House votes to diminish Walker's authority

Utah House members voted Friday to take away the governor's power to appoint lawmakers in midterm and her appointments to a criminal justice board.

Those are but two examples of how newly-installed Gov. Olene Walker will tussle with lawmakers over power turf this session.

"I don't take it personally," Walker joked in an afternoon press conference about the House's actions.

But she strongly hinted that the bills that the House approved and other separation of power bills could be on her veto list "if they get passed and to my desk."

HB175 passed 43-29 in the House, short of the 50 votes needed to override a gubernatorial veto, should Walker take exception to losing the power of mid-term legislative appointments.

And it appears she does take exception to it.

"Judges should not be appointing judges, and legislators shouldn't be appointing legislators," she said.

Under current law, when a seat opens through death or resignation, the governor appoints the replacement based on recommendations from the local political parties. HB175, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, gives the final appointment power to the House speaker for representatives and to the Senate president for senators.

Walker, who served a decade in the House and ran for leadership posts, said giving that power to the House speaker and Senate president could lead to selections based on the newly appointed lawmaker's loyalty to leadership come leadership election time.

"The rights of the constituents could be diminished," she said.

Walker added she is not as concerned about HB193, which also passed the House Friday. That would take away her two appointments to the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. It passed by 58 votes, a veto-proof majority.

There are still bills awaiting action that would take away her nominations to the ballot for the State Board of Education and the Constitutional Defense Council, among other actions aimed at curtailing gubernatorial power.

Lawmakers have talked about — even introduced bills — in the past that would take away the governor's midterm appointment power.

But former Gov. Mike Leavitt, who resigned in November to become head of the Environmental Protection Agency, always got the bills waylaid. Now legislators are apparently trying to test Walker's resolve.