Jindal vetoes 4 bills
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Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed four bills Tuesday, including legislation designed to help the homeless.
The governor also signed more bills into law from the just-ended 2009 legislative session.
One of those signed measures — House Bill 517 — allows health-care workers to opt against participating in abortions, stem-cell research and human embryo cloning on religious grounds.
Several lawmakers reacted angrily to Jindal’s vetoes, accusing the governor of personally targeting them.
“I fear that maybe it’s punitive … the reasons given to me certainly don’t wash,” said state Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, who is often a vocal opponent of Jindal’s proposals.
The governor rejected Jones’ legislation to form a commission to oversee generating hydroelectric power in St. Mary Parish.
Earlier this week, the governor dismissed as ridiculous allegations he is exacting vetoes as political retribution.
State Rep. Walker Hines, D-New Orleans, said Jindal will have to answer to his Catholic faith for nixing assistance for the homeless.
House Bill 781 would have created a homeless prevention and assistance program within the state Department of Social Services.
In his veto message, Jindal expressed concern about the program’s five-year cost.
“I would prefer that the agency address these objectives with existing resources,” the governor wrote.
The Legislative Fiscal Office estimated the program would cost $642,841 over five years through personnel, operating, travel and other expenses.
Hines, the bill’s sponsor, said the veto got his “temperature boiling.”
He said the governor is inflating the program’s cost to the state. He said the federal government would offset some of the expense.
“This is a political retribution — for what, I don’t know. But I think this demonstrates that the governor is willing to make deals,” Hines said.
Jones echoed Hines’ contention that at least some of the vetoes were personal.
The governor wrote that Jones’ House Bill 785 created an excessive grant of authority.
The bill would have launched the St. Mary Hydroelectric Authority to sell the use of the Wax Lake Outlet and the Atchafalaya River for the production of electricity.
“I have serious concerns about the scope of authority given to this new political subdivision,” the governor wrote in his veto letter.
Jones said he modeled the authority after a similar, long-time entity.
He said the governor’s veto does not make sense.
Jindal also nixed:
n House Bill 568, which provided for a transfer of credits between high schools and colleges.
Jindal said HB568 duplicates a Senate bill. The governor has not yet signed the Senate Bill 285 sponsored by state Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa.
n House Bill 516, which would have created four funds focusing on autism spectrum disorder, childhood obesity, educational facilities and technology commercialization.
The governor said he supports state Rep. Patrick Williams’ commitment to addressing autism spectrum disorders and childhood obesity.
The governor said lawmakers added two other funds — the statewide education facilities fund and the technology commercialization fund — that “were contingent on the passage of legislation that failed.”
However, the governor’s veto does not dissolve the funds.
All four funds also are in House Bill 802, which the governor signed into law last month.
Williams, D-Shreveport, said he placed his funds into HB802 because he sensed the governor opposed the education and technology funds.
“Always be prepared,” he said.
In the vetoed legislation, the technology fund was tied to a cigarette tax increase that died during the recent session.
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