May 23, 2000

The Honorable Chester Culver
Secretary of State
State Capitol
L O C A L

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I hereby transmit Senate File 2452, an act relating to public expenditure and regulatory matters, making appropriations, and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions.

Senate File 2452 is the annual standings appropriation bill and provides for many technical changes and corrections in numerous bills passed during this section. The bill provides for a two percent increase in fiscal year 2002 for county mental health/mental retardation/developmental disabilities appropriation. The bill also provides for a new program to pay death benefit claims for volunteer fire fighters, emergency medical care providers, and emergency rescue technicians who are killed in the line of duty.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 19 in its entirety. This section establishes a Microsoft Settlement Fund and requires that the state's portion of any monies paid to the state by Microsoft in settlement of its federal antitrust lawsuit be deposited into this fund and used only as appropriated by the general assembly. In previous years, including the current year, the legislature has authorized the Department, in the Department of Justice appropriation bill, to retain damages, costs and attorney fees awarded to the state in antitrust cases. These monies are held in a non-reverting fund that is to be used exclusively for the enforcement of the Iowa competition law. While the state's antitrust litigation against Microsoft does not include a request for monetary damages, the Department of Justice has incurred significant costs in the case, and the Department will seek to recover these costs and attorneys fees for this time from Microsoft. These costs should be placed in the antitrust fund like all other antitrust cases - not in a separate fund.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 30 in its entirety. This section strikes in Senate File 2452, the opportunity for the Department of General Services to include a recommendation of long-term leases from the study for additional facilities for state agencies. This elimination unnecessarily limits the options available for the Department to include in the study.

I am unable to approve the item designated as Section 78 in its entirety. This section makes a technical amendment to House File 2486 that deals with residency requirements to obtain fishing and hunting licenses. However, House File 2008, which was approved by the Legislature, corrected the deficiency. Therefore, the amendment in Senate File 2452, Section 78 is inaccurate and should be removed.

For the above reasons, I hereby respectfully approve Senate File 2452 with the exceptions noted above.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Vilsack
Governor

TJV:jmc

cc: Secretary of the Senate
   Chief Clerk of the House

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Last update: WED May 24 2000
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