84R10206 TJB-D

By: Metcalf H.J.R. No. 103

A JOINT RESOLUTION

proposing a constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to reduce the amount of an item of appropriation in an appropriations bill.

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, the Governor [he] may object to one or more of those [such] items, or reduce the amount of one or more of those items, and approve the other portion of the bill. In such case the Governor [he] shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which the Governor [he] objects, and a statement of the items of appropriation that the Governor has reduced that specifies the amount of each reduction. No [and no] item so objected to shall take effect, and the amount of an item of appropriation reduced by the Governor shall be in accordance with the Governor's reduction. If the Legislature be in session, the Governor [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 item of 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 item of 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, the Governor [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 item of 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 3, 2015. The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the proposition: "The constitutional amendment granting the governor, in addition to the existing power to veto an appropriation by line-item veto, the power to reduce the amount of an appropriation made by the legislature."