Key Vetoes
Tracking
Tracking for key vetoes should be conducted in the same manner as regular state tracking. Each staff member will look for vetoes in the press for his or her assigned states. Because vetoes are not votes, the selection criteria for key vetoes are as follows:
- The veto should be helpful in portraying how the Governor or President stands on a particular issue
- The veto has received media attention (at least 3 articles)
- The subject of the bill is a particularly good issue or has a high degree of relevance to voters in that state; however we may not have selected it as a key vote already because previous votes were unanimous, etc.
- If the veto, or the bill being vetoed, is consistently inquired about on the PVS Hotline, the veto should be considered for selection.
- If an advisor suggests we select a veto, the veto should be considered for selection.
Staff should bring their key vetoes to the selection meetings each week, where they will be discussed and voted upon in the same manner as key votes. After selecting a key veto, the staff member in charge for that state will enter it into the state selection spreadsheet and create the press file.
Entering Vetoes
Vetoes will need to be entered twice: once in the Congress Track section of Admin and a second time in the Veto section of Admin. This will allow the veto to show up both in the Issues and Legislation portion of our website and as an entry on the Governor’s biographical page.
Step 1: Download the bill text and the veto message
The PVS Wiki contains updated links for each state, at which veto messages can be found: http://smokey.votesmart.org:9999/VetoLinks
Each legislative website should also have the enrolled version of the bill text which was sent to the Governor for his or her signature.
Download both files and convert them to .pdf if necessary.
Save them to the appropriate folder for State Bills
Step 2: Entering the Veto in Congress Track
If we have already selected another status for the vetoed bill, simply add a new status under Governor and do the following:
- Select "Failed" as the outcome
- Input the status date
- Select the "Key Vote" box
- Input the appropriate rank number
- Under "View Votes/Actions," select the Governor and change his action to "Veto", "Line-Item Veto", or whatever is appropriate
- Save
- Upload the bill text
- Upload the veto message as a budget document. Give it the name "Governor’s Veto Message" to be consistent with other Key Vetoes
If the veto is the only Key Votes selection, proceed to enter it in the same manner as you would enter any other key vote: begin with the introduced status, compose a title, and add all other previous statuses (House passage, Senate passage, and any concurrence votes or conference report votes, if applicable) before entering the Governor Passage status. Then follow the instructions above to make the Governor’s vote a Key Vote.
Step 3: Entering the Veto in the Veto Section of Admin
Go to "Vetoes" in Admin and select the appropriate state and Governor.
Select "Add New Vetoed Bill for this Candidate" and search for the bill number; if it does not already exist in Admin, select "Add New Bill to this Candidate’s Vetoed Bill List"
Then, enter the bill number, veto date, and title of the bill as shown:
Click "Save/Add to Veto" when finished.
The veto should appear in the Governor’s list of vetoed bills. To upload the bill text and veto message, simply click on the blue links next to the appropriate bill in the list, and upload each file (bill text under "bill info", and veto message under "veto text"):
The veto should now be listed on the Governor’s biographical page.
Writing a Veto Summary (Absolute and Pocket Vetoes)
If the veto is an absolute veto, then you need only write a summary of the bill itself, since the Governor is assumed to have vetoed the entire bill. However, if the veto message is, for some reason, longer than 1 page, you should write a summary of the veto message. To do this, simply follow the steps in the next section, "Writing a Veto Summary (Line-Item and Amendatory Vetoes).If we have already selected another status of the bill, your work will be considerably easier. It is possible to simply copy and paste a previously-written summary, provided that the bill text (enrolled version) is the same. Even if the bill text is different, you should format your summary to be consistent with past summaries for that bill.
If the veto is the only status that we have selected, write a summary of the bill using the same process as summaries for Key Votes (see the PVS Wiki for help).Use the Veto Summary template saved on the shared drive.
The PVS Synopsis will begin with the following phrase:
Veto of a bill that….
Introductory verbs, formatting for highlights and indented highlights, and section citations all apply to a veto summary.
Example: Texas HB 242
Project Vote Smart Synopsis:
Veto of a bill that bans texting while driving, effective September 1, 2011.
Bill Summary:
-Prohibits drivers from using a hand-held device to read, write, or send text-based communication while operating a motor vehicle unless the vehicle is stopped (Sec. 8).
-Defines "text-based communication" as written communication transmitted between wireless devices, including text messages, instant messages, and emails (Sec. 8).
