Civics question: Who proposes the budget, has final approval authority, and has the power of line item veto?
Of course, the Governator proposes his budget, but the Legislature porks it up beyond all recognition. He can use the line item veto to eliminate specific programs, but not to scale any back. In other words, if he wants $10 dollars to study the effects of Britney Spears’ lost underwear on the reproductive habits of the Death Valley Spotted Mudskipper, he can either accept the legislature’s increase of that budget item to $2.5 million or veto the whole thing. He can’t cross out $2.5 million and write in $10.