NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Mistakes in Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s office caused 79 bills to become law without his signature and another 67 measures to be backdated to meet constitutional deadlines.
The governor must either sign or veto bills within 10 days of receiving them from the Legislature, or they become law without his signature.
Haslam’s top legal adviser, Herbert Slatery (SLAY-ter-ee) in a memo dated May 13 — nearly a month after the end of the legislative session — blamed a “clerical error” for the signatures to be dated after the window had passed for 67 of bills.
Slatery asked Secretary of State Tre Hargett to return those bills so the signature date could be changed. An “addendum” clarifying the effective date of the other 79 bills was added under Haslam’s signature.
Uploaded by Garrett Hunt
