DENVER-
Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a bill Friday that would have relaxed tough identification rules for getting a driver’s license, saying the rules had already been eased and that the law would have interfered with executive branch authority.
He signed 14 other measures, including one banning smoking in casinos and others designed to crack down on fraud in mortgage lending.
The driver’s license ID measure (House Bill 1313) would have broadened the list of documents the state accepts as proof of identity to get a license. Lawmakers and others had said rules issued under then-Gov. Bill Owens made too few documents acceptable.
In his veto message, Ritter agreed the list had been too narrow but said the Revenue Department, which regulates licenses, had issued new rules this week expanding it.
“A legislative fix is not the proper remedy to this problem,” he said. “Though its goals were laudable, House Bill 1313 would have supplanted the Department of Revenue’s rule-making authority.”
The smoking measure (House Bill 1269) expands the statewide ban to include casinos, which had been exempt. The bill covers the 44 casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek starting Jan. 1.
The mortgage-fraud measures require the state to license and regulate mortgage brokers. They also bar brokers from misleading borrowers and from trying to influence appraisers to inflate the value of a home, which could in turn lead buyers to borrow more than they should or can afford.
Another bill Ritter signed requires the state to track complaints and enforcement actions against title-insurance providers.
Ritter vetoed four other bills Friday. One would have changed state ethics laws to conform with rules approved by the voters last fall. Ritter said he vetoed the bill because a judge on Thursday issued an order barring enforcement of some of those rules.
The other vetoed bills would have expanded the reasons for sealing someone’s criminal records, changed rules for Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals and created a state database of interior designers who have private certification in their field.
