Update, 5:00 p.m.: Both of these data visualizations have been updated to reflect the 24 vetoes issued today by Gov. Rick Perry.
Gov. Rick Perry knows the power of the veto. Perry, who has served as governor longer than anyone else, has also vetoed more bills than any other Texas governor. This session he’s only vetoed one bill, so far. The veto deadline for the 82nd legislative session — June 19 — is quickly approaching, and Perry is expected to announce his vetoes at any moment.
The pie chart below shows the 10 Texas governors who vetoed the most bills. Perry earned the top spot with 249 vetoes. The recently deceased former Gov. Bill Clements vetoed the second-largest number of bills, 192. Former Gov. Francis Lubbock, who served from 1861 to 1863 before resigning to join the Confederate Army, vetoed the smallest number of bills: one. The only bill he vetoed would have reimbursed the cost of travel for members and officers of the 9th legislature — a common practice these days.
Use the graph below to see the number of bills vetoed each legislative session. By rolling over the columns, you can see the name of the governor, the legislative session, year and the total number of bills vetoed. (According to the disclaimer provided by Legislative Reference Library, this data set is a work in progress. For more information, see here.)
// <![CDATA[var chart; $(document).ready(function() { chart = new Highcharts.Chart({ chart: { renderTo: ‘container1’, defaultSeriesType: ‘column’ }, title: { text: ‘Texas Governor Vetoes, 1846 to Present’ }, subtitle: { text: ‘Source: Legislative Reference Library of Texas’ }, xAxis: { labels: false, categories: [ ‘Gov. J. Pinckney Henderson in the 1st R.S., 1846’, ‘Gov. Peter Hansbrough Bell in the 3rd 2nd C.S., 1850’, ‘Gov. Peter Hansbrough Bell in the 3rd 1st C.S., 1850’, ‘Gov. Peter Hansbrough Bell in the 4th R.S., 1852’, ‘Gov. Elisha M. Pease in the 5th R.S., 1854’, ‘Gov. Elisha M. Pease in the 6th Adjourned, 1856’, ‘Gov. Elisha M. Pease in the 6th R.S., 1856’, ‘Gov. Hardin R. Runnels in the 7th R.S., 1858’, ‘Gov. Sam Houston in the 8th R.S., 1860’, ‘Gov. Francis R. Lubbock in the 9th R.S., 1862’, ‘Gov. Pendleton Murrah in the 10th R.S., 1863’, ‘Gov. James W. Throckmorton in the 11th R.S., 1866’, ‘Gov. Edmund J. Davis in the 12th 1st C.S., 1870’, ‘Gov. Edmund J. Davis in the 12th R.S., 1871’, ‘Gov. Edmund J. Davis in the 12th Adjourned, 1871’, ‘Gov. Edmund J. Davis in the 13th R.S., 1873’, ‘Gov. Richard Coke in the 14th R.S., 1874’, ‘Gov. Richard Coke in the 14th 2nd C.S., 1875’, ‘Gov. Richard Coke in the 15th R.S., 1876’, ‘Gov. Oran M. Roberts in the 16th R.S., 1879’, ‘Gov. Oran M. Roberts in the 17th R.S., 1881’, ‘Gov. Oran M. Roberts in the 17th 1st C.S., 1882’, ‘Gov. John Ireland in the 18th R.S., 1883’, ‘Gov. John Ireland in the 19th R.S., 1885’, ‘Gov. Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the 20th R.S., 1887’, ‘Gov. Lawrence Sullivan Ross in the 21st R.S., 1889’, ‘Gov. James Stephen Hogg in the 22nd R.S., 1891’, ‘Gov. James Stephen Hogg in the 23rd R.S., 1893’, ‘Gov. Charles A. Culberson in the 24th R.S., 1895’, ‘Gov. Charles A. Culberson in the 25th R.S., 1897’, ‘Gov. Joseph D. Sayers in the 26th R.S., 1899’, ‘Gov. Joseph D. Sayers in the 27th R.S., 1901’, ‘Gov. Joseph D. Sayers in the 27th 2nd C.S., 1901’, ‘Gov. S.W.T. Lanham in the 28th R.S., 1903’, ‘Gov. S.W.T. Lanham in the 28th 1st C.S., 1903’, ‘Gov. S.W.T. Lanham in the 29th R.S., 1905’, ‘Gov. S.W.T. Lanham in the 29th 1st C.S., 1905’, ‘Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell in the 30th R.S., 1907’, ‘Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell in the 30th 1st C.S., 1907’, ‘Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell in the 31st R.S., 1909’, ‘Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell in the 31st 1st C.S., 1909’, ‘Gov. Thomas Mitchell Campbell in the 31st 2nd C.S., 1909’, ‘Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt in the 32nd R.S., 1911’, ‘Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt in the 32nd 1st C.S., 