Line-item veto draws praise, criticism at Rhode Island legislative hearing

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Ken Block, chairman of Watchdog R.I., told a special legislative commission Wednesday afternoon that a Rhode Island governor should have the power to make line-item vetoes in a budget passed by the General Assembly.

“We’ve seen the last-minute shenanigans,” said Block, who ran for governor in 2014. “We don’t like them.”

In Rhode Island, he said, “extraordinary budget powers are concentrated in the hands of just a very few people.” Only six states, Rhode Island among them, do not give their governor the line-item veto power. As a result, he said: “We have a lack of checks and balances.”

Robin Muksian, the director of administration for Cranston Mayor Allan W. Fung, called the line-item veto “a protection against any reckless entity.”

Read more: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180523/line-item-veto-draws-praise-criticism-at-ri-legislative-hearing