A state commission will discuss a quirk in the Utah Constitution today -- a quirk that creates uncertainty about the Legislature's duties when the governor vetoes a bill.

The vague language wasn't noticed until this year's legislative session, when a bill was vetoed while lawmakers were still in session.

The Utah Constitutional Revision Commission will discuss the matter during a meeting today at 1 p.m. today at the Capitol.

Article VII, Section 8 of the Utah Constitution says that if the governor vetoes a bill after the Legislature has adjourned, members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are polled to see if they want to reconvene and try to override the veto.

If the governor vetoes a bill during the session, however, the constitution requires only the chamber in which the bill originated to reconsider the measure. There's no requirement that the other chamber also take up the bill again.

"No one's sure what the policy reason is" for setting up the process that way, said Jerry Howe, an analyst for the office of legislative research. "It's odd."

It requires a close reading of the text to spot the discrepancy. The sentence at issue states that after a veto during the session, the governor "shall return it with his objections to the house in which it originated, which house shall enter the objections at large upon its journal and proceed to reconsider the bill."

The constitution also says that both chambers must reapprove the bill with at least a two-thirds majority to override a veto, but it doesn't explicitly say that both chambers must reconsider the bill.

The discrepancy has existed for some time but only surfaced this year. With a day left in the session, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. vetoed a bill that would've put the final say over the permitting of radioactive waste sites in the hands of legislators, not the governor.

The Senate voted 21-8 to override that veto, but House members never reconsidered the bill. The House's previous vote for passage was less than the two-thirds majority that would've been needed for overriding a veto.

The Constitutional Revision Commission reviews, drafts and recommends changes to the state constitution, which must be approved by the Legislature and the electorate. No specific changes have been recommended on this subject, Howe said.

"The direction they're leaning at the moment is to make it consistent, one way or another," he said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.