What do you think of the governor’s vetoes?

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, August 6, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. “Before any bill or resolution shall become law, the Governor shall have the right to review … veto, approve, or take no action.” That’s what the State Constitution says. So, the governor can choose to sign a bill, which he does when he wants to show special support for it, or he can let it become law without his signature, which happens most of the time.

On the other hand, the governor has 40 days after the end of the session to veto bills he does not want to become law. This year, by the end of that 40-day period, which was June 8th, the governor had vetoed 23 bills, but I’ll mention only one today.

Perhaps the most prominent bill he vetoed is S.B. 291 that allowed individuals to carry licensed firearms into parts of airports that are not regulated by the federal government. It, also, repealed the governor’s emergency power to confiscate guns during a declared emergency. I’m sorry that part of the bill was vetoed, but my problem with S.B. 291 was the politically correct change in the wording on gun-carry licenses.

That change has been consistently popping up in legislation for the past few years. It removes the term “sex,” which indicates the biological identification of males and females, and inserts the word “gender,” that includes sexual behavior as a basis for identity. So, if S.B. 291 had passed, gun-carry applicants could, certainly, identify themselves as male or female, but they, also, could identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender on gun-carry licenses. That’s a dramatic change in the law and an unacceptable fundamental change in society.

Legislative Counsel consists of a dozen attorneys employed by the State to write bills our legislators introduce, but those attorneys are not authorized to change the law themselves. Since Georgia law established the State attorney general as advisor to legislative counsel, ask the candidates for attorney general whether they would investigate who authorized legislative counsel to make automatic politically correct changes in Georgia law. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.