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§ 14. Approval of bills; vetoes. (a) Within ten days after passage, every bill shall be signed by the presiding officers and presented to the governor. If the governor approves a bill, he shall sign it. If the governor does not approve a bill, the governor shall veto it by returning the bill, with a veto message of the objections, to the house of origin of the bill. Whenever a veto message is so received, the message shall be entered in the journal and in not more than thirty calendar days (excluding the day received), the house of origin shall reconsider the bill. If two-thirds of the members then elected (or appointed) and qualified shall vote to pass the bill, it shall be sent, with the veto message, to the other house, which shall in not more than thirty calendar days (excluding the day received) also reconsider the bill, and if approved by two-thirds of the members then elected (or appointed) and qualified, it shall become a law, notwithstanding the governor's veto.

If any bill shall not be returned within ten calendar days (excluding the day presented) after it shall have been presented to the governor, it shall become a law in like manner as if it had been signed by the governor.

(b) If any bill presented to the governor contains several items of appropriation of money, one or more of such items may be disapproved by the governor while the other portion of the bill is approved by the governor. In case the governor does so disapprove, a veto message of the governor stating the item or items disapproved, and the reasons therefor, shall be appended to the bill at the time it is signed, and the bill shall be returned with the veto message to the house of origin of the bill. Whenever a veto message is so received, the message shall be entered in the journal and, in not more than thirty calendar days, the house of origin shall reconsider the items of the bill which have been disapproved. If two-thirds of the members then elected (or appointed) and qualified shall vote to approve any item disapproved by the governor, the bill, with the veto message, shall be sent to the other house, which shall in not more than thirty calendar days also reconsider each such item so approved by the house of origin, and if approved by two-thirds of all the members then elected (or appointed) and qualified, any such item shall take effect and become a part of the bill.

History: Adopted by convention, July 29, 1859; ratified by electors, October 4, 1859; L. 1861, p. 52; L. 1903, ch. 545, § 1; L. 1974, ch. 458, § 1; November 5, 1974.

Cross References to Related Sections:

Approval of bills by governor, see 45-303.

Veto by governor, see 45-304.

Bills becoming law without approval of governor, see 45-305.

Vetoes of items of appropriation, see 45-307.

Law Review and Bar Journal References:

Cited in discussing 1963-64 legislative apportionment decisions, W. Robert Alderson, 4 W.L.J. 100, 107 (1964).

The New Mandamus-State ex rel. Stephan v. Kansas House of Representatives, Henry E. Couchman, Jr., 33 K.L.R. 733, 742 (1985).

The TeleKansas Debate: Incentive Regulation or Deregulation? Brian Moline and William R. Drexel, 4 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y, No. 2, 41, 42 (1995).

Attorney General's Opinions:

Approval or veto of bill by governor; finance and taxation; uniform and equal rate of assessment. 81-32.

Appropriation acts; line item veto. 81-82.

Legislature; laws enacted only by bills; all bills passed presented to the governor. 84-8.

Legislature; ability to sit on executive boards. 88-34.

Water transfers; decisions of panel; constitutionality of legislative review. 91-12.

Discrepancy in language of bill passed by Legislature and signed by governor; constitutionality. 94-60.

City-county consolidation; procedure; veto or rejection by concurrent resolution of Legislature. 97-18.

Governor's line item veto was of "item of appropriation of money" and constitutional. 2002-47.

Absent specific limitations on appropriations, legislative committee may not require executive and judicial agencies to obtain committee's approval prior to spending appropriated funds on certain technological projects. 2006-3.

Governor's line-item veto of proviso detailing use of specific item of appropriation without vetoing such appropriation exceeded the governor's authority under Article 2, Section 14(b). Veto of the proviso alone constituted an unlawful rewriting of legislation by turning an appropriation with specific limitations into a general appropriation. 2025-2.

CASE ANNOTATIONS

1. Cited; procedure in passing bills discussed at length. Division of Howard Co., 15 Kan. 194, 209.

2. Signature of presiding officer of senate not essential to validity. Comm'rs of Leavenworth Co. v. Higginbotham, 17 Kan. 62, 75.

