A rare legislative veto by the Tennessee House and Senate Monday will prevent calorie counts from being listed on Tennessee restaurant menus.  Governor Phil Bredesen vetoed a bill to limit local authority for requiring the calorie counts, but the House, with a vote of 65 to 31, and the Senate, with a vote of 24 to 7, turned back the veto.

The measure allows only locally elected officials to establish requirements to list the calories on menus, but does not allow those on health boards appointed by the officials to force these requirements.  

If the boards make these requirements then voters have no say in the matter.  Allowing only elected officials to make the requirements make the process more transparent and allows for recourse if people are unhappy with the results.  It also prevents these local health boards from creating a confusing variety of requirements for each area of the state. 

The main problem with such a requirement is the cost to restaurants, many of which are already struggling in this economy.  Requiring caloric counts on every menu item would result in lengthier menus, and each restaurant would have to pay for these new menus.  It would also make adding last minute menu items extremely difficult. 

The Governor’s position was centered around a growing concern for Tennessee’s obesity rate. (see the article, “Tennessee Needs to Shape Up,” in the Health and Fitness section, for more information on this topic)

Surprisingly, the Governor’s own party, with the exception of two democrats, was instrumental in overturning the veto.