Majority overrides state veto

Correction: This article failed to list Tennessee as one of five states besides Arkansas where a simple majority can override a governor’s veto. The others are Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.

When the Arkansas Legislature voted last week to override the governor’s veto of a provision in an appropriation bill, it didn’t require a landslide.

Arkansas is one of only six states where a majority of lawmakers - 51 of the 100 representatives and 18 of the 35 senators - can override a governor’s veto. Most states require two-thirds of the legislature to do so.

Political watchers and experts say Arkansas’ low threshold takes power from the executive branch and gives the legislative branch a trump card. Still, overrides in Arkansas are rare and sometimes depend more on personalities than partisanship.

Art English, a political science professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said many Arkansas governors have had one or two veto overrides. But, he said, use of the override increased under Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, who clashed with the Democratic-led Legislature.

The 81st General Assembly in 1997 overrode 10 of Huckabee’s 16 vetoes, including eight in a single day. Much of the maneuvering was because of disputes over whether the executive or legislative branch should have more authority in allocating the state’s money, English said.

“Huckabee was perceived as very combative initially and messing with [the Legislature’s] Democrats’ money,” English said.

By comparison, Winthrop Rockefeller, the state’s first Republican governor elected after Reconstruction, was overridden three times by the Legislature in 1967 and six times in 1969.

During Huckabee’s television show on AETN in December 2005, the governor responded to criticism that he should have vetoed a bill that expanded gambling in the state, saying that his veto wouldn’t have “meant anything” because it would have been easily overturned by the Legislature.

“I wish governors had the power some people think they have. That would be nice on some days. Arkansas has one of the worst veto laws for its governor than any state,” Huckabee said.

Since he became governor in 2007, Mike Beebe has vetoed 15 bills and struck provisions from three other bills using his line-item-veto authority, according to his office.

Three of Beebe’s vetoes were overridden by the Republican-led Legislature last year, including two measures that increased restrictions on abortions and one that created a photo-identification requirement to vote.

Then there is the veto override from last week.

Beebe had vetoed a salestax exemption for sand used in oil and natural-gas well drilling that was in a section of an appropriation bill for the state Department of Finance and Administration’s Revenue Services Division. He said the exemption is unconstitutional.

Without debate, the House voted 55-41 and the Senate voted 26-7 to override his veto.

House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, summed up the outcome shortly after the House’s vote. “Fifty-five members wanted to do it, so they did it,” he told reporters. “It’s pretty easy to override a governor’s veto in the state of Arkansas with a simple majority.”

A spokesman for Beebe said the governor was disappointed in the override. But English said the governor’s relationship with the Legislature has not been as contentious as Huckabee’s was.

“[Beebe] was willing to go to bat on this particular issue. It won’t bloody his reputation or anything,” English said.

English said the veto overrides could be a sign of more to come if the margins between Republicans and Democrats remain so close in the state.

“I do think we’ll see more of this depending on the nature and the personality of the governor,” English said.

English and Hal Bass, a political science professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, said there was little ideological conflict when the same party won the governor’s office and control of the Legislature.

For most of the state’s history, Democrats controlled the executive and legislative branches. But Republicans won control of the House and Senate in 2012 for the first time since Reconstruction.

Bass said it’s too early to tell if there will be more vetoes and overrides in the future. The executive and legislative branches could be divided or united under one party after the November elections, he said.

“I think the shifting partisan foundations of the state are relevant in any discussions here,” Bass said.

Brenda Erickson, a senior research analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures, said overrides in Arkansas and across the country remain fairly rare.

“Oftentimes it is more specific to the issue itself [rather than partisanship], and sometimes the relationship between the Legislature and the governor,” Erickson said.

Personalities - both of the governor’s and lawmakers’ - usually play a bigger role in seeking overrides than partisanship does, Erickson said. Most overrides are bipartisan.

“The legislators are listening to their constituents, as well. Some of it is what they’re hearing from people in their districts, if there’s a strong feeling either way,” Erickson said.

Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia are the five other states that require a simple majority to overturn a veto, according to information provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But Erickson said legislators often are able to overcome whatever threshold is set to get an override, whether it’s a simple majority, two-thirds or three-fourths.

“If it is something that is important to the Legislature itself, it doesn’t matter what the vote requirement sometimes is there, it’s going to go forward,” Erickson said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/24/2014

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