Gibbons rejects collective bargaining bill

Gov. Jim Gibbons on Thursday added two more vetoes to the list, raising his total for this legislative session to 43.

Unlike most of the other measures he vetoed, neither of the two deal with the state budget.

But in his veto messages, Gibbons made it clear he believes they would cause a serious fiscal impact to state and local government.

AB395 would have, for the first time, provided state employees with collective bargaining rights.

Despite the fact the bill would allow collective bargaining only on "non-economic issues," Gibbons said in the letter the measure "would dramatically increase  the cost of state government."

"I find it unfathomable and unconscionable that the Legislature would pass a bill that would result in further increases in state spending and would require even further tax increases to fund that spending," he wrote. "I hope that, by the time this veto message is read to the Legislature, some modicum of common sense has returned to the process and we can all focus on satisfying the needs rather than the wants of state government."

Gibbons also vetoed SB376, which would have applied prevailing wage requirements to county public works projects.

"This will would effectively increase the costs of all county public works projects," he wrote. "Senate Bill 376 continues the distressing practice of the 75th Legislative session of increasing government spending while ignoring the economic recession gripping our state and nation."

Those two measures will be presented to the 2011 Legislature, which will vote on whether to override any vetoes occurring after lawmakers adjourned Monday. Once the Legislature is out of session, Gibbons has 10 days following passage of laws to decide whether to veto them.

Lawmakers have already overturned Gibbons vetoes on 25 of the 43, including all of the measures that make up the state budget.

Any measures he doesn't sign become law if he doesn't veto them. That is the opposite of the federal system where anything the president fails to sign is automatically vetoed.