A proposed state Constitutional Amendment could further limit the governor’s veto authority. The measure would strip away the governor’s ability to delete parts of a sentence with his veto pen. State Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison) says that power has resulted in drastic changes to legislation that alters the intent of the original bill.
Risser says the proposal would limit the partial veto power to only entire provisions within a bill, rather than individual words or sentences.
The amendment is the latest effort to keep the governor from going against the will of the Legislature. The most recent was a Constitutional Amendment that ended the so-called “Frankenstein Veto,” which allowed the governor to put different sentences together to create new provisions within a bill. Risser says it’s an all part of a plan to bring the office’s veto powers more in line with what other states have.
The Madison Democrat says the governor is supposed to approve or reject laws, not create new ones on his own.
AUDIO: Andrew Beckett reports (:59)