Veto branding demonstration at Capitol

"About 96 people think they know better than the 990,000 people in Montana," says Governor Schweitzer.

Governor Schweitzer had the veto brands hot. Covering the gamet of issues important to Montanans, Schweitzer vetoed bills having to do with air and water, jobs and healthcare.

"When I swore to uphold the constitution, I meant it. There's some in this building who say, we don't care about the constitution and we don't care about the will of the people."

Republican Senator Jason Priest, who had three bills vetoed Wednesday, says he wasn’t impressed with the theatrics.

"Consistently throughout this session we see the Governor making light of the bills that are coming across his desk instead of taking these proposals seriously," says Priest. Priest brought a prop of his own. "That's why we got this brand today. We think Montanans are getting a bum steer and that's the BS on this brand."

But Senate Democrat Cliff Larsen says the demonstration gave Schweitzer a platform to tell people about bills that could really hurt.

"The Governor used the opportunity to really make a statement about a lot of the bad bills that came through because there are a group of extremists in the Republican party that have pushed some of the agendas," says Larson.

Both parties will try to leave their brand on this 2011 legislature.

 

The Governor decided to veto the following bills today:

SB 114 – Hinkle – Federal law enforcement officers should communicate with sheriff

HB 318 – Warburton – Ensure county oversight in movement of publicly-owned wild buffalo or bison

SB 109 – Barrett – Revise definition of eligible renewable resources

HB 272 – Flynn – Eliminate ability for FWP to use hunting access fees to acquire fee title lands

SB 159 – Priest – Revise energy efficiency and code adoption requirements in building codes

HB 180 – Edmunds – Revise close of voter registration

SB 306 – Murphy – Revise mining laws regarding cyanide health and vat leach open-pit mining

HB 456 – Smith – Define scope/ boundaries of human sexuality/reproduct ed in K-12 public schools

HB 464 – Blasdel – Provide medical liability protection for hard-to-recruit subspecialists

SB 111 – Sonju – Limit noneconomic damages in motor vehicle accidents

SB 228 – Priest – Prohibit creation of health insurance exchange under PPACA

SB 324 – Balyeat – Revise consumer protection laws and settlement proceeds

SB 370 – Priest – Require cost-benefit analysis of mandated health insurance coverage of service

SB 254 – Hutton – Provide state eminent domain authority for federal lands

HB 161 – Milburn – Repeal medical marijuana law

SB 183 – Brown – Revise interim zoning laws

HB 542 – Esp – Revise subdivision and platting act

Governor Schweitzer has already vetoed 3 bills this session (House Bills 64, 531 and Senate Bills 176) and has issued 10 amendatory vetoes (House Bills 219, 327, 307, 559, 90, 333 and Senate Bills 106, 125, 294, 351).

Story by Ryan Whalen, Beartooth NBC
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