State House sends strong message to Governor Pedue

The Legislative session started with a show of power by the State House. It decided to make History by overriding 12 of Govenor Perdue's vetos from last year.
They range from tax credits for the construction of concert halls to a higher book allowance for the hope scholarship. House Speaker Pro Temp Mark Burkhalter said it's not about teaching
the governor a lesson.

"There's no message, particularly, these are bills on the issue we feel passionately about," he said. "

Burkhalter said he genuinely looks forward to working with the governor throughout the session. By law veto overrides have to be considered by the state senate. There Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle called the overrides petty politics. He said he's worried about this year's session.

"I'm very concerned that this is a distraction. If we're not careful veto overrides are going to dominate the session," he said. "Healthcare, transportation and water will go on the backburner and we can't afford to do that.

Cagle says the Senate is not expected to take up the veto overrides this week.
Governor Perdue called the action "yet another example of
House leadership insisting on making a statement rather than making the
state better. The Governor issued a statement saying while he respects the constitutional
provision for veto overrides, he is also mindful that there has not been
a groundswell of support for any of these bills from Georgians.