Veto override session starts Tuesday; what will be the focus?

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Between the LGBTQ culture war bills, the state budget, and a couple of tax bills, lawmakers will certainly have options on the table but only a short amount of time to make decisions. The veto override session that starts Tuesday will be a hard one to predict.

RELATED: La. lawmakers attempting to override governor’s vetoes

Primarily because many lawmakers are focused on their re-election campaigns while others, who are term-limited, are no longer facing political pressure from voters.

RELATED: Vetoed bills by Gov. Edwards from 2023 Legislative Session

“It’s very close to a coin flip and I’m just slightly leaning toward it not happening but would not be surprised in the least if those vetoes are overridden,” said Peter Robins-Brown in an interview on Monday.

Robins-Brown is with Louisiana Progress, a left-leaning advocacy group at the capitol, and says support and unity among House members is strong but it’s another story over in the Senate. And lawmakers need both chambers to pull anything off or run the risk of spending your money for a failed veto session.

“It’s really going to come down to a few key senators. Democrat Katrina Jackson, and then Republicans like Fred Mills and J. Rogers Pope who didn’t vote to come back for this veto override session,” Robins-Brown added.

Vetoes were also placed on bills other than culture war issues, making where the energy will be channeled most the big question.

“The center focus should be around protecting our children from irreversible procedures and indoctrination in schools. That should be our number one priority and in fact that’s what I’ve received the most phone calls and emails about,” said Rep. Dodie Horton (R) on Monday.

The governor vetoed Horton’s bill which would have prevented the discussion of sexual orientation in classrooms. She also had a few local projects of hers cut through the governor’s line-item vetoes in the money bills. Rep. Horton says she hopes they can overturn as much as they can within the 5-day period.

She also anticipates things to be wrapped up after only 3 days with bipartisan support on the culture war vetoes. But others, like Peter Robins-Brown, are not so sure. Lawmakers will gavel in to get things started around noon on Tuesday.

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