Rep Nedweski on Partial Veto Constitutional Amendment

it has been argued that Wisconsin is a swing state anything can happen here in any given Statewide election I say this because many people in this room seem to have forgotten that Republican governor Scott Walker served two consecutive terms and was victorious in a recall election not that long ago legendary Republican Governor Tommy Thompson was elected to four consecutive terms in most of our life times in fact Mr Speaker since statehood Wisconsin has been led by a whopping 31 Republican Governors compared to a modest 13 Democrat Governors given the historic Trend Mr Speaker if I were a democrat in this legislature I would absolutely be voting in favor of assembly joint resolution 112 especially if I was a Democrat certain that I would be in the majority soon because Mr Mr Speaker history tells us Wisconsin will have another Republican Governor sooner than later back in my middle school civics class Mr Speaker I recall asking the teacher why my Democrat aunts and uncles were so off the rails angry at Governor Thompson we were learning how the three branches of government were designed to check and balance each other Mr Levis explained how the governor had cleverly used the Vana White veto to slice and dice the legislature's state budget Bill Tommy Thompson's use of the partial veto to override the idea and intent of the legislature in the law was considered egregious by his opposition and Brilliant by his supporters I myself remember thinking it didn't seem right it seemed to me that the partial veto Flatout broke the rules of the fundamental thing we had just learned the legislature makes laws not the governor Mr Speaker I was truly befuddled however when Governor even Governor iers used the partial veto to Institute a 42-year tax increase on the hard-working people of Wisconsin he was lotted by some as a genius I imagine Mr Speaker if this had been done by Governor Walker or Governor Thompson the same people would be triggered into dramatic meltdowns of Injustice I can just hear the Cry of tyranny and dictatorship and my personal favorite let the Court decide personally I would have opposed this action no matter who took it the bottom line is the governor is not a legislature and should not be abusing the partial veto to act as a legislator I find myself befuddled yet again Mr Speaker we hear the cry to save democracy and yet the same people are all too willing to hand over legislative authority to the executive and the Judiciary when the system doesn't work to benefit them AJR 112 proposes an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution to restrict the governor in exercising partial veto power over an an Appropriations bill from creating or increasing or authorizing the creation or inre increase of any tax or fee simple as that we narrowly crafted this legislation to address specific situations that we believe members of the public find the most egregious the ability of a single person to create or raise taxes and fees on the people of Wisconsin with the stroke of a pen the people of Wisconsin deserve transparency and integrity from the office of the executive their will should not be twisted and bent by the governor's partial veto power they should not be subjected to political trickery that is in conflict with their will and as we all agree Mr Speaker the will of the people is the law of the land not the will of the governor so Mr Speaker over time there have been nearly 30 attempts by both Democrat and Republican leg legislators to modify the partial veto Power by Constitutional Amendment it's a mechanism that has invited unnecessary conflict between the legislative and executive branches for nearly a century if adopted this amendment would appropriately rebalance power between the executive and the legislature and further restrict the executive from completely rewriting laws it is time we get it right it's time that we are the ones to have the courage to restore true representation in taxation so Mr Speaker I wonder what the vote will look like today with all the grandstanding speeches we've heard of late about fairness and saving democracy and the will of the people will we see hypocrisy on display or common sense knowing that Wisconsin is a s State Mr Speaker I ask my colleagues to think what might the impact of the partial BTO by the next governor who might that next Governor be think of that before you vote could it be an ally could it be an adversary maybe it'll be Josh call maybe it would be Mike Gallagher or maybe Mr Speaker it might even be me thank you Mr Speaker