Nixon announces vetoes at news conference

Governor Nixon called several bills the result of fiscal irresponsibility.

At a public hearing Wednesday, Nixon formally announced that he has vetoed a number of them.

Ten bills were vetoed Wednesday, all which offered special breaks and exemptions adding up to what the Governor calls the loss of $776 million dollars just after the 2015 budget passed.

Those include Senate and House bills that would have offered tax breaks for everything from fast food restaurants, dry cleaners, laundromats, data storage and processing, farmer’s markets, and fitness centers.

The Governor gave many examples on why these would contradict the new budget, for instance, a Senate bill that would reduce highway funding by $30 million annually. That comes just after lawmakers put a $6 billion dollar transportation tax increase on the August ballot.

Governor Nixon said he’s just doing his duty.

“My vetoes today are the first step, towards restoring fiscal sanity to a budget process that has gone off the rails, that being said I have the responsibility to maintain fiscal discipline regardless of whether my vetoes are sustained,” said Nixon.

This, of course, has caused some Senate and House members to speak out Wednesday.

House speaker Tim Jones said he was not surprised the Governor has “once again stood in the way of providing tax relief to Missouri families and businesses.”

When the veto session begins in September, there’s still a chance that the House and Senate could override the Governor’s decisions.