Gov. Tony Evers today signed an executive order calling the Legislature into a special session April 14 to take up a constitutional amendment barring partisan gerrymandering.
“There are no tricks, no funny politics here, just a straight-up ban, nothing more, nothing less,” Evers said at a morning presser. “I could not have made this vote any easier for the Legislature.”
Evers announced during the State of the State that he planned to call a special session to take up the proposed amendment, which would have to be passed twice by the Legislature and then approved by voters. The governor said today he wants it to become law before maps are redrawn after the 2030 census.
He cited Republican-controlled states’ mid-decade redistricting efforts under pressure from the Trump administration and Democrats’ responding push to redraw their maps as a scenario he wanted to avoid in Wisconsin.
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The guv can call lawmakers back into a special session but cannot compel legislators to debate or vote on legislation.