Constitutional amendment scheduled for the November 3 ballot explained

Wisconsin Question 1, titled the Prohibit Partial Veto to Increase Tax or Fee Amendment, is a legislatively referred constitutional amendment scheduled for the November 3, ballot. The proposed measure asks voters whether to amend Section 10(1)(c) of Article V of the Wisconsin Constitution to explicitly prohibit the governor from using partial veto authority to create or increase any tax or fee. A "yes" vote supports adding this restriction to executive veto powers, whereas a "no" vote opposes amending the constitution, maintaining the governor's current partial veto scope.

The measure was introduced by Republican State Senator Chris Kapenga and received unanimous support from legislative Republicans, while legislative Democrats voted against referring it to the ballot. Supporters argue that the amendment rebalances power between the legislative and executive branches by curtailing broad executive authority to rewrite laws. Opponents contend that restricting line-item veto power makes it more difficult for future governors to address revenue shortfalls or adjust state budget priorities effectively.

Wisconsin governors have held partial veto powers over appropriation bills since 1930. Previous constitutional amendments passed by voters in 1990 and 2008 incrementally limited this authority by forbidding the creation of new words from individual letters and banning the creation of new sentences by combining parts of multiple sentences. Question 1 represents the next proposed constitutional limitation on the scope of the governor's line-item veto authority.