Governor Mike Leavitt finished his review of the legislation produced during the 2003 session of the Utah Legislature by vetoing four bills last week.

Leavitt vetoed two House bills, two Senate bills and an unnecessary budget appropriation in House Bill 3, as well as noting an appropriations flaw in Senate Bill 66.

"Legislative bodies are an arena for a collision of political ideas," Leavitt said. "That's part of what happens in a political system like ours."

The bills Leavitt vetoed addressed a variety of topics, from Internet privacy to the appointment of judges.

House Bill 105, which would have tightened Internet privacy laws for public and private Web sites, failed to receive a signature because it would hamper plans for expanding online government, Leavitt said.

In a letter to Senate President Al Mansell, R-Salt Lake, and House Speaker Martin Stephens, R-Salt Lake, Leavitt stated that more research needed to be done before restricting online government.

"I share the sponsor's desire to protect the security and privacy of these transactions," he stated. "I believe these restrictions are somewhat impractical."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, said Leavitt's desire to put government services online is good, but people need to know the government is collecting information about them.

The state Internet Technology Services Office, the chief information officer for the state and public and private advisors reviewed the bill when it was being drafted, he said, and each group endorsed it.

"If the governor's appointees agreed with it and said it was good, I don't know where the governor had a basis for saying it was too expensive to enforce," he said.

Harper said he would definitely propose similar legislation in future sessions.

Leavitt said he vetoed House Bill 168 because he felt the bill weakened the separation of powers by giving legislators authority to fill vacancies in the legislature instead of the governor.

"Sitting legislative leaders should not be able perpetuate their own leadership base by appointing new legislators," Leavitt stated.

The original purpose of this bill was not take power from the governor, but to protect the minority party's rights if one of its candidates could not complete a full term, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake.

The bill needed refinement because existing statutes are unconstitutional, he said, but an amendment by Rep. Brent Parker, R-Wellsville, presented a whole new set of issues.

"As soon as the amendment was attached to the bill, I talked to the Governor," Becker said. "If they had told me they were going to veto it, I would have taken that provision out in the Senate."

Becker said he will definitely sponsor a similar bill in the future to accomplish his original goal of cleaning up the statute.

The governor also vetoed Senate Bill 165, sponsored by Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

Hillyard's bill identified what information the Senate wanted the governor to provide about judicial nominees and required the governor to supply the names and contact information of those individuals he spoke with when researching candidates' qualifications.

Hillyard said in the past, the Governor has only provided a short resume, and legislators have not paid a lot of attention to candidates' qualifications.

But after the recent problems in the judiciary system, he said, legislators are anxious to begin examining candidates more thoroughly.

"We only have a 60-day period to evaluate candidates and most of us are part time," Hillyard said. "If we can't have information, we can't know if they're qualified."

The Governor stated in his letter that he feared people would be less likely to provide accurate information if he could not offer confidentiality.

The last bill Leavitt vetoed was Senate Bill 251, at the request of the bill's sponsor, Sen. Beverly Ann Evans, R-Altamont.

Originally, the bill would have prohibited shooting a gun toward an occupied vehicle or dwelling.

During the course of debate, the bill was amended to require prosecutors to prove that the offender fired "knowingly and intentionally."

Leavitt and Evans agreed that the amendment put too great a burden on prosecutors.

H.B. 3, an appropriations act, allocated funds for a bill that had not passed, so Leavitt vetoed that specific appropriation from the bill.

Leavitt signed S.B. 66, dealing with alcoholic beverage enforcement and treatment, with the stipulation that appropriations flaws in the bill would be corrected during a special session of the Legislature.

* 392 bills passed (includes 34 house or senate resolutions that require no action by the governor)

* 352 bills and concurrent resolutions signed without a letter

* One signed with an informational letter

* Four vetoed (plus one line-item veto)

* None allowed to go into law without signature
Copyright Brigham Young University 31 Mar 2003