|
3138
VETOES
Stewart, Constitutionality of the Legislative Veto, 13 Harv.
J. of Legis. 593, 594 (1976). The Attorney General of the
United States has consistently expressed the opinion that
such statutes are unconstitutional. See, 41 Opinions of the
Attorney General 300 (1955); 41 Opinions of the Attorney
General 56 (1933) .6 Indeed, mirroring what the Court of
Claims termed "the long—standing objections of all recent
Presidents against what is viewed as an incursion into the
constitutional domain of the Presidency," the Department of
Justice recently conceded the constitutional invalidity of a
legislative veto provision which the Court ultimately found
to be valid. Atkins v. United States, 556 F. 2d 1028, 1058
n. 15 (1977), cert. den. 98 S. Ct. 718 (1978).7
On the state level, according to the latest issue of
State Legislatures,:
"[m]ost state legislatures now conduct some form
of regulation review. The total increased to 34
last year, as nine states ... established formal
review procedures. In ... [three states],
similar bills were vetoed by the governors.
"Five other states ... amended their regulation
review last year, either to clarify existing
procedures or to strengthen the legislature's
role in the process. In ... [two], amendments to
existing review procedures were vetoed by the
governors, while [in one] the ... amendments were
enacted over the governor's veto.
The powers of the legislatures in the review
process generally fall into four categories:
(1) Advisory review power. * * * 8
(2) Repeal [or disapproval] of an
objectionable regulation by the legislature
through passage of a bill or a resolution. * * * 9
9
(3) Committee suspension of a regulation
for a certain period of time, during which the
full legislature must ratify the committee's
suspension in order for the regulation to be
nullified. * * * 10
(4) Permanent suspension of a regulation
by the committee. * * * 11
"Within these four categories, there is a
multitude of approaches to legislative review of
regulations. * * *
|
