Lawmakers talk of overriding governor’s package of vetoes

OLYMPIA — Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed 27 bills earlier this month when lawmakers didn’t pass a budget in time to avoid special session.

He didn’t object to any of them but said he wanted to send a message that approving a spending plan carried greater importance.

Lawmakers are now talking about sending a message of their own by overriding most, if not all, of those vetoes — after they pass a supplemental budget.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers say conversations are occurring in the House and Senate about exercising their rarely used power to overturn vetoes. Such a move requires a two-thirds majority of both chambers and appears to have last been done in 1998.

“Once the budget is done, I think every single one of these should be overridden,” said Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens. “The governor made his point. I have talked to a number of senators, Republican and Democrat, and the majority of them would like to do this.”

Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, said he thinks leadership in the two chambers should consider it.

The governor, he said, “made a statement. I am willing to override the vetoes because the way they came about seemed more like a threat.”

On March 10, minutes after lawmakers ended regular session and entered special session, Inslee announced he had signed 10 bills and vetoed 27 others because legislators failed to complete their “number one job”.

“I recognize this is perhaps the largest single batch of vetoes in history,” he said at the time. “None of these vetoed bills were as important as the fundamental responsibility of passing a budget.”

All them enjoyed strong bipartisan support with several passing without a dissenting vote in either chamber.

That bodes well for getting the necessary two-thirds majority if leaders in the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-led Senate agree to proceed.

But it’s not certain they will.

Democrats, in particular, might be deterred by the potential political effect of taking on the Democratic governor in such a public manner. They don’t want to provide any fodder for Inslee’s opponents to use against him in his bid for re-election.

“There’s certainly a diversity of opinions on the matter,” said Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell. “I think the governor did get people’s attention with the vetoes. I think the discussions on overrides are just beginning. We need to get the budget first.”

House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, said it likely will come down to a decision by the House Democratic caucus.

“Most of the (vetoed)bills are noncontroversial. The biggest challenge is whether or not Democrats want to do it to the Democratic governor,” said

Inslee is not putting up any public resistance. On March 10, he told reporters if new versions of the vetoed bills arrived on his desk he would sign them.

“We encourage you to ask legislators about what happens next. It’s up to them,” Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee said in an email. “It’s come up briefly in a couple conversations that the governor has had with them about the budget negotiations, but he’s been clear the legislators focus needs to be finishing the budget.”

As long as they wait until after completing that task, an override shouldn’t be perceived as disrespectful of the governor’s action, said Sen. Marko Liias, D-Lynnwood, sponsor of one of the vetoed bills.

And it might not be necessary to act on all 27 pieces of legislation.

Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, who wrote one of those bills, said it was “a small clean-up bill and it can wait until next year.”

He said he’ll need to be convinced on the merits of reviving any other legislation rather than waiting.

“It depends on the bill. I’m willing to listen to the discussion,” he said. “It is up to the author to explain the merits of the bill and why we should override (the veto).”

Count Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, among those lawmakers wanting to act once a budget deal is inked.

“They all had strong bipartisan support,” she said of them. “If you have that kind of agreement that it’s good public policy then let’s get it done.”

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.