Opinion ID: 4299313
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Credit Hour Veto

Text: [¶29] Senate Bill 2003, § 39, provides: SECTION 39. LEGISLATIVE INTENT - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY - LEASE ARRANGEMENT AND OTHER SAVINGS. It is the intent of the sixty-fifth legislative assembly that future general fund appropriations in support of the North Dakota state university department of nursing program in Bismarck be adjusted for savings resulting from facility lease negotiations and for credit-hours completed at the school . S.B. 2003, § 39, 65th Legis. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (N.D. 2017) (emphasis added). Governor Burgum vetoed the language “and for credit-hours completed at the school.” 2017 N.D. Sess. Laws ch. 449. [¶30] The Legislative Assembly argues that the Credit Hour Veto was unconstitutional because the Governor replaced its intent with his own intent. The title of Section 39 states: “SECTION 39. LEGISLATIVE INTENT . . . .” Further, Section 39’s opening words are, “It is the intent of the sixty-fifth legislative assembly that . . . .” This section contains a single sentence, the entirety of which is a statement of the Legislative Assembly’s intent. The Governor altered the stated intent by vetoing the phrase “and for credit hours completed at the school.” We have not previously decided whether the item veto power is limited to items making appropriations and any accompanying conditions. Senate Bill 2003 is an appropriation bill. Section 39 is not a condition on an appropriation. We assume without deciding that the Governor may veto “items in an appropriation bill,” N.D. Const. art. V, § 9 (emphasis added), that are not themselves items of appropriation. Olson , 286 N.W.2d at 271 (acknowledging governors have vetoed provisions “other than merely money items of appropriation when substantive provisions were commingled with line items of appropriation in one bill”). The item veto power does not authorize the Governor to veto any part of a statement of legislative intent. The Legislative Assembly has the prerogative to state its intent in legislation without the Governor altering that statement by selectively removing portions. Therefore, the Credit Hour Veto is ineffective and the bill became law with Section 39 unmodified by the attempted veto.