Veto

Gov. Jerry Brown's decision over the weekend to sign two bills -- AB 1447 and AB 1534 -- regulating Buy Here Pay Here used-car dealers is being hailed by consumer advocates as a huge and trailblazing victory over a controversial industry that some call predatory. So why are the dealers celebrating? Starting Jan. 1, Buy Here Pay Here lots, which provide their own in-house financing on cars rather than using third-party lenders, will be required to offer 30-day warranties on every vehicle they sell, place signs on autos indicating the fair-market value, increase disclosures about onboard tracking devices, and give customers more flexibility in making payments.

President Obama threatened on Tuesday to veto a major cyber security bill unless Congress amends it to include more protections for privacy and civil liberties. The veto threat comes just a day before a possible vote in Congress on t he  Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act  of 2013, or  CISPA . The bill aims to make it easier for companies to share information about cyber attacks with other companies and the government.  PHOTOS: The top smartphones of 2013    While large tech companies have been pushing for the legislation amid escalating attacks on computer networks, privacy activists have been campaigning against it, contending it absolves companies of too much legal liability while failing to offer safeguards that protect personal information.  After the bill passed the House Intelligence Committee last week, the Obama administration signaled that it had concerns about the bill , but stopped short of issuing an outright veto threat.

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has pledged to veto the so-called DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants if they attend college or serve in the military. Romney made the comments during a late campaign stop New Year's Eve in northwestern Iowa. “The answer is yes,” he said, when asked if he would veto the legislation if Congress passes it and he is in the White House. Romney said, however, that he would support granting children of illegal immigrants some form of residency in exchange for military service.

For the second time in a year, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has rejected the person picked to run the pension system for police officers and firefighters, antagonizing representatives of public safety employees who rely on the agency's $15.8-billion investment portfolio. In a tersely worded letter, Villaraigosa informed the nine-member Fire and Police Pensions board last week that he had vetoed their decision to hire William Raggio, who is favored by representatives of the city's sworn employees.

House Speaker John Boehner's proposal to raise the federal debt ceiling took fire from on all sides Tuesday, with the White House raising the prospect of a veto while presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann condemned it. The attacks came as Boehner, along with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, struggled to round up votes in support of the proposal in advance of a hoped-for vote later in the week. At midday, it appeared the bill still didn't have enough GOP votes to pass the House.

In response to your editorial "Vetoing a Sham" (Feb. 19) with quotes from columnist James J. Kilpatrick against a presidential line-item veto: I agree that presidential power has grown excessively toward making an "Imperial Presidency" and the line-item veto, if not offset, would increase it abominably. However, the omnibus budget measures the Congress sends to the President make him pass some revolting items. A line-item veto has some merit. It isn't that a President actually vetoes enough measures to make a great difference; his greater power is in the threat of vetoing measures.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, taking aim at what remained of a deficit-cutting package drafted by Democrats, said Tuesday he planned to veto $1.1 billion in projected savings realized largely through cuts to public transit. Democratic lawmakers had approved the measure as part of a package they said would have addressed $4 billion of California's estimated $20-billion deficit. Combined with Schwarzenegger's veto last week of a larger component of the plan, the announcement puts Capitol politicians back at square one on the deficit.

Reporting from Sacramento and Los Angeles -- Gov. Jerry Brown issued a historic veto of the budget approved by Democratic lawmakers hours after they passed it, opening wide a rift within his own party and throwing the state's financial future into limbo. The Democrats had pushed through the spending plan Wednesday, relying heavily on crafty accounting to patch over the state's deficit, after the governor's talks with Republicans on a tax package faltered. On Thursday morning, Brown called the budget "unbalanced.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday credited Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) for making "the right decision" with her veto of the so-called "birther bill," which would have required presidential candidates to submit their birth certificates in order to qualify for the ballot. On Monday Brewer vetoed House Bill 2177, which would have required parties nominating candidates for president to submit documents that "prove that the candidate is a natural born citizen. " In her veto message , she called the bill "a bridge too far. " "This measure creates significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for the state of Arizona," Brewer, a former secretary of state there, wrote.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie followed through on his word Friday, vetoing a gay marriage bill passed by the state's legislature a day earlier.  “I am adhering to what I've said since this bill was first introduced - an issue of this magnitude and importance, which requires a constitutional amendment, should be left to the people of New Jersey to decide," Christie said in a statement. Christie is urging the legislature to put the measure on the ballot in the form of a referendum.