-Exempts drivers who are using hand-held wireless communication devices as follows (Sec. 9):
- To read, select, or enter a telephone number or name for the purpose of making a telephone call;
- In conjunction with voice-operated technology or a hands-free device; or
- To navigate using a global positioning system.
-This act is effective September 1, 2011 (Sec. 11).
Writing a Veto Summary (Line-Item and Amendatory Vetoes)
If the veto is any one of the following, you will need to write a separate summary of the veto message, in addition to a summary of the bill itself:
- Line-item veto
- Amendatory veto
- Reduction veto
- Conditional veto
- Style and Form veto
The veto summary should contain 2-3 sections, depending on the content of the veto message:
- What, specifically, is being vetoed?
- (If applicable) what are the Governor’s recommended changes?
The formatting for the veto summary should match the formatting for the highlights for a key vote, except that each highlight should begin with "The Governor." Examples of appropriate introductions are as follows:
Vetoed of the following provisions…
Recommends that…
A useful heuristic would be: what, & what next?
The use of "alleges" as an introductory work helps make it clear to the reader that the reasons why the bill was vetoed are the opinions of the Governor, not objective fact. Because veto messages are inherently ideological, the language restrictions that govern bill summaries are a bit more flexible. It is OK, for example, to say that a provision in the bill is "unnecessary" if you preface it with the statement "The Governor alleges that…." because it is clear that this is the Governor’s opinion - others may feel that the provision in question is, in fact, necessary.
Example #1: California SB 80
The Governor executed his power of line-item veto over SB 80, which was a General Appropriations bill for 2011-2012. The bill summary is as follows:
Project Vote Smart SynopsisLine-Item Veto of a bill that appropriates fund for state operations for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
For this particular bill, the synopsis is sufficient and no highlights are needed. The text of the veto message itself is as follows:
To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am signing Senate Bill 80 with the following objection:
I am deleting the appropriation in Section 4 of this bill, which provides $1,000 to the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund. Sufficient appropriation authority will be provided in the Budget Bill; therefore this additional appropriation is unnecessary.
Sincerely,
Edmund G. Brown Jr.
First, identify the provision being vetoed:
- Appropriation of $1,000 from the Restitution Fund to the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board.
In a longer veto message, there may be other provisions - but for this particular bill the Governor has only vetoed one provision.
Then, format these items in the same manner that you would a highlight:
- Vetoes an appropriation of $1,000 from the Restitution Fund to the Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board.
Example #2: Illinois HB 5154
The Governor executed his power of amendatory veto over HB 5154, which was passed to amend a previous bill (the Personnel Record Review Act) in order to prohibit performance evaluations of public employees from being subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. The bill summary is as follows:
Project Vote Smart Synopsis
Veto of a bill that amends existing statutes regarding the request of state records.
Highlights:
-Prohibits the disclosure of performance evaluations under the Freedom of Information Act (Sec. 5).
The text of the veto message is too long to reproduce here, but relevant portions of the message read as follows:
…House Bill 5154 exempts all public employees’ performance evaluations from disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This exemption is a departure from groundbreaking legislation that I approved just last year, making our State’s open information laws among the most robust in the entire country…
…My recommendation for change narrows the scope of House Bill 5154 to restrict its applicability to the performance evaluations of local and State law enforcement personnel. If disclosed, these evaluations could be used by criminal suspects or defendants to undermine a police investigation or attack the credibility and integrity of a police officer…
…Therefore…I hereby return House Bill 5154, entitled "AN ACT concerning employment," with the following specific recommendation for change:
On page 1, by replacing lines 9 and 10 with the following:
"provided that disclosure of performance evaluations of any State or local peace officer under the Freedom of Information Act shall be prohibited. For the purpose of this Section, ‘peace officer’ has the same meaning as in Section 2-13 of the Criminal Code of 1961.".
What is the provision being vetoed?
- The exemption of all public employees’ performance evaluations from disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
What does the Governor recommend?
- The Governor recommends that the bill be amended to authorize disclosure of public employees’ performance evaluations, with the exception of performance evaluations for state and local police officers
Thus, the highlights would be written as follows:
- Vetoes a provision in the bill that prohibits public employees’ performance evaluations from being subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
- Recommends that the bill be amended to authorize disclosure of public employees’ performance evaluations, with the exception of performance evaluations for state and local police officers.
