Republican leaders urge Gov. Evers to sign divisive PFAS legislation

Top Republican lawmakers urged Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday not to veto a bill that would provide a way for $125 million to be used to combat PFAS across Wisconsin. Evers has said he would veto the bill because of provisions that would restrict the state Department of Natural Resources’ enforcement powers against polluters and contaminators.

Joint Finance Committee co-chairs Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) asked Evers in a letter to sign SB 312 when it eventually arrives on his desk. They said the bill would create the programs and changes to the law necessary to effectively mitigate contamination by PFAS and that a competing request by the DNR would conflict with the legislative intent of the bill.

“Please do not veto this bill,” the lawmakers wrote. “The JFC will not change the legislative intent for these funds. Through the legislative process, public hearings and extensive revisions and compromise, the PFAS relief bill passed by the Legislature has earned the support of affected communities, including all three statewide associations representing all levels of local government.”

The money has been in limbo for months as lawmakers debated the rules under which it could be spent. The final legislation, SB 312, would provide the mechanism for the funds to be distributed and passed the Assembly in February. However, it had no support from Democrats due to provisions that clean water advocates have said could shield polluters from being held accountable.

The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) submitted a formal request to the Republican-controlled JFC for the release of the funds without the bill in December, and Evers has urged lawmakers on numerous occasions over the last several months to release the funds, saying that it couldn’t wait. 

Born and Marklein wrote in their letter that vetoing the bill would turn the money “the Legislature intended to help victims into an unaccountable slush fund that your administration has said it would use to bring enforcement action against farmers and other innocent landowners who didn’t cause the pollution in the first place.”

Lawmakers added that if Evers vetoes the bill then “the program doesn’t exist,” and that they are ready to take action on PFAS, but through SB 312. 

The bill has yet to be presented to Evers.

Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in an email to the Examiner that there has been “no change in the governor’s position, notwithstanding the disingenuous comments of the two Republican Joint Finance Committee co-chairs who’ve spent 271 days now refusing to release $125 million in already-approved funds to combat PFAS contamination statewide.”