Gov. Haley Barbour has vetoed a number of appropriation bills and parts of bills, leaving some doubt as to what the next steps will beor even whether there are next stepsfor completing the state's $6 billion budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which began yesterday.
Among the appropriations Barbour nixed are provisions dealing with overtime pay for state troopers and the shifting of $500,000 from the sale of vanity license plates to pay for special legislative sessions, reports the Sun Herald. The funds from the vanity plates usually fund repairs for the Capitol building, the Governor's Mansion and the War Memorial building.
Barbour also vetoed a bill that would take $7 million from the state's $95 million rainy-day fund and make it available to community mental health centers, saying those funds went beyond the agreed-upon amount to be spent from the fund.
The current special session of the state legislature ended Tuesday when lawmakers sent the final budget bill to the governor. Without another session, lawmakers can't even consider overriding Barbour's vetoes. But, as the story points out, in the governor's six years in office, the Mississippi legislature has failed to override any of his vetoes, which takes the votes of two-thirds of both the House and the Senate.
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