5th UPDATE

Governor Handed First Veto Override In 34 Years

5th Update at 4:11 p.m. adds quotes from Perdue, Cagle and Jerry Keen.
4th Update at 2:26 p.m. adds Perdue commen, other details.
3rd Update at 2:07 p.m. Senate overrides veto.
2nd Updatd at 1:02 p..m. with House reaction.
1st Update at 12:55 p.m.

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(1/28/08) Gov. Sonny Perdue on Monday was handed the first veto override in Georgia in 34 years - and, apparently, the first ever of a general bill - as the Senate voted 47-7 to join the House in saving HB 529 from his efforts last spring to kill it. The bill instantly became law.

The measure essentially codifies legislative rules which create a separate Senate Budget Office. The governor vetoed it last spring in the aftermath of a session that turned hugely contentious in its closing days, citing technical reasons.

There was virtually no debate in the upper chamber as Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson urged an override that he said was done "with great respect."

And commenting on it a few minutes later, Perdue, too, seemed to be handling the development well.

He said he understand "the anxiety" the Senate felt over getting their independent budget office firmly placed in state law, and said he felt it was handled "the right way ... I think this is a very respectful way of handling it ... This was a technical issue. It was not a huge policy issue ... The Senate Budget Office, it was very important to them and I’m fine with that from a policy perspective.”

Two weeks ago, the House overrode 12 vetoes, expecting the Senate to take them up immediately and decide whether to follow suit. Instead, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle shipped the overrides to the Senate Rules Committee for a cooling-off period.

That committee met at 12:30 this afternoon and voted out just the one override, sending it immediately to the floor. (Both houses were convening at 1 p.m.)

Rules Chairman Don Balfour didn't rule out the possibility that others might be sent to the floor. "We wanted to act on this one now. We thought this was a priority. This is something of importance to the House and Senate ... The other 11 bills are still there for consideration another day."

The House seemed completely under-whelmed. "Yee-haw," said one House member, sarcastically, and that seemed to be something of a universal reaction. On the other hand, supporters of the governor's chortled that the House overrides had given the Senate a chance to accomplish something it had been seeking for years.

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle issued this statement after the override:

“After thoughtful and appropriate consideration by the Senate Rules Committee, the full Senate has voted to override one of Governor Perdue’s vetoes. While we respect the office of the Governor, the Senate agreed it was important that the language in this bill reflect the role the Senate Budget Office plays in providing valuable assistance to the Senate throughout the budget process. We now need to focus on the numerous issues the people of Georgia expect us to address, such as transportation, health care and education.”

But House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said the issue shouldn’t rest there.

“While that (override) is important and we certainly applaud them on their action, there are a couple of more bills - if not more than that - in the 11 remaining that I know are of interest to the people of Georgia,” he said.

Keen mentioned legislation designed to allow charter school teachers to participate in the state employees health plan, along with legislation designed to ease the triggers which automatically eliminate HOPE payments for books and fees.

The last overrides were in 1974 of two local bills vetoed by then-Gov. Jimmy Carter, but legislative researchers said there apparently has never been a veto override of a general bill.