I am vetoing Senate Bill 296 in its entirety. This bill would create a definition of “riot” and creates penalties for certain actions under this new definition.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because the conduct this bill purportedly intends to prevent is already generally prohibited under current law. For instance, intentionally failing or refusing to withdraw from an unlawful assembly in which the person knows has been ordered to disperse is already a crime, as are various forms of battery, damaging property, arson, disorderly conduct, theft, and trespass.
Moreover, this bill inadvertently creates ambiguity, inconsistency, and contradictions in practical application that could be used to infringe on the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment. There is a difference between a peaceful assembly and an unlawful one that threatens public safety, damages property, and destroys livelihoods. Current law already ensures individuals who engage in the latter can be held accountable.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159699I am vetoing Senate Bill 563 in its entirety. This bill would make many statutory changes to allow farm-raised game bovids to be treated the same as farm-raised deer. This bill would allow farm-raised game bovids to be raised as livestock and then be harvested as hunting ranches. These ranches can keep the animals inside a fenced area during the hunt, so long as the area meets a certain size requirement.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to increasing the number on non-native species that can be raised in captivity and used for hunting inside penned areas. Hunting is a proud part of Wisconsin’s heritage, and I support ethical hunting based on the principle of fair chase.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159700I am vetoing Senate Bill 597 in its entirety. This bill would allow private choice schools to adopt an early admission policy for four-year-old kindergarten, five-year-old kindergarten, and first grade, and to count that child towards choice program membership.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to creating a scenario that would likely increase property taxes. Currently, new students enrolling in private schools in the Wisconsin Parental Choice program and Racine Parental Choice program are effectively entirely funded by local school district’s property taxes through a revenue limit adjustment and reduction, likely resulting in school districts recovering the lost state revenue through increase in their local property taxes.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159701I am vetoing Senate Bill 609 in its entirety. This bill would require the Department of Natural Resources to produce and stock a minimum number of pheasants each year and to stock them on an established schedule. The department would also be required to produce a report identifying where pheasants would be stocked and a detailed plan for stocking those properties.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the Legislature’s failure to provide resources for the Department of Natural Resources to implement this new requirement. According to the fiscal estimate prepared by the Department of Natural Resources, stocking the number of pheasants required under this bill could cost over $5.7 million in one-time startup costs an additional $1.5 million in ongoing annual costs. This is not feasible without providing additional budgetary and staff resources to the department, which are absent from this bill. Additionally, capital projects costing in excess of $1,000,000 must be enumerated in the State Building Program. This bill does not provide an enumeration for a hatchery expansion at the State Game Farm, which would be necessary to comply with this bill. Finally, the Department of Natural Resources has a history of collaborating with stakeholders in order to make stocking decisions that are science-based, and which incorporate biological, social, and economic factors while ensuring habitat protection, among other considerations. This includes regular consultation the Wisconsin Conservation Congress as well as the Pheasant Advisory Committee, consisting of Department of Natural Resources experts as well as stakeholder group representatives who review and make recommendations on the management of pheasant in Wisconsin. This bill bypasses that informed process.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
March 31, 2022
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist159702I am vetoing Senate Bill 612 in its entirety. This bill would require the Department of Natural Resources to annually stock at least 100,000 brook trout in Lake Michigan.
I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to implementing arbitrary stock quotas without considering, much less incorporating, evidence and science-based practices and processes. The Department of Natural Resources has a history of collaborating with stakeholders in order to make stocking decisions that are science-based, and which incorporate biological, social, and economic factors to evaluate stocking fish while ensuring habitat protection, among other considerations. This bill would not allow the department to adjust stocking levels based on angler demand, natural fish reproduction rates, or economic factors. Furthermore, this bill would require the department to shift resources towards stocking brook trout, potentially reducing the propagation of other fish species. This could lead to challenges from sport fishers as certain species of other fish would see limited stocking efforts as resources are shifted toward the arbitrary statutory requirement to stock brook trout.
