State senator explains special session veto

Dear Editor,

There has been much talk and debate concerning the legislature calling itself back into session. The purpose would have been to override the vetoes by Gov. Kathleen Blanco following the recent legislative session.

While I was disappointed in some of the governor’s choices for veto, I agreed on others. This has been the case of every legislative session since I began serving in 1996.

At the center of the controversy was a one-percent tax credit on utilities for businesses and an income tax credit of up to $5,000 for payers of tuition to private and parochial schools.

Those were just two of 14 bills vetoed along with 10 lines in the Appropriations bill. In a veto session all legislation felled by the governor’s pen are open to reconsideration.

While the issues are legitimate and may deserve reconsideration the likelihood of a veto override on any particular bill is questionable.

It takes a majority of the House of Representatives or Senate to bring us back into session but it takes a super-majority of each body to override a governor’s veto. That means a two-third majority would have been needed in the House and then the Senate to make the bill become law. Getting two-thirds to agree on controversial legislation is rare in the course of a regular session.

Remember too that the administration controls what goes before the Bond Commission. Capital outlay projects throughout the State need to first be approved by that body before getting funded.

My vision is that of a line of legislators in the halls of the governor’s office trading projects for votes. It would be pretty easy in my estimation for the governor to peel off a third of the dissenting votes.

Everything in flux can be considered by the next sitting governor in less than six months.

The two leading candidates for governor are pro-business. There was no reason to risk the enormous cost and possibly another failed session when these issues can be address in the first special session of 2008.

Sen. Butch Gautreaux, District 21