Gov. Tony Evers announcing his proposal for a statewide citizen initiative process on Friday, Jan 3 in the State Capitol. | Wisconsin Examiner photo

Ahead of state lawmakers’ swearing-in on Monday, Gov. Tony Evers is proposing that the Legislature create a way for Wisconsin residents to directly create ballot measures that make statutory and constitutional changes through the referendum process.

The proposal comes ahead of a legislative session that will test the prospects for a productive working relationship among a newly slimmed-down Republican legislative majority, Democratic lawmakers, who picked up 14 seats in the recent elections and Evers. 

Evers’ proposal for a “binding referendum” process would allow citizens to put proposed measures before the electorate for ratification. 

Wisconsin law currently permits the Legislature to place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot, after they pass two consecutive legislative sessions. But Wisconsin doesn’t have a way for voters themselves to introduce initiatives or place a binding referendum on the statewide ballot.

Republican lawmakers have turned to constitutional amendments in recent years as a way to  bypass the governor’s veto pen. Evers said that if Republicans are going to continue to utilize that process, Wisconsin citizens should also have the opportunity to place questions on the ballot. 

“Republican legislators have repeatedly ignored the will of the people of Wisconsin, the majority of whom support proposals like restoring Roe and access to safe, legal abortion, legalizing and taxing marijuana like we do alcohol, funding our public schools and implementing common sense gun safety [laws]… Instead, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that are Republican drafted, Republican passed, all while refusing to give the same power to the people,” Evers told reporters during a Capitol press conference Friday. “Republican lawmakers shouldn’t be able to ignore the will of the people and then prevent the people from having a voice.”

In 2024, Wisconsin voters passed constitutional amendments put forward to them by lawmakers to prevent non-citizens from voting, to ban private money from helping to fund the state’s election process and rejected another that would have curbed the governor’s power to use federal money. 

Voters could soon see other proposals on their ballots in 2025, including one to add a requirement in that state constitution that voters show photo identification. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said that he hopes this could make it to voters in April — on  the same ballot as a high profile state Supreme Court race. 

“If Republican lawmakers are going to continue to try to legislate by constitutional amendment, then they should give Wisconsinites the same opportunities that 26 other states have,” Evers said. 

The National Conference of State Legislatures, reports that states that have a citizen initiative process allowing citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes and, in some states, constitutional amendments on the ballot include Wisconsin’s neighbors Michigan and Illinois. The referendum process in some states has allowed voters to act on an array of issues including codifying abortion rights following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and legalizing marijuana.  

Evers’ proposal would instruct the Legislature to create a binding statewide process through a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to file petitions with the Wisconsin Elections Commission to hold a vote on proposed state laws and constitutional amendments to repeal current state law. If the Elections Commission were able to validate a sufficient number of signatures by qualified voters, then a vote on the referendum would be held at the next general election at least 120 days after the petition is filed. Evers’ proposal would require a simple majority vote to pass the referendum. 

According to a memo from the Legislative Reference Bureau, Wisconsinites voted once on a measure to implement a statewide initiative and referendum process for ratification in the state constitution in 1914 with 64% of voters deciding to reject the constitutional amendment proposal. 

The proposal will be included in Evers’ 2025-27 state budget, which he will present in full in February. 

The budget writing process will likely be a major place for work to occur, and Evers said he sees opportunities to work with Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the new session and that he has already seen some of that occurring, as new members confer with their colleagues across the aisle on issues of importance to their constituents. 

As for his own plans to work with Republican legislative leaders, he said, “We’ll work with them anytime they’re available, you know, we worked a lot on the budget last session when we talked about shared revenue. We hope to be able to do that in the future.”