DEMS LET VETOES STAND ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA, COLLEGE TUITION BREAK

HARTFORD -- Democratic lawmakers made no effort Monday to use their
"super majorities" to override Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's vetoes
of bills that included medical use of marijuana and tuition breaks
for illegal immigrants. The only time the Democrats managed to muster
the votes needed for an override came in May and involved an obscure
measure that would give the legislature a say in state requests for
waivers from federal social service requirements.

Rell used her veto power six times this year, including one rare
line-item veto.

Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said the vetoes
up for possible action Monday didn't involve highly partisan bills
where a two-thirds vote in each chamber seemed possible.

"There were not the kinds of party-line issues that you'd expect to
have for a veto override," Looney said. He added that none of the
measures were approved by both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities.

The Senate's top Democrat, Donald E. Williams Jr. of Brooklyn,
agreed. "The hot button issue ... really didn't break down along
party lines," Williams said.

Williams insisted Democratic leaders never really expected their
super majorities in the House and Senate would allow them to push
through whatever they wanted over Rell's objections.

The two highest profile measures vetoed by Rell concerned medical use
of marijuana and offering children of illegal immigrants in-state
tuition rates at Connecticut colleges and universities.

In May, House lawmakers voted 89-53 to approve the medical marijuana
measure and the Senate approved the bill 23-13 June 1.

The legislation would have permitted people suffering from major,
long-term diseases such as cancer to possess or grow small amounts of
marijuana for personal medical use.

But Rell said that, while she sympathized with the intent of the
measure, the medical profession hasn't recognized it as medically
useful, and that the bill would send the wrong message about drug use
in general.

The other major veto killed a bill that would have allowed children
of illegal immigrants who graduate from Connecticut high schools to
qualify for lower in-state college tuition rates.

Rell said the legislation, which would have required those students
to apply for legal immigration status, could have backfired by
calling federal attention to their current illegal status.

She also said she didn't want to encourage people to try to
circumvent federal immigration laws, which she also said needed to be reformed.

The other bills vetoed by Rell this year included legislation to:

. Require the state comptroller to change accounting procedures for
state finances, a move Rell said could cause serious budget difficulties.

. Enact a Democratic tax package that would have increased state
income tax rates on the wealthy to provide tax breaks for
middle-class and working-class families.

Rell said there was no need for significant tax increases when the
state had major budget surpluses. Rell announced Saturday that the
final estimate for the fiscal 2007 surplus is about $1.04 billion.

. Provide funding for two energy programs.

Rell said she used a line-item veto on the money sections of the
overall energy legislation because lawmakers hadn't at that point
passed a comprehensive two-year budget plan.

Virtually all of the funding involved was restored when the General
Assembly passed a bipartisan budget several weeks later.