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78R3551 JRD-D

By:  Isett                                                      H.J.R. No. 52 



A JOINT RESOLUTION

proposing a constitutional amendment expanding the governor's 
line-item veto authority to include the power to reduce the amount 
of an appropriation.
	BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                       
	SECTION 1.  Section 14, Article IV, Texas Constitution, is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 14.  (a) Every bill which shall have passed both houses 
of the Legislature shall be presented to the Governor for his 
approval.  If he approve he shall sign it;  but if he disapprove it, 
he shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it 
originated, which House shall enter the objections at large upon 
its journal, and proceed to reconsider it.  If after such 
reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present agree to pass 
the bill, it shall be sent, with the objections, to the other House, 
by which likewise it shall be reconsidered;  and, if approved by 
two-thirds of the members of that House, it shall become a law; but 
in such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas 
and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the 
bill shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively.  If 
any bill shall not be returned by the Governor with his objections 
within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been 
presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he 
had signed it, unless the Legislature, by its adjournment, prevent 
its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless he shall file the 
same, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of State 
and give notice thereof by public proclamation within twenty days 
after such adjournment.
	(b)  If any bill presented to the Governor contains several 
items of appropriation he may object to one or more of such items, 
or reduce the amount of one or more items of appropriation, and 
approve the other portion of the bill.  In such case he shall append 
to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to 
which he objects, and a statement of the items of appropriation that 
he has reduced that specifies the amount of the reductions.  No [and 
no] item so objected to shall take effect, and the amount of an 
appropriation reduced by the Governor shall be in accordance with 
the Governor's reduction.  If the Legislature be in session, he 
shall transmit to the House in which the bill originated a copy of 
such statement and the items objected to or reduced shall be 
separately considered.  If, on reconsideration, one or more of such 
items objected to be approved by two-thirds of the members present 
of each House, the same shall be part of the law, notwithstanding 
the objections of the Governor.  If, on reconsideration, the amount 
of an appropriation reduced by the Governor is increased by 
two-thirds of the members present of each House, to a specific 
amount that does not exceed the amount of the original 
appropriation, the amount of the appropriation as increased by the 
Legislature on reconsideration shall be part of the law, 
notwithstanding the reduction made by the Governor.
	(c)  If any such bill, containing several items of 
appropriation, not having been presented to the Governor ten days 
(Sundays excepted) prior to adjournment, be in the hands of the 
Governor at the time of adjournment, he shall have twenty days from 
such adjournment within which to file objections to or reduce any 
items thereof and make proclamation of the same. Such[, and such] 
item or items to which the Governor objects shall not take effect, 
and the amount of an appropriation reduced by the Governor shall be 
in accordance with the Governor's reduction.
	SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be 
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 4, 2003.  
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the 
proposition: "The constitutional amendment expanding the 
governor's line-item veto authority to include the power to reduce 
the amount of an appropriation."