Batt’s Desk Nearly Clear After 4 Vetoes Measure That Would Privatize State Insurance Fund Remains

Gov. Phil Batt wielded his veto stamp again on Tuesday, rejecting a contingent appropriation for parks, an increase in court transcript fees and creation of two new crimes to fight domestic abuse.

The action, along with his signature on two other relatively minor bills, leaves only one measure sitting on the governor’s desk. It privatizes the State Insurance Fund following last year’s major computer foul-up and will likely not be dealt with until Friday.

Batt has accepted 424 bills and vetoed 10.

In killing legislation earmarking $2.5 million for park projects if tax collections in the current budget year produce at least that much in surplus, the retiring governor said he did not want to limit the financial options his successor and the new Legislature have when they take office after the November election.

Financial concerns were also at the heart of Batt’s veto of an increase in the cost of court transcripts from $2 a page to $3.25. He agreed that court reporters deserve fair compensation and need reasonable rate adjustments. But the governor said counties, which pay for transcripts in most criminal appeals, would be forced to absorb the higher costs without any way to raise the tax revenue to cover them.

The final two bills rejected by the governor would have created new crimes for malicious destruction of telephone equipment and malicious interference with an emergency telephone call.

“We all share the goal of reducing domestic violence,” Batt said. But discussions with judges, police and prosecutors convinced him the bills had limited relevance and offered little in the way of deterring domestic violence.