The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of Governor’s line-item veto last year.
All bills passed by the Mississippi Legislature have been dealt with by the office of Governor Tate Reeves. According to law, any bill passed by the House and Senate must then be sent to the Governor either for his approval, a veto, or for him to allow it to go into law without a signature.
Thursday at midnight was the deadline for the final 12 bills on Reeves’ desk, most of which he chose to sign into law. Those included SB 2795 the criminal justice reform bill, SB 2825 which will set a new weight limit on harvest permitted truck drivers, and budgets like the Mississippi Development Authority, SB 2951.
RELATED: Reeves signs final component in 2021 criminal justice reform
However, not every bill this year made it into law as passed. Three bills went to the chopping block.
Reeves chose to completely veto SB 2624, a bill to establish a pilot program within the Real Estate Commission using administrative hearing officers. The bill would have allowed those officers to hear matters regarding particular licensing issues under its jurisdiction. Those officers would have been staff attorneys employed by the Attorney General’s office.
The bill will no longer go into effect and will be transmitted by the Legislature.
Reeves also issued two partial vetoes.
He partially vetoed HB 1413, the budget for the Department of Transportation, and SB 2948, the budget for the Department of Finance and Administration.
According to the partial veto letter for SB 2948, DFA’s budget, Reeves vetoed a section providing $500,000 to the City of Greenville to assist with downtown park improvements. He also vetoed a $50,000 appropriation for the Town of Scooba for improvements to sports and athletic fields, and another $50,000 appropriation to the Town of Mathiston for construction, repair and renovation to the town’s baseball park.
In HB 1413 for the Department of Transportation, Governor Reeves vetoed a $4.5 million appropriation to pay for the cost of right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation, and design construction for a 4-lane portion of Mississippi Highway 12 from Durant to Kosciusko.
Late last year, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in Reeves’ favor when Speaker Philip Gunn challenged the Governor’s authority to issue line-item vetoes, such as he has now issued in these two bills.
You can find all of the veto letters below:
Partial Veto for HB 1413 by yallpolitics on Scribd
Veto SB 2624 Partial Veto SB 2948 by yallpolitics on Scribd
Sarah Ulmer
