By Guy Page

Another day, another veto for Gov. Phil Scott. 

Scott vetoed his third bill this week Thursday, denying the Vermont State Employees’ Union exclusive access to solicit corrections officers’ membership in prison parking lots.

He also signed into law the state transportation spending bill, the ‘yield’ bill setting a seven percent statewide property tax hike, and the education reform bill encouraging but not requiring school district mergers. 

On Tuesday, Gov. Scott vetoed S.190, ‘referenced-based pricing’ for hospitals, much to the consternation of the Vermont NEA, which said the bill would have led to reduced health care insurance premiums. (Scott disputes the amount of projected savings and said it would benefit some Vermonters but not others.) On Wednesday, he vetoed H.710, which would have allowed renewable power projects to expand with less permitting than now required.

Thursday he vetoed S.230, a  six page bill amending unexceptionable employment practices – until the final paragraph, about soliciting in correctional center parking lots. The bill reads:

SOLICITATION AT CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

The Commissioner of Corrections or designee shall meet with representatives of the Vermont State Employees’ Association to develop a proposal governing permissible and impermissible solicitation in parking lots at the Department of Corrections’ facilities for consideration for adoption by the Secretary of Administration on or before January 1, 2027. The Commissioner of Buildings and General Services shall coordinate the meetings and provide assistance as appropriate.

The solicitation would be by union representatives trying to sign up CO’s. Permissible would be VSEA. Non-permissable, presumably, would be any competing union. That favoritism is what Scott finds so objectionable, he said in his veto letter to the Legislature:

“This bill was in response to the Vermont State Employees Association’s (VSEA) desire to limit the access of other labor organizations to Department of Corrections (DOC) employees for union organizing purposes.  This legislative intervention blatantly favoring one union over others would circumvent the rights of DOC employees to form and join a union of their own choosing.”

There will be no veto override session, legislative leaders say.

On June 18, Scott signed these bills into law:

• H.933, miscellaneous administrative and policy changes to the tax laws
• H.937, miscellaneous judiciary procedures
• H.941, municipal regulation of agriculture
• H.942, miscellaneous agricultural subjects
• H.944, the fiscal year 2027 Transportation Program and miscellaneous changes to laws related to transportation
• H.949, homestead property tax yields, the nonhomestead property tax rate, and technical changes to education finance
• H.955, next steps in transforming Vermont’s education system
• S.64, amendments to the scope of practice for optometrists
• S.142, a pathway to licensure for internationally trained physicians
• S.197, payment reform for primary care
• S.212, potable water supply and wastewater system connections
• S.223, water quality of the waters of Vermont
• S.278, cannabis
• S.313, transforming Vermont’s career technical education system
• S.323, miscellaneous agricultural subjects
• S.328, housing and common interest communities