Governor Phil Bredesen says he’s not going to sign the state budget until he’s pored over a few key details.
It took weeks of debate for the state legislature to agree on a spending plan. Now, Bredesen says he needs to make sure he agrees with some of the compromises that lawmakers hammered out.
In particular, Bredesen mentioned an East Tennessee facility for the mentally disabled. Bredesen says the Greene Valley center is overstaffed, but the legislature backed down from the making cuts he proposed.
“You know, I think owe the taxpayers more than just spending their money in a place where it’s not really justified.”
The budget is a collection of several broad-ranging bills. It’s unlikely the Governor would veto any of them, but he could choose not to sign one as an act of protest. If he did so, the unsigned bill would still go into effect. Ultimately, Bredesen’s power now lies in the fact that the job of carrying out the spending plan belongs to the executive branch. He could potentially find ways of not spending all of the funds that were appropriated.
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