Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's record number of vetoes this year is expected to set up a very busy and hard-fought veto session this September.
According to the Associated Press, the Democratic Governor struck down 29 of the 145 non-budgetary bills sent to him by the Republican-dominated House and Senate. Dave Robertson is a political science professor at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.
"They're going to have to hold together, because even though they have a 2/3rds majority, not everybody in the Republican caucus is going to agree with all of the bills the majority would like to see passed," Robertson said. "They may have to scramble to get enough votes."
This year's list of vetoed bills include the controversial income tax cut measure (HB253) and the bill forbidding enforcement of federal gun control laws in Missouri (HB 436).
"Opposing gun control laws is pretty popular in this state, so I'd expect that has a better chance (of being reversed) than the effort to override the tax bill veto," Robertson said.
In addition, Robertson says the high number of vetoes this year can be blamed on both the Republicans daring the Governor to veto conservative-issue bills, as well as Nixon seeking to strengthen his Democratic credentials for his next political run.
Missouri's 2013 veto session is scheduled for September 11th. Robertson says it's very likely that it will take longer than one day to handle this year's override attempts.
Follow Marshall Griffin on Twitter: @MarshallGReport
