GOVERNOR EVERS VETOES OMNIBUS COVID-19 RELIEF BILL, INCLUDING PROVISIONS PROHIBITING COVID-19 VACCINE MANDATES AND CHURCH CLOSURES

By Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsin Legislative Director

On Friday afternoon, within an hour of the state Senate passing an omnibus COVID-19 relief package, Governor Evers vetoed the measure, Assembly Bill (AB) 1, in its entirety. The legislation included critical provisions supported by Pro-Life Wisconsin that would have:

• prohibited the state Department of Health Services (DHS) and local public health officers from requiring individuals to receive vaccination against the 2019 novel coronavirus;

• prohibited employers from requiring employees or prospective employees to receive vaccination against the 2019 novel coronavirus, or show proof of having received such vaccination as a condition of an offer of employment or continued employment; and

• prohibited local health officers from closing or forbidding gatherings in places of worship to control outbreaks and epidemics of the 2019 novel coronavirus.

The above provisions were introduced as stand-alone bills (Senate Bills 4, 5, & 7) that were ultimately placed back into AB 1, the omnibus COVID-19 bill. They made it on to the Governor’s desk Friday where he promptly and callously vetoed them along with the whole bill. In his veto message, Governor Evers highlighted the vaccine coercion and church closing measures as the primary reason for his veto, stating, "AB 1 takes away existing tools available to public health officials and employers."

Thank you to all of you who called and emailed your state senators in support of SB 4, SB 5, and SB 7 in the last few weeks. The Wisconsin Legislature did indeed pass the language in these bills! We commend the Assembly and Senate Republicans for doing so, and we look forward to a new governor in 2022 who will respect our constitutional freedoms and the inalienable right to life.