Barbour vetoes metal theft bill
Bills intended to crack down on metal theft and provide more assistant district attorneys and criminal investigators will not become law.
Gov. Haley Barbour vetoed both today.
Senate Bill 2751 would have created 14 new assistant district attorneys and 7 new criminal investigators. But in his veto message, Barbour wrote that the bill “ignores a bedrock principle of fiscal conservatism because the new prosecutors and investigators are not funded in the (fiscal year) 2009 budget.”
Some of the posts have been funded with federal Hurricane Katrina funds, Barbour wrote.
House Bill 1136 aimed to discourage metal theft, including that of copper. But Barbour wrote that it “places an undue regulatory burden on the metal recycling industry, including many small businesses in Mississippi.”
Clarion Ledger
5/12/8
Magnolia Tribune
