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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Gov. Jon Huntsman is threatening to veto two measures that he says would upset the balance of power between his office and lawmakers.
Huntsman is also insisting that lawmakers send him a bill to remove the sales tax on food.
"I know what I want at the end of the day, and I know what will satisfy me," said Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News.
Huntsman said he will veto House Bill 352 and Senate Bill 70 should they pass the Legislature. Rarely does a Utah governor promise a veto before a bill is passed. And Huntsman made no such threats during the 2005 Legislature, his first in office.
HB352 would allow the Legislature to refuse to adopt all or part of the next year's budget and let the current budget for that disputed part continue until a new one is approved.
Huntsman contends the change "would weaken my ability to negotiate" a compromise budget with legislators.
Rep. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, had a veto-proof 52 co-sponsors when she first introduced HB352. But by Friday, Dayton only had 46 co-sponsors.
Mike Mower, Huntsman's deputy chief of staff and spokesman, said "six representatives who are co-sponsors have said they will remove their sponsorship" should Huntsman ask for it -- and apparently they already have.
It takes 50 votes in the House to override a gubernatorial veto, 20 votes in the Senate. HB352 awaits full House debate.
The other bill that Huntsman said he'd veto, SB70, would allow the Legislature to override a gubernatorial veto of nuclear and other hazardous waste-siting permits. Currently, either the governor or Legislature can stop a hazardous waste permit without the consent of the other.
SB70 has passed the Senate, 22-6 and is on Monday's agenda of the House Business and Labor Committee.
Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, who along with House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, introduced a bill similar to HB352 last year then pulled it back, said he doubts "very seriously" there'd be enough votes to override a veto on HB352.
Huntsman said if either bill passes his vetoes are unlikely to be overridden.
But Valentine, who supports SB70, said it would be "a challenge but probably not impossible" for lawmakers to override that veto.
This week, much-anticipated new state revenue estimates will come from a panel of economic experts. The new numbers are expected to end a stalemate over tax cuts.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
