Governor Gary Herbert vetoed six bills and several line-items on the final day of the bill signing period, which was Wednesday, March 30, 2016.
The House will conduct the traditional veto override process as directed by the Utah Constitution. A poll will be sent to the 75 House members, which asks for a “for” or “against” vote to hold a veto override session. The Senate will poll their members as well. If two-thirds of each chamber votes to reconvene for an override session the Legislature may be called back to the Capitol on or before May 9, as per Article VII, Section 8 of the Utah Constitution.
Speaker Greg Hughes statement on the override process:
“While we feel that each bill and budget item has been thoroughly vetted by the Legislature, we respect the checks and balances of the constitutional system we have in place. We will now work through our process of polling representatives to see how the House would like to proceed and expect to have those results by Monday, April 18th.”
House Majority Whip Francis Gibson’s response to the Governor’s action:
“I am disappointed by the Governor’s action to veto line items that provide funding for successful education programs and for not discussing them with us, or the stakeholders involved, prior to taking action. Approximately 55,000 students are benefitting from the K-3 Early Intervention Reading Program and without this additional funding 22,000 of them will not be able to participate next year. The IT Academy and ProStart programs provide students the ability to be trained and workforce ready upon graduation. We remain committed to these programs and working closely with members of our state board of education to ensure they have the tools necessary to enhance education for Utah’s school children.”
Vetoed line-items in S.B. 2 Public Education Budget Amendments provided funding for: UPSTART a program designed to give pre-kindergarten students individualized reading, mathematics and science curriculum with a focus on reading. Elementary Reading Assessment Tools a statewide assessment that works in conjunction with DIBELS an early literacy assessment; K-3 Early Intervention a successful reading program that addresses early reading through interactive software; ProStart a culinary arts program that provides training and certification for high school students; and IT Academy that provides high school students opportunities to obtain basic to advanced certifications in software and network administration that can lead to good jobs straight out of high school.
