Senate Joint Resolution 101

2016 Freedom Index Score: (+1)

Analyst: Lindsay Russell Dexter
Date of analysis: February 3, 2016

ANALYST'S NOTE: SJR 101 proposes an amendment to Idaho State Constitution, Section 10,
Article IV, to provide that upon veto of a bill following adjournment of the Legislature, the
governor, at the request of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro
Tempore of the Senate, shall call the Legislature back into session to reconsider the vetoed bill.
Currently, the Idaho State Constitution only allows the governor to reconvene the Legislature in
special session. Thirty-five states grant their legislatures the authority to reconvene for special
session.
Point No. 11 Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. Constitution or the Idaho
Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private
property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the U.S.
Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

ANALYSIS: The governor must sign or veto legislation within seven days after transmittal
(excluding Sunday), or the legislation becomes law without his/her signature. If legislation is
transmitted to the governor less than seven days before adjournment, then he/she must act
within ten days after the date of adjournment (excluding Sunday), or it becomes law without
being signed. If the governor vetoes legislation during the ten days allotted after adjournment,
only the executive branch is given the power to reconvene the legislature to address the bill(s).
SJR 101 would grant the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore
of the Senate the power to reconvene for special session providing a more balanced vetoing
power. (+1)