Alford: Lawmakers prepping for summertime session – Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

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Conservative lawmakers have taken the guesswork out of the process allowing the House and Senate to trigger an automatic veto session to override the governor’s policy decisions. 

More than likely that veto session would convene July 20 and adjourn July 24 or earlier. 

The session would be a history-making endeavor as the first time lawmakers have used the veto option since the current Louisiana Constitution was ratified in 1974.

Right now it’s a waiting game. Lawmakers still have a couple of weeks to make a final decision and Gov. John Bel Edwards is doing everything he can to soften the blow.

There are two Senate bills in particular that are causing waves—one that would allow concealed carry of a firearm without a permit and another that would ban participation in certain sports by transgender athletes. Edwards has vetoed both bills, which received overwhelming support in the Republican-led Legislature. However, the governor’s veto messages to the Legislature, which explain his decisions and make the vetoes official, have yet to reach lawmakers. 

The House of Representatives is an open book when it comes to the question of a veto session this summer. Speaker Clay Schexnayder was the first Republican to call for an override session after Edwards’ transgender-related veto last week, and House Majority Leader Blake Miguez and Attorney General Jeff Landry weren’t far behind. The membership of the House Conservative Caucus followed suit this week.

The Senate, on the other hand, has been more difficult to read. Several sources say Senate President Page Cortez initially had some concerns about the Legislature triggering a veto session, and he wasn’t alone. As we march into July, though, a handful of GOP senators who originally planned to oppose a veto session have changed their minds, due in no small part to voter engagement from back home. 

Conservative pressure has been turned up on GOP senators, who are being buried by phone calls, emails, texts and direct messages from across the political spectrum. Cortez, for his part, has remained silent on his position until the governor releases his veto messages.

The picture will become clearer as we get into this weekend, when the governor will have to meet his veto deadline by midnight July 3. What Edwards does between now and then on at least one bill—to redirect general fund dollars to infrastructure—could incentivize enthusiasm for a veto session. 

The infrastructure bill is a touchy topic in the Senate, where many on-the-fence members will be ready to jump headfirst into an override session should the legislation be axed.

Lawmakers seem eager to explain to voters that a veto session cannot be called by the legislative leadership. Instead, a veto session is automatically called to meet on the 40th day following the adjournment of the most recent session. The session can only be canceled when a majority of the elected members of either chamber “declare in writing that a veto session is unnecessary.”

Members receive these veto ballots after each session, but lawmakers have never used them to support a veto session. To either hold the veto session or cancel it, 20 votes are needed in the Senate and 53 in the House. Ballots must be returned (or not) by July 15. If lawmakers move forward, the session dates will be July 20 through July 24.

Exactly how lawmakers function inside of a veto session is a question without precedent. But staffers are fully aware of the basics. Overturning a Senate or House bill would start in the originating chamber, and then 26 votes would be needed in the Senate and 70 in the House to override. 

Jeremy Alford publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter, or on Facebook. He can be reached at JJA@LaPolitics.com.