After February floor votes, the Assembly and Senate sent many bills to Gov. Tony Evers for review. In the past several weeks, Gov. Evers has signed into law nearly 80 bills and vetoed several others.

Signed into Law

 On Feb. 28, Gov. Evers signed several law enforcement bills, including:

• AB 633 (Act 105), clarifying the use of the private transport for individuals under emergency detention.
• Two bills related to penalties for OWIs (Act 106 & Act 107).
• SB 50 (Act 108), providing parameters for law enforcement body cameras.

On March 2, the governor traveled to Ashland to sign three bills related to student mental health (Act 116, Act 117 & Act 118).

The following day, March 3, the governor signed over sixty bills into law. At the Coulee Recovery Center in La Crosse, Gov. Evers signed four bills from Rep. John Nygren’s (R-Marinette) bipartisan package to address opioid abuse: (AB 645, AB 646, AB 647, AB 650). Read more about opioid legislation this session.

Other bills of note signed on March 3 included:

• AB 30 (Act 123), creating a Council on Offender Employment to issue certificates of qualification for employment (CQEs) to ex-offenders.
• AB 734 (Act 144), creating a new crime for mail theft.
• SB 514 (Act 148), allowing physician assistants performing official duties for the armed services to practice without obtaining a physician assistant license from the Medical Examining Board.

Later this week, Gov. Evers also signed a bill adding 12 new circuit court branches to the state (Act 184).

Vetoed

One week after the Republican-majority Legislature passed a $250 million tax cut package (SB 821), Gov. Evers vetoed the bill in its entirety. The governor’s veto message objected to what he characterized as the bill’s “unbalanced and unsustainable approach” to fiscal policy. The governor said the bill failed to address funding for public schools, as he had in his competing tax proposal. Republicans said their proposal in SB 821 returned surplus dollars back to the taxpayers and addressed the state’s debt, and the 2019-21 state budget that Gov. Evers signed into law made significant increases to education funding.

On Feb. 28, Gov. Evers vetoed several other bills that had passed in the Legislature’s February floor sessions. The governor vetoed AB 26, which would have established parameters for practicing direct primary care in Wisconsin. The governor objected to the bill after an amendment to the nondiscrimination provisions of the bill. Veto message.

The governor also vetoed several bills from the Assembly Republicans’ “Tougher on Crime” package:

• Revoking parole, probation or extended supervision if a person is charged with a crime (AB 805 – veto message)
• Expanding the felonies for which juveniles may be placed in corrections institutions (AB 806 – veto message)
• Prosecuting violent felons for firearm possession (AB 808 – veto message)
• Limiting early release for violent crimes (AB 809 – veto message)