Senate Concurrent Resolution 102

PAG LIN

  1  1          SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. ___
  1  2  BY  GRONSTAL, KIBBIE, McCOY, COURTNEY, RAGAN, HATCH,
  1  3       DOTZLER, SENG, BOLKCOM, WARNSTADT, KREIMAN,
  1  4  QUIRMBACH, BEALL, STEWART, DVORSKY, CONNOLLY, FRAISE,
  1  5            HORN, DEARDEN, BLACK, and HOLVECK
  1  6 A Concurrent Resolution requiring the House Speaker
  1  7    and Senate Majority Leader to cease the litigation
  1  8    against the Governor regarding certain item vetoes of
  1  9    legislation.
  1 10    WHEREAS, the Iowa Legislative Council, on June 30,
  1 11 2003, authorized the retention and compensation of an
  1 12 attorney to provide legal and litigation services to
  1 13 the Legislative Council to challenge the Governor's
  1 14 exercise of the item veto authority with respect to
  1 15 legislation passed by the Iowa General Assembly during
  1 16 the 2003 Regular and Extraordinary Sessions; and
  1 17    WHEREAS, Representative Christopher C. Rants and
  1 18 Senator Stewart E. Iverson, Jr., individually, and as
  1 19 members of the House of Representatives and Senate,
  1 20 respectively, and as Speaker of the House of
  1 21 Representatives and Majority Leader of the Senate,
  1 22 respectively, of the Eightieth General Assembly of the
  1 23 State of Iowa, and as Chairperson and Vice Chairperson
  1 24 of the Iowa Legislative Council, respectively, filed a
  1 25 declaratory judgment action on July 30, 2003, seeking
  1 26 a judgment that Governor Thomas J. Vilsack's item
  1 27 vetoes of certain provisions in House File 692 were
  1 28 unconstitutional; and
  1 29    WHEREAS, Plaintiffs Rants and Iverson and Defendant
  1 30 Vilsack filed cross=motions for summary judgment which
  2  1 were heard on October 31, 2003; and
  2  2    WHEREAS, the Honorable Don C. Nickerson, Judge of
  2  3 the Fifth District Court in Polk County, Iowa, on
  2  4 December 1, 2003, entered an order denying the
  2  5 plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, and granting
  2  6 the defendant's motion for summary judgment; and
  2  7    WHEREAS, the plaintiffs filed an appeal of Judge
  2  8 Nickerson's order on December 8, 2003, with the Iowa
  2  9 Supreme Court; and
  2 10    WHEREAS, this appeal is not well=advised and could
  2 11 detrimentally affect the relationship of the Executive
  2 12 Branch and the Legislative Branch with respect to the
  2 13 Governor's exercise of the item veto authority
  2 14 contained in Article III, section 16, of the
  2 15 Constitution of the State of Iowa; NOW THEREFORE,
  2 16    BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, THE HOUSE OF
  2 17 REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING, That House Speaker Rants
  2 18 and Senate Majority Leader Iverson shall provide
  2 19 direction to the attorney retained to pursue this item
  2 20 veto litigation to immediately cease further legal and
  2 21 litigation activities and on behalf of the plaintiffs
  2 22 to withdraw the appeal of Judge Nickerson's order to
  2 23 the Iowa Supreme Court; and
  2 24    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That Speaker Rants and
  2 25 Majority Leader Iverson shall provide direction to
  2 26 those persons executing the Iowa Legislative Council's
  2 27 authorization to compensate the retained attorney to
  2 28 immediately cease compensating the retained attorney
  2 29 for any legal or litigation services, other than the
  2 30 withdrawal of the appeal, performed after the passage
  3  1 of this resolution.
  3  2 LSB 5871SS 80
  3  3 rj/gg/14