1911’, ‘Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt in the 33rd R.S., 1913’, ‘Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt in the 33rd 1st C.S., 1913’, ‘Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt in the 33rd 2nd C.S., 1914’, ‘Gov. James E. Ferguson in the 34th R.S., 1915’, ‘Gov. James E. Ferguson in the 35th R.S., 1917’, ‘Gov. James E. Ferguson in the 35th 1st C.S., 1917’, ‘Gov. William P. Hobby in the 36th R.S., 1919’, ‘Gov. William P. Hobby in the 36th 2nd C.S., 1919’, ‘Gov. William P. Hobby in the 36th 3rd C.S., 1920’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 37th R.S., 1921’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 37th 1st C.S., 1921’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 37th 2nd C.S., 1921’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 38th R.S., 1923’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 38th 2nd C.S., 1923’, ‘Gov. Pat M. Neff in the 38th 3rd C.S., 1923’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 39th R.S., 1925’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 39th 1st C.S., 1926’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 40th R.S., 1927’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 40th 1st C.S., 1927’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st R.S., 1929’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st 1st C.S., 1929’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st 2nd C.S., 1929’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st 3rd C.S., 1929’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st 4th C.S., 1930’, ‘Gov. Daniel J. Moody, Jr. in the 41st 5th C.S., 1930’, ‘Gov. Ross S. Sterling in the 42nd R.S., 1931’, ‘Gov. Ross S. Sterling in the 42nd 2nd C.S., 1931’, ‘Gov. Ross S. Sterling in the 42nd 3rd C.S., 1932’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 43rd R.S., 1933’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 43rd 1st C.S., 1933’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 43rd 2nd C.S., 1934’, ‘Gov. Miriam Ferguson in the 43rd 3rd C.S., 1934’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 44th R.S., 1935’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 44th 2nd C.S., 1935’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 44th 3rd C.S., 1936’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 45th R.S., 1937’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 45th 1st C.S., 1937’, ‘Gov. James V. Allred in the 45th 2nd C.S., 1937’, ‘Gov. W. Lee O’Daniel in the 46th R.S., 1939’, ‘Gov. W. Lee O’Daniel in the 47th R.S., 1941’, ‘Gov. Coke R. Stevenson in the 48th R.S., 1943’, ‘Gov. Coke R. Stevenson in the 49th R.S., 1945’, ‘Gov. Beauford H. Jester in the 50th R.S., 1947’, ‘Gov. Beauford H. Jester in the 51st R.S., 1949’, ‘Gov. Robert Allan Shivers in the 52nd R.S., 1951’, ‘Gov. Robert Allan Shivers in the 53rd R.S., 1953’, ‘Gov. Robert Allan Shivers in the 53rd 1st C.S., 1954’, ‘Gov. Robert Allan Shivers in the 54th R.S., 1955’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 55th R.S., 1957’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 55th 1st C.S., 1957’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 55th 2nd C.S., 1957’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 56th R.S., 1959’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 56th 1st C.S., 1959’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 56th 2nd C.S., 1959’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 56th 3rd C.S., 1959’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 57th R.S., 1961’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 57th 1st C.S., 1961’, ‘Gov. Price Daniel, Sr. in the 57th 3rd C.S., 1962’, ‘Gov. John B. Connally, Jr. in the 58th R.S., 1963’, ‘Gov. John B. Connally, Jr. in the 59th R.S., 1965’, ‘Gov. John B. Connally, Jr. in the 60th R.S., 1967’, ‘Gov. John B. Connally, Jr. in the 60th 1st C.S., 1968’, ‘Gov. Preston Smith in the 61st R.S., 1969’, ‘Gov. Preston Smith in the 61st 2nd C.S., 1969’, ‘Gov. Preston Smith in the 62nd R.S., 