by Guy Page
Governor Phil Scott on Monday, May 2 vetoed S.286, the pension reform bill because “it does not include enough structural change to solve the enormous unfunded liability problems the State faces,” he explained in a letter to the General Assembly.
The Legislature and state employee organizations had hammered out a reform bill that would reduce the state’s unfunded liability – but not enough for the governor.
In response, Senate Pro Tem Becca Balint and House Speaker Jill Krowinski today promised an immediate veto override. S286 passed unanimously in both House and Senate, they noted.
“We could not be more disappointed that the Governor vetoed S.286, the bill to stabilize the public pension system. We stand with our teachers and public employees to proudly defend the collaborative work we did to take on the looming pension crisis and protect our public pensions,” they said.
The full text of Gov. Scott’s letter appears below:
Pursuant to Chapter II, Section 11 of the Vermont Constitution, I am returning S.286, An act relating to amending various public pension and other postemployment benefits, without my signature because of my objections described herein.
Since the day after this bill was introduced, before it was voted out of a single committee, in either chamber of the General Assembly, I have been clear it does not include enough structural change to solve the enormous unfunded liability problems the State faces. I offered balanced solutions, which were disregarded.
It is unfortunate this veto will likely be easily overridden, not for me, but for Vermont taxpayers and State employees who will bear the burden in the future. I will acknowledge, this bill takes some positive steps, and the easiest thing for me to do would be to sign it, assure the public we solved the problem, and move on.
But given the scope of this problem and the risk it poses to the financial health of our state, I cannot bring myself to do that. It would be disingenuous because I know we could have done better.
The fact is, in several years – despite adding a quarter of a billion dollars in additional money (on top of the roughly $400 million for our regular, required payment) from taxpayers – the state will be faced with the same unsustainable system we have today.
I won’t be governor when those chickens come home to roost, and many of you will not be serving in your current roles, either. But the Legislature’s unwillingness to question the deal reached between a handful of union and legislative representatives will come back to haunt our state in the not-too-distant future.
And when it does, we won’t have the unprecedented level of federal funds and state surplus dollars at our disposal, and the fix will be tougher on both taxpayers and public employees.