Democrat-led Legislature will sue the Democratic governor

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

OLYMPIA — The Washington Legislature announced Thursday plans to sue Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, saying he overstepped his authority with a series of one-sentence vetoes in this year’s transportation budget.

Lawmakers said the governor violated the constitutional ban against vetoing less than a full section of legislation. The Democratic-led Legislature plans to file the lawsuit on Friday in Thurston County Superior Court.

“By vetoing individual sentences, we believe the governor has exceeded the constitutional power afforded to the executive branch,” Senate Democratic Majority Leader Andy Billig said in a written statement. “The checks and balances woven throughout our constitution are essential to a healthy democracy. This lawsuit is one of those checks.”

Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, who as chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee helped draft the budget bill, said the Legislature had to undertake this legal challenge.

“It’s executive overreach and we cannot allow it to happen. Absolutely not,” he said Thursday. “I don’t see how they can’t see it like that.”

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In May, Inslee vetoed one sentence at the end of seven provisions of the budget relating to grant funding for transit services that said fuel type could not be a factor in the grant selection process.

In his veto message, Inslee wrote that the requirement was “contrary to, and in direct conflict with” statutory mandates that direct the state Department of Transportation to consider energy efficiency issues, as well as federal and state air quality requirements in selecting programs and projects.

“While my veto authority is generally limited to subsections or appropriation items in an appropriation bill, in this very rare and unusual circumstance I have no choice but to veto a single sentence in several subsections to prevent a constitutional violation and to prevent a forced violation of state law,” Inslee wrote in his May veto message.

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[TheRealNorth]

1. I never liked line-item vetoes

Seemed to given the executive too much power and create the opportunity for mischief to create laws that were not in the spirit of the legislation.

I know conservatives were all about line item vetoes in the 80's.