1971’, ‘Gov. Preston Smith in the 62nd 1st C.S., 1971’, ‘Gov. Preston Smith in the 62nd 3rd C.S., 1972’, ‘Gov. Dolph Briscoe in the 63rd R.S., 1973’, ‘Gov. Dolph Briscoe in the 64th R.S., 1975’, ‘Gov. Dolph Briscoe in the 65th R.S., 1977’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 66th R.S., 1979’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 67th R.S., 1981’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 67th 1st C.S., 1981’, ‘Gov. Mark W. White, Jr. in the 68th R.S., 1983’, ‘Gov. Mark W. White, Jr. in the 69th R.S., 1985’, ‘Gov. Mark W. White, Jr. in the 69th 3rd C.S., 1986’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 70th R.S., 1987’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 70th 2nd C.S., 1987’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 71st R.S., 1989’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 71st 4th C.S., 1990’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 71st 5th C.S., 1990’, ‘Gov. William P. Clements in the 71st 6th C.S., 1990’, ‘Gov. Ann W. Richards in the 72nd R.S., 1991’, ‘Gov. Ann W. Richards in the 72nd 1st C.S., 1991’, ‘Gov. Ann W. Richards in the 73rd R.S., 1993’, ‘Gov. George W. Bush in the 74th R.S., 1995’, ‘Gov. George W. Bush in the 75th R.S., 1997’, ‘Gov. George W. Bush in the 76th R.S., 1999’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 77th R.S., 2001’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 78th R.S., 2003’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 79th R.S., 2005’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 80th R.S., 2007’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 81st R.S., 2009’, ‘Gov. Rick Perry in the 82nd R.S., 2011’ ] }, yAxis: { min: 0, title: { text: ‘Number of Vetoes’ } }, tooltip: { formatter: function() { return ”+ this.x +’: ‘+ this.y +’ vetoes’; } }, plotOptions: { column: { pointPadding: 0.2, borderWidth: 0 } }, series: [{ name: ‘Rollover Columns to See the Governor, Year and Number of Vetoes’, data: [ 2, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 18, 13, 4, 1, 5, 7, 72, 41, 11, 57, 13, 10, 14, 7, 4, 1, 3, 7, 2, 5, 4, 11, 11, 19, 17, 15, 2, 21, 1, 9, 1, 7, 2, 17, 3, 3, 17, 7, 42, 6, 1, 9, 15, 3, 9, 6, 1, 22, 8, 1, 43, 16, 3, 16, 15, 31, 5, 38, 11, 26, 5, 4, 11, 7, 1, 5, 11, 6, 7, 1, 22, 1, 2, 28, 4, 2, 32, 28, 37, 19, 14, 5, 38, 23, 4, 25, 8, 5, 1, 10, 3, 2, 3, 15, 1, 1, 12, 41, 49, 3, 67, 5, 22, 1, 1, 30, 19, 26, 49, 28, 1, 43, 51, 1, 52, 2, 56, 1, 2, 1, 36, 1, 27, 26, 38, 34, 83, 50, 20, 56, 39, 25] }] }); }); var chart; $(document).ready(function() { chart = new Highcharts.Chart({ chart: { renderTo: ‘container2’, margin: [50, 0, 0, 0], plotBackgroundColor: ‘none’, plotBorderWidth: 0, plotShadow: false }, title: { text: ‘Top 10 Texas Governors Using Most Veto Power’ }, subtitle: { text: ‘Source: Legislative Reference Library of Texas’ }, tooltip: { formatter: function() { return ‘‘+ this.series.name +’
‘+ this.point.name +’: ‘+ this.y +’ Total Vetoes’; } }, series: [{ type: ‘pie’, name: ‘All Other Governors’, innerSize: ‘61.40350877%’, data: [{ name: ‘All Other Governors’, y: 836, color:’#4C5A69′} ], dataLabels: { enabled: false } }, { type: ‘pie’, name: ‘ ‘, size: ‘61.40350877%’, innerSize: ‘0%’, data: [ { name: ‘Rick Perry: 2001-2011’, y: 273, color: ‘ #B12125 ‘}, { name: ‘William P. Clements: 1979-1983, 1987-1990’, y: 192, color: ‘ #44ABDF’}, { name: ‘Edmund J. Davis: 1870-1873’, y: 181, color: ‘ #FCC10F ‘}, { name: ‘Daniel J. Moody, Jr.: 1927-1930’, y: 131, color: ‘ #379D92 ‘}, { name: ‘John B. Connally, Jr.: 1963-1968’, y: 105, color: ‘ #742E66 ‘}, { name: ‘George W. Bush: 1995-1999’, y: 98, color: ‘ #DC8B6A’}, { name: ‘Preston Smith: 1969-1972’, y: 96, color: ‘ #D99928 ‘}, { name: ‘Mark W. White, Jr.: 1983-1986’, y: 95, color: ‘ #9F82BB ‘}, { name: ‘Pat M. Neff: 1921-1923’, y: 93, color: ‘ #FF7F0E ‘}, { name: ‘Robert Allan Shivers: 1951-1955’, y: 90, color: ‘ #526247 ‘}, ], dataLabels: { enabled: true, color: ‘#000000’, connectorColor: ‘#000000’ } }] }); });// ]]>
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