The majority of federal funds that come to Wisconsin are required to go towards certain uses.
But there are exceptions to this as seen in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession in the late 2000s.
Wisconsin’s Governor can accept federal funds in these cases and allocate the money without legislative approval.
In the past four years, Wisconsin has received about $4 billion of these types of funds to help the state handle and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Governor had discretion over how those funds were allocated.
Republican lawmakers tried to pass a bill that would give them oversight of these funds, but the Governor vetoed it.
Now, they’re asking voters to amend the state constitution so that lawmakers, not Governors, would have that authority.
The questions will appear on the ballots as follows:
Question One: “Delegation of appropriation power. Shall Section 35 (1) of Article IV of the Constitution be created to provide that the Legislature may not delegate its sole power to determine how moneys shall be appropriated?”
Question Two: “Allocation of federal moneys. Shall Section 35 (2) of Article IV of the Constitution be created to prohibit the governor from allocating any federal moneys the governor accepts on behalf of the state without the approval of the Legislature by joint resolution or as provided by legislative rule?”
A coalition of organizations that range from voting rights to environmental groups to health care advocates are urging people to vote no on both questions.
They argue it will create more red tape on funds that are meant to help Wisconsinites in emergency situations.
Dorothy Skye is President of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and a member of the Northwoods chapter. LWV is also opposed to the amendments.
“It was over $4 billion, but it was a small proportion of all the federal funds that come to the state, and again, the governor is best positioned to expeditiously get those funds out to the critical departments, and the critical local governments, and individual citizens, and businesses in an emergency,” said Skye.
Wisconsin has received roughly $20 billion each year for the last three years, the Governor controlled between $0.7 billion and $1.8 billion of that amount each year.
Groups like Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, WILL, and the Badger Institute are urging voters to vote yes.
The Badger Institute argues that the wording in the second question would allow for legislative rulemaking to get funds out quickly in an emergency.
WILL says it “will prevent the executive branch from unilaterally spending federal dollars towards their preferred projects and provide a necessary check on their power from the state legislature.”
“The legislature has sole authority for allocating state funds, and most federal funds are allocated in such a way that they're put into the budget bill or individual bills proposed by the legislature, so the legislature has plenty of opportunity to weigh in on things,” said Skye.
As WXPR has previously reported, the Wisconsin Policy Forum created a report on the potential pros and cons of the constitutional amendments, including concerns over the vague wording.
The questions will be on the August 13th ballot.
WXPR has created a voter guide for people to learn more about the candidates and see what’s on the ballot. You can view it here.
