Power struggles: Fight between guv, legislators avoided

A balance-of-power fight between Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and legislators will be avoided as Huntsman will veto a bill he says he can't live with, but he promises to consult legislative leaders before signing future interstate agreements.

While GOP lawmakers deny it, SB144 may well have sprung from displeasure last fall when Huntsman signed a Western climate initiative with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — a moderate, environmentally friendly Republican not much loved in Utah's conservative wing of that party.

The bill would have required Huntsman to come to the Legislature for pre-approval of any such interstate agreements costing the state more than $50,000.

But now a veto fight will be avoided. "This bill was not the appropriate vehicle" to deal with the balance-of-power fight, said Lisa Roskelley, Huntsman's spokeswoman. "This bill is burdensome on executive branch powers."

The bill passed both the House and Senate with more than two-thirds vote, even after Huntsman said he would veto it. It takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to override a gubernatorial veto.

Because the bill passed in the middle of the 45-day session, Huntsman had only 10 days to either veto it, sign it or let it become law without his signature.

The governor's action deadline is midnight Friday. And that veto would have given time for both the House and Senate to take a veto override vote before they adjourn at midnight Wednesday — setting up the public fight in the lawmakers' final days.

However, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said there was not a lot of appetite in the House to have a veto override vote against Huntsman on this issue.

Huntsman holds a huge job approval rating among all Utahns, nearing 80 percent according to previous Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV polling. And the governor, all of the House and half of the Senate are up for re-election this year.

So legislators would be in a public policy battle with a very popular governor.

Curtis and other GOP leaders have been working for more than a week on an acceptable compromise with Huntsman, also a Republican.

And all sides said the issue is not personal but political — the governor doesn't want to give up the right to sign such agreements without seeking legislative approval beforehand, while legislative leaders don't like the idea of a governor being able to commit the state to a certain type of action without approval from their branch of government.