Governor Gordon takes action on final 11 bills of the legislative session

Statement

Governor Mark Gordon took action on the final 11 bills remaining on his desk. The Governor signed two bills, vetoed four bills and allowed five bills to go into law without his signature. Included in the vetoes were SF 0138 Investment of state funds-2, which outlines the process for evaluating the land in the Occidental Land Purchase. In his veto letter on the bill, the Governor noted that the Legislature's failure to pass SF 0119- State-funded capital construction eliminated the funding mechanism that would be utilized to proceed with due diligence. The Governor and other members of the State Board of Land Commissioners will continue to explore the purchase of lands and assets from Occidental Petroleum, and would have to bring any proposal back to the full legislature for a vote.

The Governor signed the following bills into law:

HB0137 HEA0054 Worker's compensation-legislators.

HB0243 HEA0097 Oil and gas tax-new production.

The Governor vetoed the following bills, each of which are accompanied by a letter published on the Governor's website:

HB0119 HEA0046 Medicaid billing for school-based services.

SF0097 SEA0052 Born alive infant-means of care.

SF0140 SEA0068 Banking division-classification and salary exemptions.

SF0138 SEA0069 Investment of state funds-2.

For SEA 52 Governor Gordon, who is pro-life, made this statement: "Laws already in place protect children from being denied life-saving care simply because they were born as a result of an abortion. This bill will not do anything to improve on those laws which already exist. Instead, this bill will harm people it never intended to harm - parents who want a child, but have received the devastating news that their pregnancy is not viable. The State should not seek to make that moment for parents any more tragic than it already is. For this reason, I am vetoing this bill."

The following bills went into law without the Governor's signature:

HB0174 HEA0059 Kindergarten start date.

HB0162 HEA0083 State trust lands-proposals and study.

HB0040 HEA0096 School finance - model recalibration.

SF0117 SEA0056 First responder workplace mental injury coverage.

SF0134 SEA0061 Special event liquor licenses.

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