"Stack said lawyers for the governor’s office determined that Panera doesn’t meet the standard for a business that “produces” bread “for sale on the establishment’s premises” because “many chain bakeries (such as Panera Bread) mix dough at centralized off-site locations and then ship that dough to their retail locations for baking and sale.”
1. They are claiming that because Panera generally mixes dough at central locations that they don't "produce" bread by baking it at the retail locations. It is not clear that this was their original intent and not a recently invented rationalization to obscure the connection to Panera.
2. The lawmakers that are calling for an investigation into the deal aren't the same lawmakers that write the deal are they?
3. The governor can obviously influence legislation including but not limited to his power to veto it.