House Votes to Override Crist Vetoes

Hours after being named House speaker, Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Haven, led the House during a special session on Tuesday in overriding bills that had been vetoed earlier in the year by outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist.

With Republicans controlling 81 of the 120 House votes, Cannon had enough votes in his caucus to override gubernatorial vetoes provided the Republicans stuck together. However Republicans insisted the special session, held hours after the House organized for the next two years, was not a trial run for how they would govern.

Some have said this is a way to flex our legislative muscles, said Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, who insisted that this was not the case, arguing that the House was doing its duties as part of the legislative branch.

House Republicans did not attempt to tackle Crists veto of SB 6, a measure reforming teacher performance pay, which was easily the most dramatic struggle of the 2010 regular session. Nor did they tackle Crists veto of a measure that passed the Legislature requiring women considering having an abortion to have an ultrasound.

Instead, Republicans focused on measures that easily sailed though the House.

Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-LaBelle, moved that the House override Crist vetoing $9.7 million appropriated to Shands Teaching Hospital. Grimsleys measure passed unanimously.

This is not just about Shands Teaching Hospital, said House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami. Lopez-Cantera argued that the veto impacted other hospitals from Jacksonville to Miami. He also offered one of the few direct shots at Crist in the special session: I dont understand why the governor vetoed this line item when he had it in his budget the last four years.

While Democrats voted against the budget in the general session, House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West called for his caucus to vote to override the veto.