GOVERNOR'S VETO EXPLANATION

Pursuant to Article V, § 6 of the Constitution of Virginia, I am vetoing this bill.

I proposed five amendments to this bill for consideration at the Reconvened Session on April 2, 1997. The House of Delegates adopted all five amendments; however, the Senate adopted only two. Unfortunately, the Senate's failure to adopt my amendments removing the three-biennia budgeting language forces me to disapprove this bill, for the same reasons that were set forth in support of my amendments in my letter to the House of Delegates on March 24, 2997.

I will reiterate, however, that I fully support institutionalizing a process to produce a consensus forecast of offender populations in our prisons, jails and juvenile facilities. I am pleased that both the House of Delegates and Senate adopted my amendment to include the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees, or their designees, in such a process. It is my intention that the Secretary of Public Safety will continue to work with the relevant entities and individuals to develop a consensus forecasting process similar to that which would have been codified in the portions of House Bill 2122 which I supported.