Bad news for the "Breaking Bad" bill. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has vetoed a film tax incentive that would increase the state's film credit to 30% for TV series shooting at least six episodes in New Mexico. "I support the film industry as an important contributor to New Mexico's economy," Martinez said in a statement. "But like many New Mexicans, I previously questioned the logic of an unlimited subsidy to a single industry at the expense of other worthy and competing investments the state must make, including classroom spending and healthcare for the most needy.

Michael Govan came to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art seven years ago with a mission to make it one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, one worth mentioning alongside New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art. Now he's trying to seize an opportunity to gain ground on them in a single stroke. Govan and LACMA's trustees have proposed a takeover of L.A.'s financially adrift Museum of Contemporary Art and its crown jewels: a 6,000-piece collection that's one of the world's most admired troves of post-World War II art. But Govan has an imposing rival in billionaire Eli Broad, L.A.'s eminence grise of art philanthropy.

Arkansas legislators approved the nation's most restrictive abortion law on Wednesday after overriding a veto by the state's Democratic governor, who said the legislation was "blatantly unconstitutional. " Senate Bill 134, known as the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act , bans abortions involving fetuses 12 weeks or older that have heartbeats, excluding medical emergencies, and mandates an ultrasound for expecting mothers before they attempt an abortion. The state's House of Representatives followed the Senate in voting to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto.

Democracy as conventionally understood relies on decision by simple majority. Whichever side has more votes wins. Supermajority requirements stand this principle on its head. Whenever the side with the greater number of votes fails to reach the designated threshold, the side with the least votes prevails. The inevitable outcome is minority veto power. Though minorities cannot govern, supermajority requirements enable them to prevent majorities from governing as well. That is the primary structural source of our political gridlock at the federal and state levels.

WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was in the nation's capital Thursday to lobby for billions in federal aid for his and other states affected by Superstorm Sandy, amid uncertainty over the fate of a supplemental appropriations bill that will be considered during the "fiscal cliff" debate over spending and taxes. Christie met with senior Obama administration officials, and briefly with the president himself, before heading to Capitol Hill for a scheduled appearance with Garden State lawmakers who are pushing for relief beyond the $50 billion that the White House was expected to request.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Stressing the importance of bipartisan collaboration, Mitt Romney boasted Wednesday about his work with a Democrat-dominated legislature while he was governor of Massachusetts. “And it's something I have to do - I've got to be able to reach across the aisle and get good Democrats and good Republicans to work together,” Romney told more than 4,000 people gathered at Veterans Memorial Arena.  “I happen to be elected in a state that has a few Democrats - Massachusetts.  My legislature was about 85% Democrat and it was not lost on me that to get anything done at all, and even to have my veto upheld, I had to have people across the aisle I could work with.” But the GOP nominee consistently struggled to have his veto upheld during his tenure.

By a 401-26 vote, the House overrode President Reagan's veto of a bill authorizing $20 billion through 1994 for federal clean-water programs, including $18 billion to help communities build sewage-treatment facilities. The Senate followed suit and the measure (HR 1) became law. Arlan Stangeland (R-Minn.) who voted to override the veto, said, "I believe President Reagan has listened to the wrong advice on clean water." Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.

Wilson's veto of AB 101, after he earlier promised support, is merely the latest example of a man who lacks both character and integrity. His flimsy and transparent excuse that it might hurt small businesses says in effect that he condones discrimination by these small businesses. He easily discards the human beings who will and are harmed by his spinelessness. MITCHELL SULLIVAN Laguna Beach

How close was Pau Gasol to playing for the Houston Rockets? Members of his inner circle bought airline tickets from LAX to IAH, resigned to Gasol's stunning fate amid an alphabet soup of airport codes. Gasol, though, never booked one. He hoped for a miracle reversal of the trade involving Chris Paul to the Lakers, and it came a day later when NBA Commissioner David Stern vetoed the deal. It didn't help Gasol's mind-set that the same team that delivered a three-year, $57-million contract extension on the way to winning consecutive championships wanted to drop him for the dynamic New Orleans point guard in a three-team trade.

This year's legislative battle over immigration seemed to come to a draw when Gov. Jerry Brown signed one key bill but vetoed another. Immigration rights advocates, however, said Monday that the political give-and-take was largely an illusion. They lost. The bill that Brown signed, which lets some young immigrants have driver's licenses, allows nothing beyond what is permitted under a new federal program granting a two-year reprieve from deportation. But the bill that Brown vetoed - the Trust Act - was among the most closely watched pieces of immigration legislation in the country.