From Eye on Boise:
Idaho Constitution, Article IV, Section 10: Veto deadlines
Here’s the section of the Idaho Constitution at issue:
“Any bill which shall not be returned by the governor to the legislature within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, shall become a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the legislature shall, by adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall be filed, with his objections, in the office of the secretary of state within ten days after such adjournment (Sundays excepted) or become a law.”
Here’s my full story from today’s Spokesman-Review:
By Betsy Z. Russell
BOISE – When Idaho’s legislative and executive branches face off in court on June 15, much will be at stake.
First, there’s the fate of the state’s unpopular 6 percent sales tax on groceries. If the group of 30 lawmakers who sued wins the case, the tax would go away, following a two-year phaseout. That would cost state coffers an estimated $79 million a year.
And then there’s the role of the courts as well as the balance of powers between Idaho’s legislative and executive branches – something that’s been debated since the state was formed and that’s recently been tipping toward the legislative side. The lawsuit is a direct attack on a 1978 Idaho Supreme Court ruling that’s stood unchallenged for nearly 40 years, charging that the state’s highest court overstepped its bounds and tried to “amend the Idaho Constitution by judicial fiat.”