On March 20, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) vetoed Senate Bills (SB) 275, 276, 277, and 289. These four bills were part of a legislative package that Republican sponsors called a “Red Tape Reset,” which would have limited agency rulemaking powers. Wisconsin has a divided government.

SB 275 would have required that agency statements of scope (which are required by existing state law as a preliminary step in agency rulemaking) would expire after 30 months, and that agencies specify whether a statement of scope is beginning the permanent or emergency rulemaking process.

SB 276 would have required that a plaintiff successfully challenging the validity of an agency rule in court receive attorney fees and costs.

SB 277 would have introduced a seven-year sunset provision for agency rules, requiring that rules automatically expire seven years after being promulgated unless they are re-issued through the agency rulemaking process.

SB 289 would have required agencies to offset the expected costs of new rules to businesses, local governmental units, and individuals with a separate rule reducing expected costs. 

Each of the four bills passed the Wisconsin Senate 18-15 on Feb. 11, and the Wisconsin House of Representatives 53-45 on Feb 12. All four votes were along party lines, with the Republican majority in both houses of the legislature voting for the bills.

In a message attached to his veto of SB 289, Gov. Evers wrote that “I object to the Wisconsin State Legislature’s ongoing efforts to encroach on the administrative rulemaking authority of the executive branch.” State Sen. Julian Bradley (R), who co-sponsored and voted for the four bills, said that “people are struggling with rising costs. Instead of providing relief, the Governor chose to protect bureaucracy.”

Background

The four bills were introduced in the Wisconsin Senate in May 2025. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative think tank, announced its support for the bills, and dubbed them a 'Red Tape Reset' (state Sen. Eric Wimberger has also used the term). WILL Policy Director Kyle Koenen tied the bills to economic growth in the state, saying that "Wisconsin has fallen from being a robust engine of economic growth to one of stagnation — overregulation is to blame."

In October 2025 legislative hearings on the bills, state Rep. Mike Bare (D) said that they would create a "new legislative veto." A legislative veto is a type of legislative oversight which allows a legislative body to block executive or agency actions. The U.S. Supreme Court found legislative vetoes unconstitutional at the federal level in 1983. Recent litigation in Wisconsin culminated in a July 2024 6-1 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that effective struck down the practice of legislative veto at the state level, and a July 2025 4-3 ruling that limited the power of the legislative Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules to block new executive agency rules from going into effect.

Following the July 2025 ruling, Gov. Evers directed agencies to bypass the Joint Committee when promulgating rules. In response, the Republican majority on the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization voted Aug. 22 to instruct the Legislative Reference Bureau not to publish any rule that had not gone through legislative review. On Sept. 9, Evers' administration sued challenging the move. As of March 3, 2026, this lawsuit was ongoing. Also as of March 3, the Legislative Reference Bureau was planning to publish a rule which Gov. Evers approved in December, but which was not reviewed by the legislative committees. Wisconsin is one of 34 states that Ballotpedia has identified as requiring legislative review of some or all agency regulations.