By SARAH KESINGER

and CHRIS GREEN

Harris News Service

TOPEKA -- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius again criticized lawmakers today for tying two southwest Kansas coal plants to economic development initiatives in other parts of the state.

Speaking with reporters during a post-legislative session news conference, Sebelius said the Legislature's decision to package the measures together likely made the bill unconstitutional.

Sebelius has rejected two previous proposals from lawmakers allowing construction of the plants near Holcomb, saying they would be too large and would emit too much carbon dioxide, a gas linked to global climate change.

The governor said bundling the legislation with other matters only created an additional impediment for the coal-plant proposal being pushed by House and Senate GOP leaders.

However, she didn't say for sure she'd veto it because her office hasn't actually received the bill yet.

"At the end of the day, it's one more bad choice to sacrifice legitimate economic proposals," Sebelius said of the bundled deal.

The governor's comments came a day after House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said he didn't believe lawmakers would have to override Sebelius' veto on the matter when they return for the end of their session May 29.

Neufeld said he believed Sebelius would let the bill become law without her signature and an override wouldn't be necessary.

"I'm working on the assumption that economic development is important to her somewhere in Kansas," Neufeld said.

But Sebelius said she's only done that once as governor, when she forwarded a school-finance bill she thought was insufficient to the Kansas Supreme Court without her signature.

Sebelius also said she hadn't discussed the possibility of letting the bill become law with Neufeld.

"His opinion is entirely based on his conversations with himself," she said.

Some lawmakers said they hope the third time's a charm for coal-fired power plants to gain a state permit.

But the final House vote Wednesday drew only 76 supporters -- eight votes shy of the 84 needed for an override if Sebelius chooses to veto the issue for a third time.

Rep. Jeff Whitham, R-Garden City, said he doubted lawmakers could succeed in overriding a veto.

Few legislators usually return to Topeka for the day, which requires only a traditional brief session.

"We couldn't override on the first two coal bills, I don't think we'd have any more likelihood on the economic development issue," Whitham said.

Similar to the earlier bills, this latest bill also would strip the secretary of health and environment of his authority to regulate carbon dioxide.

Critics agreed with the governor that the subject of environmental regulation in an economic development measure appeared to be a violation of the Kansas Constitution's requirement that bills have a single topic.

"I'd expect the governor to veto this bill, too," said Tom Thompson, lobbyist for the Kansas Chapter of the Sierra Club, who dubbed the measure "the carbon dioxide stimulus act of 2008."

But advocates of the measure said they believed it did conform with state law and would withstand a challenge.

Rep. Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, said the constitutional requirement meant a bills' title had to accurately describe its contents.

A bill's subjects also must have a "nexus" or something that ties them to each other. In this case, the bill includes various projects designed to boost the economy, he said.

The development boosters included a bond issue for a new transportation and warehouse hub in Johnson County, tax breaks and other direct incentives for corporate expansions in Kansas. The $3.6 billion power plant proposal is expected to be a boon to southwest Kansas with hundreds of construction jobs and several new, permanent jobs at the plants.