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Legislature to attempt veto override Saturday, Apr 15, 2006 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Legislative leaders Friday summoned lawmakers to return to the Capitol next week to attempt to override Gov. Mike Huckabee's veto of funding for more science specialists in Arkansas elementary schools. In a joint proclamation, House Speaker Bill Stovall, D-Quitman, and Sen. President Pro Tem Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, set April 21 for a vote to restore $570,303 that Huckabee used his line-item veto authority to cut Wednesday from Senate Bill 19 of last week's special session. In his veto letter to legislative leaders, the governor said he was troubled that the money would have been taken from a Department of Higher Education account that funds college scholarships. "I hope they will read my letter carefully to realize why the funding section was vetoed and not simply act out of their emotions," Huckabee said Friday. "They will jeopardize scholarships and should have determined a different funding stream like the General Improvement Fund." The House voted 89-0 and the Senate voted 34-0 to adopt the measure. Overriding a gubernatorial veto takes a simple majority vote in both chambers. Stovall, D-Quitman, said he thought there was more than enough support in the House to override the veto after talking to 50 or 60 members. "No one feels like the $570,000 or so in any way jeopardizes anyone's scholarship money," Stovall said. "No one wants to lose the program in October." The appropriation would fund science specialists at 12 campuses around the state, a program previously funded by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant runs out in October. The Legislature recessed a weeklong special session on education April 7 and is scheduled to reconvene May 1 to officially adjourn the session. The line-item veto was the final action Huckabee took in regard to bills enacted in the special session. The governor signed every other bill into law. ----- The Associated Press contributed to this report |
