Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Supreme Court says Gov. Bob Riley's line-item veto of the state General Fund budget was unconstitutional.
The court issued a unanimous decision Friday siding with Democratic legislators who had challenged the Republican governor's line-item veto.
Riley used a line-item veto to remove language from the budget that protected social service agencies from cuts if money ran short. It also said that 17.5 percent of other agencies' appropriations was contingent on state revenue coming in at expected levels.
The Supreme Court agreed with a lower court that Riley did not set out his line-item veto properly and that the Legislature's budget plan was permissible.
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