The Executive Veto in Arizona: Its Use and Limitations

Abstract

HE MOST WIDELY discussed weapon in the legislative arsenal of the governor is the executive veto. The veto is actually not a native American practice, but rather is one passed down through the centuries from various contributors in Western civilization. The veto accompanied the transplant of the royal governor to this country, and it became his most resented tool of authority. When the constitutions of the new states were drafted, only Massachusetts and South Carolina conferred the veto power upon the governor. States soon started changing their negative attitude toward their chief executives, however, and by 1815 over half the states had restored the veto power to their governors.' During the nineteenth century the balance of power, originally so weighted in favor of the legislature, began to shift. By the turn of the century virtually all state governors possessed the veto. Today North Carolina is the only state withholding this power from the governor. The executive veto was originally intended as a safeguard against legislative encroachment on the executive. The trend in the twentieth century has been to strengthen this tool and redesign it to achieve positive purposes. The states of Alabama, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia for example, allow the governor not only the veto, but also the power of amendment. These amendments are then resubmitted for legislative concurrence.2 One-quarter of the states provide the governor a pocket veto, whereby a bill fails to become law if the governor does not sign it before a specified time has elapsed after the adjournment of the legislature. The legislative vote necessary to override the governor's veto varies from state to state. Requirements range from a simple majority to a two-thirds vote of the entire membership of each house. Most states follow the national pattern, which calls for a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting in each house. By the time Arizona's constitution was written in 1911, it was taken for granted that the governor should possess the veto. The executive article was patterned after those found in the constitutions of California, Oregon, and Wisconsin, each of which included a veto provision. Also, Arizonans were accustomed to the veto, since the territorial governor had been allowed this power since 1863. Arizona has been classified as a state having a strong executive veto. This classification is based in part on the time-leniency granted the governor to consider