Evers vetoes PFAS bill, orders JFC to meet

Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation last week to provide comprehensive PFAS relief to eligible communities — dollars that have been approved in the state budget — but the governor said the package of bills contained poison pills designed to help polluters, and he ordered the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to meet in special session to deal with the situation.

The Republican leaders of the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) quickly said they would not follow the directive. At stake is $125 million in already-approved funding to fight PFAS statewide and $15 million to stabilize health care access in western Wisconsin after Hospital Sisters Health System and Prevea Health decided to close several locations in the region.

The governor said he had statutory authority to call the JFC meeting.

“It’s been 279 days since I signed the biennial budget and approved a $125 million investment to fight PFAS — the first real, meaningful investment Republicans have sent to my desk to address and prevent PFAS contamination statewide,” Evers said. “And it’s now been more than 40 days since I signed a bill to secure $15 million in crisis response resources that would help ensure folks in western Wisconsin have access to the healthcare services they need when and where they need it, including OB-GYN services, mental health and substance use treatment, urgent care, and so much more.”

Evers said releasing the funds was critical but that they were sitting unspent in Madison because the Republican-controlled JFC refused to release even one cent. The governor said that was wrong. 

“PFAS are affecting communities across our state, and western Wisconsin is facing serious challenges due to recently announced hospital closures — there is no reason Wisconsinites should have to wait any longer than they already have for these funds to be released,” he said. “This is about doing the right thing for our kids, our families, and our communities, and it should’ve been done a long time ago. This must get done.”

Evers said the GOP legislation contained poison pills designed to benefit polluters that could functionally give them a free pass from cleaning up their own spills and contamination. Under Wisconsin’s existing environmental protection laws, any party causing, possessing, or controlling a hazardous substance that has been released into the environment is required to clean it up. 

Evers said the bill specifically prohibited the DNR from taking enforcement action against polluters and contaminators so long as the polluter allowed the DNR to remediate the site at the DNR’s own expense. In other words, Evers said, so long as a polluter allowed the DNR to clean up the contamination using Wisconsin taxpayer dollars, the DNR could not take enforcement action against the polluter.

In addition, under the bills the DNR couldn’t take any enforcement action against landowners who unknowingly spread PFAS in compliance with a license or permit — the agency could now but Evers says it does not — and the agency would be responsible for remediation at contaminated sites where the polluter was unidentified.

Mind your own business

The JFC meeting was to have happened on April 16, but, as soon as Evers announced it, Republicans said they would decline to follow the directive.

Specifically, the co-chairmen of the JFC, state Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) and Rep. Mark Born (R-Beaver Dam) said the governor had tried the ploy before and they accused the governor of playing politics.

“As was the case four years ago, the governor has no authority to call the committee into a meeting,” Marklein and Born said in a statement. “According to the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau, ‘The governor may call a meeting of JFC but may not require the JFC cochairpersons to convene any meeting, require JFC to consider any matter, or compel any member to attend that meeting.’” 

If Evers was serious about addressing PFAS contamination and supporting health care, Born and Marklein said, he would have signed the bills the Legislature sent him to alleviate those issues.

“Instead, he vetoed legislation that would have created the programs to mitigate PFAS; and he used his line-item veto to open funding intended for emergency health care services in Chippewa Valley to any of 18 counties in western Wisconsin,” they said. “Gov. Evers failed the people of Wisconsin, not the Legislature.”

What’s more, the two co-chairmen said, there would be a legal risk if the JFC undermined the legislative intent of bills vetoed by the governor.

Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay) weighed in, too, saying Evers had vetoed a bill that would have unlocked millions in PFAS relief for affected communities, including the creation of new programs to address the needs of PFAS-affected communities and new legal protections for victims of PFAS pollution.

“Instead of listening to the communities impacted by PFAS, Gov. Evers tries to hide his shameful veto of comprehensive PFAS relief behind yet another call to turn millions set aside to help PFAS victims into a DNR slush fund,” Wimberger said. “The governor doesn’t understand that without the protections for victims included in Senate Bill 312, we cannot get to the bottom of our PFAS crisis as victims fear being held responsible for pollution they didn’t cause.”

Wimberger addressed the governor’s claim that the bills gave polluters a free pass from cleaning up their own spills and contamination, saying the protections were for landowners who did not create the pollution. If you own a farm or property that used to be a farm, or live near an airport, Wimberger said, with the veto the state kept the authority to hold those owners financially liable as if they had put the pollution in the ground. 

“DNR admits that current law allows them to punish innocent landowners, but that they promise never to use it — so why would Gov. Evers veto comprehensive PFAS relief over this power if they don’t plan to use it?” he asked.

However, the group A Better Wisconsin Together, urged the JFC to accept the governor’s call to meet, calling the GOP bill vetoes by Evers disingenuous.

“Wisconsinites deserve to turn on their tap and trust that their water is safe to drink, and nobody should have to worry if they can reach a healthcare provider when in need,” A Better Wisconsin Together communications director Lucy Ripp said. “We applaud Governor Evers for stopping GOP lawmakers from letting corporate polluters off the hook for contaminating Wisconsinites’ water, and for calling on the Republican controlled state finance committee to stop the partisan antics by finally doing their jobs and delivering potentially lifesaving funds to communities across the state.”

It’s time for Republicans in the legislature to stop obstructing action on popular policies, stop holding essential funds hostage for their own political gain, and start taking action on pressing issues like access to clean water and health care, Ripp said.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.