Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has set a new veto record. He's rejected more than 35-percent of the bills that reached his desk this year. The previous record was set by Governor Gray Davis at 25-percent. That's according to the state Senate Local Government committee.
This year Schwarzenegger rejected a total of 415 bills and signed 775. Schwarzenegger responded to a number of them with an unprecedented standard veto message. It cited the budget delay - and said he would only sign bills of the highest priority.
Schwarzenegger denies that he's punishing lawmakers about the nearly three month late state budget. He says it was just down to timing.
Schwarzenegger: We have normally thirty days to sign bills and because of the delay in the budget we only had ten this year so that put a tremendous amount of pressure on us. But I can assure every bill got full attention…
The bills he vetoed in the final hours included one that would have created a new process for farm workers to decide whether they would be represented by a union.
Other measures he rejected would have created a day honoring the late gay activist Harvey Milk, and a universal health care system in California.
