TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
On Friday, Apr. 23, Gov. Tony Evers vetoed two bills, previously passed by the State Assembly and the Senate and designed to protect individual and religious freedoms.
Assembly Bill 23 was written to prevent the Department of Health Services and/or local health officials from requiring individuals to receive a vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and any variant or mutation of the SARSCoV-2 coronavirus. AB 23 received bipartisan votes and passed in the Assembly with 60 “aye” votes and passed in the Senate on a voice vote.
Gov. Evers vetoed it saying, “I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the provisions of the bill that would take away existing tools available to state and local public health officials during a declared public health emergency.”
Rep. Calvin Callahan, who represents Wisconsin’s 35th Assembly District, which encompasses Lincoln County, said he was disappointed to hear Gov. Evers had vetoed the Bill.
“In regards to the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not for me or the government to force something on folks that they aren’t comfortable with,” Callahan said. “I voted for AB 23 because I trust in the people of the 35th Assembly District to decide what’s best for themselves and their families, and I’m not going to be the one who takes that freedom away from them.”
Assembly Bill 24 was written to prohibit local health officers from closing or forbidding gatherings in places of worship in response to outbreaks and epidemics related to the 2019 novel coronavirus or any varient or virus derived as a mutuation of it. Likewise, it received bipartisan votes and passed in the Assembly with 61 “aye” votes and passed in the Senate on a voice vote. Nonetheless, Gov. Evers vetoed it saying, “I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to the provisions of the bill that would take away existing tools available to state and local public health officials to prevent and suppress COVID-19.”
In his letters directed to the Assembly in which he vetoed each of the bills, he continued, stating that his veto of these bills, as well as his original veto of Assembly Bill 1, was about “following the science and public health experts, not finding ways to make it harder to fight this virus or keep Wisconsinites safe.”
Rep. Callahan also expressed his disappointment in Gov. Evers’ veto of AB 24. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of panic and uncertainty, a time when many turn to religion for guidance and reassurance,” Rep. Callahan said. “We also have a right to the free exercise of religion in the United States, and allowing unelected bureaucrats to close our churches tears that right away.”