Legislature Meets for Annual Veto Session

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, the Legislature gathered at the Capitol to hold the annual veto session, which gives us the opportunity to override any vetoes enacted by the governor, including legislation and line items. In past years, these sessions were often short, lasting a few hours at most. Those times are changing. This year’s veto session began at noon on Wednesday, and lasted into early Thursday morning.

During the veto session, the Legislature overrode 10 of the governor’s vetoes. Thanks to revenue collections steadily increasing, the General Assembly also had the opportunity to override vetoes on numerous line-items within the Fiscal Year 2015 budget, restoring valuable funding to a number of programs, such as tutoring programs for children in low-income areas and rape kits for children sexually abused, eliminated or reduced due to falling revenue.

The bills overrode during the 2014 veto session included:

• House Bill 1132 changes the law regarding a tax credit for contributions to a maternity home, pregnancy resource center or food pantry;
• House Bill 1307 changes the minimum waiting period before a woman can have an abortion from 24 hours to 72 hours;
• Senate Bill 523 prohibits school districts from requiring a student to use an identification device that uses radio frequency identification to transmit certain information;
• Senate Bill 593 modifies provisions relating to nonpartisan elections;
• Senate Bill 656 modifies provisions relating to firearms, corporate security officers, and school protection officers;
• Senate Bill 727 grants a sales and use tax exemption for products sold at farmers’ markets, among other provisions;
• Senate Bill 731 modifies provisions relating to nuisance ordinances and actions;
• Senate Bill 829 modifies provisions relating to the burden of proof in tax liability cases;
• Senate Bill 841 prohibits the sale of alternative nicotine or vapor products to persons under 18 years of age;
• Senate Bill 866 preempts local laws that would modify current law governing the manner in which traditional installment loan lenders are allowed to make loans.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment with veto session was the lack of action on Senate Bill 493, which addresses the ongoing student transfer problem and added much-needed reforms to the state’s accreditation process. The bill was crafted in a bipartisan manner, with seventy percent of legislators voting for it. In the end, neither side was completely satisfied, but could live with the final bill—a true sign of compromise. Despite this, the governor vetoed the measure.  

Veto session was the General Assembly’s opportunity to fight for legislation that was broadly supported and, most importantly, put in place important protections for both students and school districts so that our children have access to the world-class education they deserve. The Senate moved quickly to override the governor’s veto of this important bill.

Unfortunately, it was never brought up for a vote in the House. We are now right back where we began, facing the same problems. In the future, I hope both the Legislature and the executive branch can work together to solve an issue that has plagued our state for far too long. We owe it the children of Missouri to fix what is fast becoming a system that is failing our students.