It is provided in all the state constitutions except two, as it is in the federal constitution (Art. I, § 7, ¶ 2), that bills which have passed both branches of Congress or of a state legislature, as the case may be, shall be presented to the president or the governor, who shall sign them, if in his judgment they should be approved; otherwise he returns them with his objections to that house of Congress or of the state legislature in which they shall have originated. Such a return of a bill with objections is usually called a veto, and in some state constitutions that term is expressly used. A bill thus returned may become a law by being again passed by both branches of the legislature over the objections of the executive, which passage, however, according to the federal constitution, must be by a two-thirds vote of each house; and similar provisions are found in the state constitutions. When a bill has thus been passed, it becomes effectual without further action on the part of the executive.

It is generally provided in the state constitutions, as it is in the federal constitution, that the retention of a bill for a specified time without approval or return by the executive shall be construed as an approval, and such a bill becomes a law as effectually as though it had been approved. On one point, however, there is great diversity, that is, as to the effect of the retention by the executive without approval until after the adjournment of the legislative body, the time fixed by the constitution for the return of the bill not having expired when the legislative body adjourns; and this matter is of great practical importance, for it is a common occurrence that the most important bills are not finally acted upon by the legislative body until within a few days of adjournment, so that the time fixed after which the bill shall become a law without approval if not returned with .objections does not expire before adjournment.

The practical construction put upon the provisions of the federal constitution in this respect is that bills which have not received the president's approval, or have not been returned by him with objections and passed over his veto, before the adjournment of Congress, cannot become effective, no approval of the president after the adjournment of Congress being considered sufficient. But by the provisions of some state constitutions, the governor may, within the time specified by the constitution, approve a bill so as to make it effectual as a statute after the legislative body has adjourned.