Nebraska Lawmakers Reject Pillen’s Line-Item Vetoes on Budget Bills
Lawmakers in Nebraska stated that they cannot approve Governor Jim Pillen’s line-item vetoes concerning the budget bills.
The state senators stated that they did not receive a response within the five-day period, as mandated by the state constitution.
READ MORE:
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signs state budget, issues line-item vetoes
John Arch, who serves as the Speaker of the Legislature, stated
LB 261
and
LB 264
They were delivered to the governor on May 15.
Arch mentioned they were signed Wednesday, apart from the vetoes.
He mentioned that the documents were handed over to the secretary of state’s office and remained there until 12:01 a.m. on Thursday.
“I have instructed the clerk to send the bills back to the Governor along with a message detailing the facts, as we do not consider these vetoes acceptable,” stated Arch.
In a statement, the governor’s office refutes this claim and stated that copies of the actions along with the bill were indeed handed over and accepted by the clerk’s office on the night of May 21st.
Pillen’s office said he clearly took the legally required stops to exercise his veto authority, and that they will consult with the attorney general’s office and other counsel on next steps.
Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen told KETV: “We filed what was brought to us, as is our responsibility.”
“The sole responsibility of the Secretary of State with respect to legislative bills that have become law is to receive them when they are delivered to the Secretary of State’s office and then to file them. The Secretary of State’s office does not deliver vetoed bills to the legislature,” he said.
KETV requested additional details from Evnen’s office regarding the timeline for when he received the invoices and when they were submitted to the Clerk of the Legislature’s office.
Shortly before 5:00 PM on Wednesday, May 21st, a representative from the Governor’s office handed over two bills—LB 261 and LB 264—to the Secretary of State’s office. These documents had been signed by the Governor and came alongside two original versions of a line-item veto letter directed to the legislature. Our office instructed the Governor’s representative at the time they submitted these items that both the original letter and the bills ought to be forwarded to the legislative body as well. Although he carried away one of the original letters upon leaving, the bills remained behind. It has since come to light that one of those original letters along with copies of the bills reached the legislature later that same night,” stated Evnen.
Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler told KETV Investigates at 10:30p.m. Wednesday, the Legislature received copies of pages of parts of the bill that included pages with the line item vetoes and the governor’s signature. It also had the governor’s veto message.
Metzler stated that the initial version of the legislation was missing, as mandated by the State Constitution, according to him.
The following day, the clerk’s office found out that the original documents had not been submitted.
Metzler mentioned that this information was communicated to the governor’s office.
Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Thursday, the governor’s office handed over the original documents to the Clerk of the Legislature’s office.
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Nebraska lawmakers don’t accept Pillen’s line-item vetoes for budget bills
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