3. Bill not affected by message of governor sent to house after signing and depositing bill with secretary of state. The State v. Whisner, 35 Kan. 271, 280, 10 P. 852.

4. Signature of presiding officers not essential to validity of act. Aikman v. Edwards, 55 Kan. 751, 765, 42 P. 366.

5. Section presumed complied with unless journals affirmatively, clearly and conclusively show contrary. Belleville v. Wells, 74 Kan. 823, 824, 88 P. 47.

6. Section presumed complied with unless journals affirmatively, clearly and conclusively show contrary. Railway Co. v. Simons, 75 Kan. 130, 132, 140, 141, 88 P. 551.

7. Time for action by governor construed; day of presentation excluded; if governor at request of Legislature returns bill before acting thereon, governor has full period of time on second presentation. The State v. Sessions, 84 Kan. 856, 858, 862, 115 P. 641.

8. Enrolled bill imports verity but was affirmatively impeached by legislative records showing governor did not approve bill until 49 days after adjournment, held invalid. The State, ex rel., v. City of Salina, 108 Kan. 271, 273, 194 P. 931.

9. Act providing for disorganization of certain school districts; section presumed complied with unless journals affirmatively, clearly and conclusively show contrary. School District v. Board of Education, 110 Kan. 613, 614, 204 P. 758.

10. Procedure necessary to validity of bill discussed; action by governor must be taken while Legislature is in session. State, ex rel., v. Ryan, 123 Kan. 767, 769, 256 P. 811; overruled in part, see State, ex rel., v. Shanahan, 220 Kan. 589, 591, 596, 552 P.2d 964.

11. Reasons for veto of certain items must be stated or veto fails. State, ex rel., v. French, 133 Kan. 579, 580, 300 P. 1082.

12. Bills and joint resolutions must be signed by the governor. Coleman v. Miller, 146 Kan. 390, 396, 71 P.2d 518. Affirmed: 307 U.S. 433, 59 S. Ct. 972, 83 L.Ed. 1385.

13. Legislature passed amended bill; governor signed bill without amendment; held that a bill was not submitted to governor and invalid. State, ex rel., v. Robb, 163 Kan. 502, 516, 183 P.2d 223.

14. Cited; several expressly blended executive and legislative powers in constitution. (Dissenting opinion.) State, ex rel., v. Fadely, 180 Kan. 652, 675, 308 P.2d 537.

15. Legislative records show that a portion of the bill was omitted in enrolling; held that bill signed by governor was not the same bill which passed the Legislature. Harris v. Shanahan, 192 Kan. 183, 184, 193, 198, 199, 200, 213, 387 P.2d 771.

16. Bill was properly enacted but contained an obvious conflict by placing one precinct in two different legislative districts; conflict may be resolved by court through its power of statutory construction. Harris v. Shanahan, 192 Kan. 629, 634, 390 P.2d 772.

17. Bill timely presented to governor and signed within 10 days after presentment became law, even though Legislature had adjourned. State, ex rel., v. Shanahan, 220 Kan. 589, 590, 591, 595, 552 P.2d 964.

18. Legislature has no authority to include in appropriation bill section unrelated and not germane to appropriation. State ex rel. Stephan v. Carlin, 229 Kan. 665, 666, 630 P.2d 709 (1981).

19. Line item veto of only appropriation authorized; inclusion of nonappropriation provision in appropriation bill held unconstitutional. State ex rel. Stephan v. Carlin, 230 Kan. 252, 253, 255, 256, 631 P.2d 668 (1981).

20. Petition by attorney general for writ of quo warranto to prevent utilization of K.S.A. 79-331 and challenging constitutionality thereof denied; not violative hereof. State ex rel. Stephan v. Martin, 230 Kan. 747, 751, 758, 641 P.2d 1011 (1982).

21. Legislature may revoke authority delegated to executive branch only by proper enactment of another law in accordance herewith. State ex rel. Stephan v. Kansas House of Representatives, 236 Kan. 45, 60, 64, 687 P.2d 622 (1984).

22. Subsection of bill mistakenly included in enrolled version of bill not severable. Kenyon v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 254 Kan. 287, 864 P.2d 1161 (1993).