State lawmakers put their regular session on hold for a few days to convene today’s Veto Override effort. Governor John Bel Edwards vetoed congressional maps passed by both the House and the Senate last month. He said they failed to create a second majority-minority congressional voting district. Political analyst & Capitol-watcher Bernie Pinsonat says he’s not sensing much “buzz” among lawmakers about it.
“I may be wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of energy being expended; a lot of discussions that ‘we’re gonna override the governor. This is a cause celebre issue. This is life and death.'”
Last year lawmakers held a failed override session, to overturn Governor’s Edwards vetoes of a transgender athletes ban and a bill to end concealed carry permits. Pinsonat says the prospect of this override session lacks the enthusiasm of last year.
Overriding the governor’s veto will require 70 of 105 votes in the House and 26 of 39 votes in the Senate. Pinsonat says whether they’ll be able to muster those votes is anyone’s guess.
“I just don’t see a lot of intensity coming out of the individual Republicans in the House or Senate; saying that ‘we’re going to override the governor’s veto.'”
The Veto Override session starts today and should end by Sunday. If lawmakers overturn the vetoes, the maps they passed will be submitted to the feds, but will quite likely will need to be decided in court.
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