Veto sustained on confined animal operations

Jim Whorton, State Rep. Dist. 3

The Missouri General Assembly is charged with responsibility to schedule a “veto session” each year to reconsider any bills that were vetoed by the Governor following the Legislature’s General Session. In Article III, section 32 of the Constitution, it states, “the General Assembly shall reconvene on the first Wednesday following the second Monday in September for a period not to exceed ten days for the sole purpose of considering bills returned by the Governor.” Section 32 further explains each bill will be first considered in the chamber where it originated and that each body must pass the question with two-thirds of the elected members voting in the affirmative.

There were twelve bills vetoed by the Governor as a result of the last General Session, one of which was vetoed early enough to be reconsidered during that session. Two of the remaining eleven were originally passed with a wide enough margin that it appeared two-thirds of the members might vote to “override” vetoes.

One of the potential bills was HB 1177 regarding confined animal feeding operations. Informal discussions within the minority caucus of the House of Representatives indicated there were not enough members planning to further support the bill, thereby sustaining the Governor’s veto. As a result, the majority caucus interest in the override was not enough to warrant further consideration by the entire body.

There were no resolutions offered by members of the House on any of the vetoed bills that originated in our chamber.

The Missouri Senate did consider SB 1081 concerning potential problems between homebuilders and homeowners regarding construction defects. The attempt to override failed in the Senate, when only twenty-one votes were in the affirmative rather than the required twenty-three. Consequently, SB 1081 was not considered in the House of Representatives.

This veto session was fairly brief, partly because most of us as legislators have constant thoughts of issues in our home districts in these busy times.

Please feel free to contact me at your convenience if you want to discuss these or other matters