OLYMPIA…Senate Republican Leader John Braun, R-Centralia, offered the following remarks after Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed parts of two bills he signed today — House Bill 1091, referred to by Republicans as the High Cost Fuel Standard, and Senate Bill 5126, also known as Cap & Tax. Together the two bills set the stage for a projected increase of at least 95 cents per gallon of gasoline at the pump – which Inslee denied today, calling it “swill.”

“A court ruled that the governor illegally used his veto power in 2019.  Today, the Governor ignored that by vetoing a subsection of one of his highest priority environmental bills. The Constitution is clear – the governor may not veto anything less than an entire section of a bill. Maybe he’s emboldened by the sweeping authority he continues to have because majority Democrats refused to address emergency-power reform. Maybe he thinks the Supreme Court will overturn the lower court’s ruling. Whatever the reason, his subsection veto today is illegal. That alone says a lot about why our political system has checks and balances on one-person rule.”