Pa. Supreme Court Rules Gov. Rendell Misused Line-Item Veto On Family Planning Funding In 2005

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 22 Aug 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Gov. Ed Rendell (D) misused his line-item veto authority in 2005 to remove abortion counseling language from a budget bill, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The unanimous decision, which overturned a lower court ruling, said that "language-only" vetoes are not permitted, meaning Rendell is not allowed to strike language in a budget bill without canceling the associated funding in the measure (Scolforo, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/20).

The language, which was approved in 2005 by the state Legislature, would have subjected any federal family planning funding to the same restrictions as state family planning funds -- a requirement under a 1996 state law that says such money "shall not be used to promote, perform or refer for abortions, or engage in abortion counseling." Rendell at the time said restricting the use of federal Medicaid funds likely violates the state constitution and federal law (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/14/06).

Former state House Speaker John Perzel (R) and Robert Jubelirer, the state Senate's ranking Republican at the time, filed the separation-of-powers lawsuit. Senate Republican lawyer Steve MacNett said that the fiscal year 2005-2006 money is presumably all spent but that the ruling will influence future budget negotiations. Rendell spokesperson Chuck Ardo said that the case is "complex," adding that the administration wanted to review the ruling before making additional comments. According to the opinion by Chief Justice Ronald Castille, the Rendell administration told the court that preventing line-item vetoes of language will cause the General Assembly to "once again 'load up' large appropriations with objectionable conditions and put the governor (to) a Hobbesian choice" (AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/20).

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