Line-item budget veto is in dispute
Gov. Greg Abbott has hit a significant obstacle to his use of an important power of his office, the line-item veto of budget appropriations.
Coming on the heels of Abbott’s first legislative session as governor, it’s a significant problem for state government that must be resolved before it becomes a crisis.
The obstacle is none other than the Legislative Budget Board, a powerful state agency headed by the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House and including four senators and four state representatives.
The board’s staff gathers information from agency heads across state government, submits a preliminary budget to the Legislature at each regular session and works with Senate and House committees to compile a final budget.
The state constitution gives the governor power to strike individual appropriations. The problem now is a dispute with the LBB over exactly what that means.
The LBB’s director, agency staff veteran Ursula Parks, sent a letter Tuesday to Comptroller Glenn Hegar saying the vetoes Abbott issued in June “go beyond what is authorized in the Texas Constitution” and “would be a significant expansion of the power of the [g]overnor …”
Abbott vetoed several legislatively approved budget riders containing legislative instructions on how money appropriated elsewhere in the budget was to be spent.
The vetoes included several projects at state colleges and universities, as well as Facilities Commission construction of a $132 million office building in San Antonio, a $26 million parking garage and the $8 million purchase of a headquarters building for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
A memo from Abbott’s staff says the amounts look and act like appropriations, so they are appropriations subject to veto. The LBB says the appropriations are separate; these are “provisions of legislative intent and direction.”
It won’t be easy to resolve this outside of a courtroom. Think how unseemly that would be.
Responsible state leaders must find a resolution.
This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Line-item budget veto is in dispute."