1 bill from Lingle's list escapes veto
The other 27 bills are dead since House leaders do not intend a special session
Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed all but one of the 28 bills on her list for possible vetoes yesterday.
The only bill not rejected by Lingle was House Bill 2595, relating to the ability of prison officials to cancel family visits with prisoners.
House leaders have said they would not return to override any of the vetoes, so the measures rejected by Lingle are dead.
Among the 27 bills vetoed yesterday was House Bill 3116, which would have extended basic health care insurance to uninsured children. Lingle said the bill would cause families to drop better programs for the proposed insurance plan.
House Democrats had requested her to let the bill become law.
Lingle said yesterday that the bill still needed work.
"There is general agreement that children would have less health care coverage, and that was the driving force for us," Lingle said.
A series of bills supported by the labor unions and opposed by local business interests were also vetoed. Last week, union leaders asked the Legislature's Democratic majority to go into special session to overturn Lingle's veto of the labor bills.
The rejected bills would have stopped a state or county employer from transferring a worker to another job, increased unemployment benefits and extended temporary disability payments.
Lingle also vetoed measures that would have:
» Established the Ahu o Laka sandbar in Kaneohe as a state monument, and directed the Department of Land and Natural Resources to adopt rules for its protection and maintenance.
» Banned the commercial sale of opihi because overharvesting has depleted the limpets on Oahu and easily accessible areas on the neighbor islands.
» Banned vaccines in 2008 with any trace of a preservative containing mercury -- which doctors contend pose no safety problems for the public.