The Wisconsin state Senate passed a resolution today that lays the groundwork for placing limits on the governor's veto power. The Senate also postponed a vote on a bill that would possibly roll back Madison's current smoking ban.
Senate Joint Resolution 33 would curb the governor's veto power by restricting any governor from using the veto to combine words to make new sentences. The resolution must pass the Assembly, pass both houses next session and will then go to a public vote as soon as 2007.
Senator Fred Risser, D-Madison, an advocate of SJR 33, said the 'integrity of the government requires that there be equal balance between the legislature and executive. Currently, the executive has a veto power that exceeds any other veto power in the entire United States.'
Mike Prentiss, spokesperson for Senator Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, also commented on the potential danger of an unequal balance of power between the legislature and executive, especially in regard to state budgets.
'[Gov. Doyle] took about three or four separate sections of the budget and vetoed out all but a handful of words and numbers to essentially, unilaterally, increase state spending,' Prentiss said.
However, according to Kelley Flury, communications director for Sen. Judith Robson, D-Beloit, passage of the bill could prove to be detrimental for Wisconsin citizens.
'[Sen. Robson] voted against it because the governor used his partial veto power in the state budget to save schools in Wisconsin,' Flury said.
Assembly Bill 414, an initiative that could possibly restore smoking in some bars and taverns throughout Madison, was scheduled for a vote today but was referred to the Committee on Senate Organization for further discussion.
Prentiss said that even though the Senate was ready for a vote today, the bill's authors are willing to wait in order to find common ground. As proposed, the governor had stated he would veto AB 414, but offered to meet with the legislators to find a compromise.
'We would much rather take a little longer to come up with a product that would have the support of the governor and be signed into law than just rush head-long into a vote that could lead to a veto,' Prentiss said.
Prentiss rejected speculation that the bill's delayed vote was based on mass public disapproval, a statement that the American Cancer Society released earlier today.
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz sent a letter to local senators urging them to vote against AB 414 because it is a threat to public health and it takes away local control.
