by Guy Page
You may have noticed that Governor 52 Vetoes has vetoed just one, count ’em one bill this year.
True, Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed it twice. The Budget Adjustment Act that added more $$ for housing the homeless into the current year budget was vetoed once on March 14 and then again (new number, same title, and still too-unacceptable content) on April 4.
Otherwise, it’s been a three-way meet-in-the-middle between the House, the Senate and the administration. Not always but often, legislation beloved by Democrat leaders of the once-a-supermajority are being made more palatable to the veto-sustaining minority and to the owner of the veto pen. Or else they’re just languishing on a committee wall somewhere.
For example, the House passed the General Fund budget 132-3 today Thursday May 15, with Minority Leader Patti McCoy saying the final number was closest to the Governor’s proposed budget than any time in her memory.
Safe to say the Democrats grudgingly learned their lesson after overriding the veto of last year’s hugely unpopular 13% property tax increase, which would have been even higher without the creation of two new forms of taxation to make up the difference between what was once a 20% tax increase.
Safe to say because this year’s property tax increase is a mere 1%. Once burned twice shy.
The Democrats also have resorted to another anti-veto trick: including veto bait into a bill with otherwise popular features.
It’s sort of like a hostage shield. Shoot the bad guy and you’ll probably take out a few innocent civilians.
Example: a $1.1 million allocation for the Burlington so-called ‘safe injection site’ into H.218, the opioid settlement bill allocating millions to about 20 other uncontroversial addiction prevention, treatment and recovery programs. The bill also seeks to perpetuate funding beyond the coming year:
“It is the intent of the General Assembly to continue to appropriate funds from the Opioid Abatement Special Fund through fiscal year 2028 for the purpose of awarding grants to the City of Burlington for the operation of the overdose prevention center, unless and until the Special Fund does not have sufficient monies to fund this expenditure.”
Last year the safe injection site passed as a stand-alone bill. Scott vetoed it. At a June veto session, the Legislature triumphantly overrode his vetoes of SIS, school spending and the Renewable Energy Standard. All three acts of hubris plagued Democrats at the polls in November.
This year, a SIS stand-alone bill would have suffered a humiliating veto failure, with likely electoral consequences next November. Hence the tuck-in to H.218. And it worked. When asked at yesterday’s press conference about the SIS inclusion into the opioid settlement bill, Scott said in effect that there were plenty of other worthy spending allocations in the bill that made it hard to veto.
At yesterday’s press conference, VDC asked Gov. Scott why all-time Vermont record holder for gubernatorial vetoes has been so restrained – thus far. We recorded his answer. (Apologies in advance for the lousy sound quality, we really do need to get a microphone to tape to the podium like, the radio and TV press do.) In a nutshell, Gov. Scott said:
Somewhat paradoxically, having an effective veto means he has less reason to veto. “They have to come to the table,” he said.
He’s had a lot of help from the new, enlarged minority and others. “We have a coalition of like-minded people in the House and the Senate that have worked with me to insure that we have a seat at the table.”
“Vetoing a bill isn’t something I look forward to,” Scott said. “I would rather come to agreement by negotiation. This year is an example of something that can happen if we all come together.”
Peace Through Strength?