Missouri lawmakers override budget vetoes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Republicans and Democrats joined together Wednesday to override Gov. Jay Nixon's vetoes of millions of dollars of spending on initiatives for abused children, public schools and dozens of other government services.

Whether the money actually gets spent remains to be seen.

Nixon, a Democrat, said he vetoed the spending because the state couldn't afford the new or expanded programs, even though he acknowledged that many were worthwhile. Despite the veto overrides, Nixon still could use his gubernatorial powers to freeze the approved spending if he believes it is necessary to balance the budget.

Nixon originally vetoed $276 million of spending from the budget that took effect July 1. Lawmakers were targeting $63 million of spending through override votes on 55 separate budget items.

By Wednesday evening, the House had voted to override all 55. Votes were still ongoing in the Senate, which had so far overridden every measure it had taken up. Most votes easily surpassed the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber.

The veto overrides would set a single-year record for the number of times that a Missouri governor has been overruled by lawmakers.

House Speaker Tim Jones accused Nixon of making "the most egregious possible vetoes" on budget items by going after programs for "kids, seniors and poor people" in retaliation against lawmakers who overrode his veto of an income tax cut earlier this year.

"You're seeing here today a super, super, super majority of Democrats and Republicans putting back those dollars," said Jones, R-Eureka.

Nixon has said the income tax cut could eventually drain state revenues, harming funding for public schools and social services. He also vetoed a series of sales tax breaks for particular businesses and industries that lawmakers had passed in May. Lawmakers were considering whether to override some of those tax-break vetoes Wednesday.

Some Democrats criticized the Republican-led Legislature's financial management even while supporting the veto overrides on the budget items.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, accused Republicans of forcing Nixon to freeze spending by passing an "ill-conceived and sloppily drafted bunch of ramshackle tax decreases."

Democratic Sen. Joe Keaveny, of St. Louis, who often was the lone "no" vote in his chamber against the veto overrides, said Nixon had to make difficult budget decisions, and "I don't think now is the time for me to second-guess him."

Some of the first vetoed items overridden Wednesday would provide $1.5 million for forensic exams of abused children and $4.1 million for a computer program that helps develop emergency plans at public schools.

Lawmakers also overrode Nixon's veto of $160,000 to equip water patrol boats with defibrillators. They said two children who were fatally electrocuted in 2012 while swimming at the Lake of the Ozarks might have been saved had the responding officer been carrying one of the devices.

Other items provide money for prisoners to undergo substance-abuse treatment and find housing after they are released; finance programs for people with autism, Alzheimer's disease and brain injuries; and speed up laboratory work on weekends and holidays for newborn blood screenings that detect dozens of health conditions.

It took legislators several hours to vote line-by-line on the veto overrides. They did so even though Attorney General Chris Koster's office had raised doubts about whether the state constitution allows legislators to consider line-item vetoes during their September session.

Republican legislative leaders said they were merely following the precedent of the past several decades in the way they were handling the budget vetoes.

But Democratic Rep. Jeff Roorda, of Barnhart, objected: "We are exceeding our authority here. We are trampling on the constitution."

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Associated Press writer Summer Ballentine contributed to this report.

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