2002 House Bill 5646 ↩

House Roll Call 1037: Passed

To override the line item veto of $854 million in statutory revenue sharing grants to local governments, $9.9 million in grants to cities with declining population, and $1 million to implement the vertical drivers license program proposed by Senate Bills 924 and 925. The governor vetoed these items to “send a message” that adoption by voters of three ballot initiatives in November would make it more difficult to balance future budgets, because they contain certain spending mandates that would remove budget discretion from the legislature. The three initiatives would: Amend the Constitution to require that fixed amounts from the tobacco lawsuit settlement be spent on specified health care and anti-tobacco programs; mandate binding arbitration for state employees; amend the Constitution to establish an independent commission to set penalties for convicted drug users, with drug treatment programs instead of prison time. Note: The tobacco lawsuit settlement money is now spent on a wide variety of programs, most notably the $2,500 merit college scholarship awards for high school students who do well on the state MEAP test.