Lt. Gov. Kinder right about Nixon’s veto overrides

The Missouri General Assembly entered its yearly veto session on Sept. 16. In it, the Republican-led body voted to override 12 bills vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a GOP candidate for governor, said the amount of bills overridden in the Sept. 16 veto session represented a historic achievement for Nixon.

“After today, @GovJayNixon will have been overridden more times than all previous governors in #MO history #moleg,” Kinder said in a tweet.

We wondered if Kinder was right. Is Nixon Missouri’s most overridden governor of all time?

We reached out to Kinder’s director of communications, Jay Eastlick, who sent us a list of Missouri governors and the number of times they were overridden. He gathered the information from Anne Rottmann, an administrator at the the Senate Legislative Library.

Before the Constitution of 1875, Eastlick said, a simple majority was enough to override a veto. Veto sessions became annual events in 1989. During a veto session, the General Assembly may override any veto issued after the regular session if two-thirds of the members in each chamber agree. The list includes nine governors.

It turns out Kinder is right. Not only is Nixon the most overridden governor in Missouri history, more of his vetoes have been overridden than those of all previous governors combined. (The chart below lists Missouri governors and the number of overrides of vetoed legislation. The chart does not include overrides of line item appropriations.)

Nixon vetoes have been overridden 34 times in the past six years: one each in 2011 and 2012; nine in 2013; 11 in 2014; and 12 this year. Between 2012 and 2013, there was a significant spike in vetoes.

Legislative makeup under Nixon

Of the 34 total overrides, 23 occurred after 2013. That’s almost 68 percent of all overrides. Missouri’s political climate and the makeup of the General Assembly, especially the House of Representatives, has undergone a noteworthy change during Nixon’s current term.

Here’s a look at how the balance of power has changed:

By

Allison Graves

Staff writer

October 28, 2015