Judge to Rule on Branstad’s Closure of Mental Hospitals

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge says he’ll decide within 30 days whether Gov. Terry Branstad violated the law by using a line-item veto to close two state mental health hospitals.

A bipartisan plan that Branstad vetoed this summer would have reversed his closing of one mental health institution and temporarily kept open another. Democratic lawmakers and the main state workers’ union sued the governor, arguing that his veto broke a state law requiring Iowa to operate four mental hospitals.

The Des Moines Register (http://dmreg.co/1VITrvK ) reports lawyers for both sides argued in court Thursday. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Thompson, representing Branstad, said the spending bill was the type the governor has the authority to veto.

The losing side of the judge’s coming decision would be able to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

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