2284

VETOES

with approved agencies or organizations to provide extended
sheltered employment to any disabled individual who meets
the conditions of the bill. Additionally, the bill mandates
the Division to provide $250 per year "to the sheltered
workshop for each disabled person" in its employ.

I veto this bill reluctantly as I am in agreement with
the intentions which underly it, i.e., to assist in the
provision of services to individuals employed or eligible
for employment in sheltered workshops. I believe that the
sheltered workshops within this State offer a vitally
necessary service to handicapped individuals. I also
understand that it is becoming increasingly difficult to
financially sustain the segment of the workshop population
for whom the rehabilitation process is a lengthy one.

However, there is no funding in the FY 1980 budget for
this purpose and federal regulations preclude the Division
of Vocational Rehabilitation from expanding any federal
funds in the manner required by the bill. Therefore, if
approved. House Bill 578 would mandate the State to expend,
as of FY 1981, 100% State funds on a program without the
benefit of the multiplying effect of any matching federal
dollars.

I am exceedingly reluctant to approve mandatory funding
provisions, even for admittedly worthwhile programs; unless
satisfied that there is no reasonable alternative; the
fiscal precedent which such provisions establish are
potentially ruinous. In this instance, I am not satisfied
that there is no reasonable alternative. Therefore, instead
of approving a mandatory funding measure which would be
implemented prior to FY 1981, I am instructing my Office of
the Coordination of Services for the Handicapped, with the
full cooperation of all appropriate executive branch
agencies, to investigate the availability of alternative
sources of federal assistance to the workshops and recommend
an appropriate level and usage of State funds for my
consideration for inclusion in the FY 1981 budget.

For these reasons, I have decided to veto House Bill
578.

Sincerely,
Harry Hughes
Governor

House Bill No. 581