Lawmakers question veto-changed budget

Phil Brinkman writes in today's Wisconsin State Journal ,

... there it is, in black and white: "The secretary of administration shall transfer from the balances of the general fund an amount equal to $330,000,000 during the 2005-06 fiscal year and the 2006-07 fiscal year to any appropriation under section 20 of the statutes," which specifies how state money is spent.

The sentence appeared nowhere in the 394-page budget the Legislature sent to the governor earlier this month. ...

Using the selective veto power unique in the nation to Wisconsin's governor, the governor sifted through more than 1,000 words and figures spanning two pages of the budget to string together that neat little nugget, aimed at significantly boosting state aid to schools.

If this partial veto is not overridden, some legislators have raised the possibility of challenging it in court. The relevant provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution are not specified, but appear to be,

Article VII, Section 2. "No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation by law. ..."

Article V, Section 10(1) (b) "... Appropriation bills may be approved in whole or in part by the governor, and the part approved shall become law."

The possible argument looks to be that the Governor cannot use the partial veto power to, in effect, create an appropriation.

Update: David Callender summarized Republican objections in The Capital Times today.

They say that's because the Democratic governor used his veto pen to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars out of the state's Transportation Fund - which is funded through the gas tax - and into state aids to local school districts.

In doing so, Doyle rewrote the budget bill to give Secretary of Administration Mark Marotta - and not the Legislature - the authority to disperse that money.