Press "Enter" to skip to content

Daugaard Vetoes Stand, But Legislature Passes New Bill on Veto Day!

The House has failed to override Governor Dennis Daugaard’s vetoes of House Bill 1149, the Democratic tax cut rejected by Republican budget hawks; HB 1156, the offensive bill to allow civilians to carry firearms in the Capitol; and HB 1072, the permitless concealed carry bill pushed hard by the NRA. (NRA national lobbysist Daniel Hall was in the gallery watching; no sightings have been reported yet of Maria Butina.)

Headline of the hour comes from KOTA-TV: “House Fires Blanks; Gov Gun Bill Vetoes Stand.”

Rather than trying to override the Governor’s veto of Senate Bill 164, the juvenile probation bill, the Legislature took the remarkable step of suspending the rules and allowing Senator Novstrup to submit a whole new bill on Veto Day, SB 179, which consists of the first two sections of SB 164, which the Governor found unobjectionable. Both houses were fine with that measure, which extends the maximum period of juvenile probation from four months to six. A veto seems unlikely, but I do find very interesting the question of what would happen if the Legislature passed a new bill on Veto Day that then got vetoed after they leave town. How would the Legislature come back to address that veto?

The Legislature chose not to monkey with the fifth veto, of SB 33, since, as the Governor said, the special education formula increase was taken care of in SB 35.

Thus on this Veto Day, Governor Daugaard remains bulletproof!

p.s.: Not bulletproof are Senator Stace Nelson and Representative Tim Goodwin, who made Veto Day longer than it needed to be by moving suspension of the rules to consider a resolution calling for repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Their respective chambers declined to have that discussion. Nelson and Goodwin are lucky the chambers rejected their motions; a debate on the Affordable Care Act three days after the absolute failure of their party to turn control of Congress and the White House into follow-through on seven years of election promises would only give the Democratic caucus a well-deserved chance to gloat.

pp.s.: Depending on how you count, out of 25 vetoes over seven Sessions, the Legislature has overridden the Governor four times. In other words, when the Governor tells his caucus the big NO, he gets his way 84% of the time.

12 Comments

  1. buckobear 2017-03-27 14:15

    Let’s not us Democrats gloat (about the ACA or any other Republican debacle). Better that we VOTE !!

  2. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-03-27 17:00

    Buckobear, unlike Donald Trump, we Democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time. Let’s gloat and vote. :-D

  3. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2017-03-27 17:05

    Darin: “21 Guns” by Green Day? Harder to dance to than La Roux. But I’m open to your legislative interpretation. ;-)

  4. grudznick 2017-03-27 17:56

    Leave it to Mr. Novstrup, the elder, to be the only one to singlehandedly introduce a new bill on the last day by suspending the rules and getting nearly unanimous backing of his fellows in the legislatures. Nobody else could have been that effective, I suspect. He must have worked hard convincing people over the past few weeks. But I suppose the Governor could veto this one too and then there’s nothing Mr. Novstrup could do.

  5. Darin Larson 2017-03-27 18:15

    Cory, think of the Governor saying these words to Stace, commenting on Stace’s legislative defeat using Green Day’s song, 21 guns:

    “Do you know what’s worth fighting for
    When it’s not worth dying for?
    Does it take your breath away
    And you feel yourself suffocating
    Does the pain weigh out the pride?
    And you look for a place to hide
    Did someone break your heart inside
    You’re in ruins”

    “One, 21 Guns
    Lay down your arms
    Give up the fight
    One, 21 Guns
    Throw up your arms into the sky
    You and I…”

    “When you’re at the end of the road
    And you lost all sense of control
    And your thoughts have taken their toll
    When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul
    Your faith walks on broken glass
    And the hangover doesn’t pass
    Nothing’s ever built to last
    You’re in ruins”

    Cory, I think it is either a slow dance or the song Stace plays while cleaning his weapons. :-)

  6. owen reitzel 2017-03-27 18:56

    “Not bulletproof are Senator Stace Nelson and Representative Tim Goodwin, who made Veto Day longer than it needed to be by moving suspension of the rules to consider a resolution calling for repeal of the Affordable Care Act”

    SMH. not good. You’re better than that Stace

  7. leslie 2017-03-27 19:11

    stace is “jack reacher” the pulp fiction stone killer/shooter/MP tom cruise star hero, right?

  8. grudznick 2017-03-27 19:21

    Mr. Novstrup has probably rightly earned his nickname in the legislatures as “The Trouncer.”
    Mr. Nelson has probably rightly earned his various nicknames too.

  9. Bob Klein 2017-03-27 19:45

    Constitution sets the length of legislative session, as I recall. If not that, then state law. I doubt they get more than one shot at this possum.

  10. grudznick 2017-03-27 19:53

    That is an interesting point, Mr. Klein. If the constitutional law says, as I recall it being changed to just a short few years back, that the legislatures may not meet more than some number of days a year and if they met 2 days less than that limit but yet they closed out entirely today, could they return for 2 more days in April to override the Governor’s veto of Mr. Novstrup’s new law bill?

    Could they enjoin a special session of the legislatures to override the veto, for surely The Trouncer had more than 2/3 supporting his new law bill and it would take 2/3 to meet in a special meeting.

Comments are closed.