Governor Nixon has nothing good to say about the legislative session just finished.

Eighteen hundred and forty-five proposed laws and constitutional amendments were introduced. Only a couple hundred passed. But Governor Nixon wants to talk about only eight of them.

His budget office estimates those bills could take $263-483 million out of the state budget that was passed a week before those eight cuts were adopted. “It took them less than a week…to abandon all fiscal restraint and to blow up their own budget with hundreds of millions of dollars in special tax breaks, not a penny of which are paid for,” he says.                          

He says the tax cuts are for fast food restaurants, personal seat licenses in stadiums, power companies, and dry cleaners. Others end taxes at farmers markets and manufactured homes, among others.

Nixon has not said he will veto those bills. He will only say that it is his job to keep the state budget balanced throughout the fiscal year and he will take whatever actions are necessary.

He vetoed a big income tax cut during the session and was promptly overridden. Lawmakers will next have a chance to override any vetoes in September.

AUDIO: Nixon news conference, part 1 10:52

AUDIO: Nixon news conference, pt. 2 11;40