Vetoes

Gov. Huntsman went easy on the vetoes. As he and President Valentine said, it is a tribute to the good relationship the legislative and executive branches currently enjoy. I briefly saw Rep. Mike Morley yesterday (the sponsor of the only piece of legislation truly vetoed -- 1 HB 42 (psychotropic drug administration)) and asked him if he had heard the news. He told me the Governor had called to tell him. That's cool. No doubt, Mike will work to override the veto (as all legislators should, if they believe in the legislation), but it goes a long way toward preserving the relationship, if the parties deal with each other squarely.

Another thing I really appreciate about how the Governor handled this tough part of his job is that he signed all the other bills, rather than let them pass into law without his signature. He didn't have to do this. He could have taken the symbolic hand-wringing position of "Well, it's law now, but, see, I didn't really like it and didn't sign it (but lacked the courage to veto it)." Instead, fully honoring his role, he figured if he had a role, he'd take ownership and put his X on it. That doesn't get him points -- except with people who like toughness in their leaders.

The Gov. did veto another bill (at the sponsor's request, because of technical flaws) and a few budget line items (again, for technical reasons), but these won't cause a stir. One mess up we need to correct involves the $18 million we appropriated for tourism development in SB 7. The Senate passed it, the House amended it and pass the amended version, and the Senate then thought it concurred with that amended bill; however, the bill in its physical possession at that time, did not reflect the amendments. Therefore, we actually passed different versions and the bill failed. No doubt, we'll revisit this issue in the special session.