On April 1 st, Wisconsin citizens have the opportunity to vote on a referendum that, if passed, would amend the Wisconsin Constitution in regards to the Governor’s partial veto power. The wording of the referendum asks voters “whether the governor shall be prohibited, in exercising his or her partial veto authority, from creating a new sentence by combining parts of two or more sentences of an appropriations bill.” That’s what you’ll see on April 1. To clarify, an appropriations bill is any piece of legislation that appropriates money and can include anything from earmarked projects to the state budget.

The original purpose of the partial veto power was to allow a Wisconsin governor to curb unnecessary spending and earmarks without vetoing an entire bill. Sounds like a good idea—sign the important legislation while at the same time cutting excess spending in the bill. Traditionally, Wisconsin governors used this power cautiously and in accord with its original purpose—to protect the tax payers of Wisconsin from excessive and unnecessary spending.

However, in the past few decades, both Republican and Democratic governors have been taking liberties—using their veto power to cut apart and piece together the language in bills, changing the final result drastically from what the legislature originally intended. Instead of curbing spending, governors have merely redirected or increased funding for certain projects/departments, without the consent of the legislature and the input of Wisconsin citizens.

The people of Wisconsin are without representation in the final determination of how their tax dollars will be used in their own state. Special interest groups and gubernatorial advisors are among the few admitted to the laboratory for the cutting and piecing together of the state budget—truly a Frankenstein situation. It’s a closed door operation, with the people of Wisconsin left in the dark and out of the decision-making process on the appropriation of their hard-earned tax dollars.

In 2005, Governor Doyle used his partial veto power on the state budget bill to re-appropriate $427 million from the state transportation fund to the Department of Administration; where the money was eventually redirected to public schools without legislative approval.

After passing both houses of the state legislature twice—the stringent condition for Wisconsin constitutional amendments—the referendum is up for the final showdown on the April 1 st ballot. On that Tuesday, Wisconsin citizens will have the opportunity to choose how much law-making power their governor will have…or how little.

With the $652 million deficit looming on our state’s horizon, the Frankenstein Veto Amendment is a timely referendum. In the very near future, our state Legislature will have to address the deficit and the governor will again have the power to rearrange and redirect state funding.

Last week the Governor announced his preferred fix for the deficit and the Republican-controlled Assembly responded by passing an entirely different fix. The Democratic-controlled Senate has already denounced the Assembly’s idea and vowed to come up with one of its own. Depending on when the Legislature takes the matter up, the April 1 st referendum could determine how much power the Governor has to change this legislation.

We recently posted a number of resources to help you be informed on this spring non-partisan general election, including a voter information sheet on the Supreme Court race and the Frankenstein veto referendum question. Check it out on our website at www.wifamilycouncil.org or call 888-378-7395. On Tuesday, April 1, make sure your vote counts regarding the governor’s Frankenstein Veto authority.

For Wisconsin Family Council, I’m Julaine Appling, reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”