Fate of vetoes in hands of court

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Supreme Court should overturn a ruling that found the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon violated the state Constitution when he returned a veto of a bill to lawmakers too soon, a state attorney argued before the court Thursday.\nThe ruling last month by the Indiana Court of Appeals declared that vetoes issued after a legislative session are invalid unless the governor delivers them to lawmakers on the first day of the next session.\nThe case involving nursing home legislation could wipe out scores of governor's vetoes issued since at least 1981 unless the decision is overturned.\nThe state's high court heard arguments Thursday in the case, which pits nursing homes against the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration in a battle over Medicaid funding.\nThe case centers on a 1969 amendment to the state Constitution that says governors shall return vetoes on the next day the General Assembly is in session after adjournment.\nThe plaintiffs, which include nursing homes and the Indiana Health Care Association, argued the provision spells out the exact day vetoes should be returned to lawmakers. The state, meanwhile, said the language serves as more of a deadline, rather than an exact date.\n"What we have here, it seems to me, is the functional equivalent of punishing someone who turns his homework in too soon," Justice Robert Rucker said.\nThe intent of the amendment was to prevent vetoes from being returned too late for lawmakers to act on them, argued Jon Laramore, an attorney representing the state.\nThe first day of the session serves as a deadline for vetoes to be returned, rather than as a rule for the exact time of their return, he said.\n"Like returning your library book. You can return your library book before the date its due and it remains returned," Laramore said.\nThe attorney for the plaintiffs disagreed. Peter J. Rusthoven argued that while governors have had no consistent practice for returning vetoes, the Constitution spells out that they should be returned on a specific day.\n"I agree that they're setting a deadline in that you can't do it afterward. I do not agree that they're setting a deadline in that they can do it any time they want," Rusthoven said.\nIf upheld, the appellate court ruling would undo at least $330 million in state and federal payment cuts to nursing homes through mid-2004, according to state Medicaid officials.\nGov. Joe Kernan's administration also is afraid that scores of bills similarly vetoed from years ago will become law if the ruling is not overturned. Since at least 1981, Govs. O'Bannon, Evan Bayh and Robert Orr returned after-session vetoes upon signing them.\nKernan was sworn in as governor Sept. 13, just hours after O'Bannon died from a stroke he suffered five days earlier.