Forty-Seventh Legislature v. Napolitano

OPINION

McGREGOR, Chief Justice.

¶ 1 This case requires us to decide whether the gubernatorial veto of a portion of a bill related to state employee compensation exceeded the Governor’s item veto power under Article 5, Section 7 of the Arizona Constitution. We conclude that the vetoed provision is not an item of appropriation subject to the gubernatorial item veto.

I

¶ 2 On January 25 and 26, 2006, the Forty-seventh Legislature (the Legislature) passed House Bill 2661 (HB 2661) as an emergency measure. 1 Section 1 of HB 2661 expressed the Legislature’s intent to grant state employees a pay raise,…