Ohio line-item veto

The Ohio Constitution provides that:

The governor may disapprove any item or items in any bill making an appropriation of money and the item or items, so disapproved, shall be void, unless repassed in the manner prescribed by this section for the repassage of a bill.

Oh. Const. Art. II, § 16.

The Ohio Supreme Court has invalidated a veto by the Governor that failed to comply with this provision. In State ex rel. Akron Educ. Ass'n v. Essex, the Ohio Supreme Court held that:

Respondents maintain that Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 is a "bill making an appropriation of money" because Section 3 of the bill does so. Section 3 of the bill provides:

"In addition to the payments to county boards of education under Section 3317.11 of the Revised Code and the additional $ 3.00 per pupil per year payment required by Am. Sub. H. B. 155 of the 111th General Assembly, the Department of Education shall pay each such board in fiscal year 1975-1976 and in fiscal year 1976-1977, an amount in each of such years equal to $ 3.00 times the total number of pupils under the board's supervision certified under Section 3317.03 of the Revised Code for all the local school districts within the limits of the county district.

"Payment made under this section shall be made in the same manner and from the same source as payments made pursuant to Section 3317.11 of the Revised Code from appropriation 207-501 made in Am. Sub. H. B. 155 of the 111th General Assembly." (Emphasis added.)

Examination of the foregoing Section 3 of Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 reveals respondents' contention that such section "appropriates money" to be without merit. The emphasized portion of Section 3 of the bill clearly indicates that the source of the funds to be expended, pursuant to Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170, is Am. Sub. H. B. 155.

We conclude, therefore, that Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 is not an appropriation bill, for it simply does not anywhere by its terms appropriate money.

Accordingly, since Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 is not an appropriation bill, the Governor's exercise of the item veto power conferred upon him by Section 16, Article II of the Ohio Constitution, under the facts of this case, is unauthorized by law, and is hereby declared to be null and void.

In order to disapprove the specific portions of Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 to which he apparently objected, the Governor's only recourse under the circumstances herein presented was to veto the entire bill pursuant to Section 16, Article II. This he did not choose to do.

Both relators and respondents assert that in the event the Governor's exercise of the item veto power is declared null and void herein, Am. Sub. S. B. No. 170 is now effective in its entirety. We agree. ...

State ex rel. Akron Educ. Ass'n v. Essex, 47 Ohio St. 2d 47, 50-51, 351 N.E.2d 118, 120 (1976)

What is an appropriation?

As explained in State ex rel. LetOhioVote.org v. Brunner:

An appropriation is "an authorization granted by the general assembly to make expenditures and to incur obligations for specific purposes." R.C. 131.01(F). Similarly, in State ex rel. Akron Edn. Assn. v. Essex (1976), 47 Ohio St.2d 47, 49, 1 O.O.3d 28, 351 N.E.2d 118, we explained that the ordinary and common meaning of the phrase "appropriation bill" is a "measure before a legislative body which authorizes 'the expenditure of public moneys and stipulating [****20] the amount, manner, and purpose of the various items of expenditure.'" Id. at 49, quoting Webster's New International Dictionary (2d Ed.). See also Black's Law Dictionary (9th Ed.2009) 117-118 [*330] (defining "appropriation" to mean "[a] legislative body's act of setting aside a sum of money for a public purpose").

The VLT provisions of H.B. 1 are not themselves appropriations for state expenses because they do not set aside a sum of money for a public purpose; neither R.C. 3770.03 nor 3770.21 as amended by H.B. 1 makes expenditures or incurs obligations. Rather, they authorize the State Lottery Commission to operate VLT games and to promulgate rules relating to the commission's operation of VLT games, specify that the provisions of R.C. Chapter 2915 criminalizing gambling activities are inapplicable, bar political subdivisions from assessing new license or excise taxes on VLT licensees, and purport to vest this court with exclusive, original jurisdiction over any claim that the provisions are unconstitutional.

LetOhioVote.org v. Brunner, 2009-Ohio-4900, ¶¶ 28-29, 123 Ohio St. 3d 322, 329-30, 916 N.E.2d 462, 471-72