The Legislature adjourned its 2023 regular session on May 12. On June 20, both the House and Senate reconvened to consider bills that Gov. Phil Scott vetoed. It takes a two-thirds vote in both bodies to override a veto. Not knowing how long it would take to consider these, we had reserved three days, but we were able to complete our business in one.
This year, Scott vetoed nine bills, a record for a governor in one year. Scott has also now vetoed more bills in his time in office than any other Vermont governor. The first veto this year — the Affordable Heat Act (S.6) — was overridden while we were in regular session. I’ve written about that bill in my previous reports.
During the veto session, the Legislature voted to override five of the seven bills before us. Those bills are now law. We did not override two of the bills, thus sustaining the vetoes. All the bills vetoed by the governor can be accessed at this link: legislature.vermont.gov/bill/vetoed/2024.
All the vetoed bills are important. Some affect only a smaller number of Vermonters, while some, most notably the budget for the fiscal year which just started (H.494), affects everyone in Vermont.
The impact of not having a budget enacted would be catastrophic in many ways. Others, such as the bill providing long overdue and critical support for our struggling child care sector (H.217) have enormous impact on working parents, child care providers and all Vermont’s employers facing workforce shortages.
While in session, we also passed a couple of bills that had not received final action in May. One of these (H.171) was amended to include detailed provisions for dealing with the end of the homeless motel room program and to provide more transition time and greater assistance to help those affected find alternative housing.
These matters had not been adequately addressed by the administration, and the lack of a plan had threatened passage of a budget that needed to be in place by July 1. Fortunately, after a lot of discussion and compromise, that was averted. The other bill related to updating and expanding the bottle redemption system (H.158) was then vetoed on June 29.
All the vetoed bills and the outcomes of legislative action to override or sustain the vetoes received extensive press coverage in print, online and broadcast media, so I won’t repeat that information. I will say that the number of vetoed bills is troubling, given how much effort gets put into including provisions to specifically address the governor’s concerns.
We will be returning in January for the second half of the 2023-24 biennium. Bills introduced this year that did not see action can still be taken up, as well as new bills, including the budget for the next fiscal year.
Avram Patt, a Democrat from Worcester, also represents Morristown, Elmore, Woodbury and Stowe in the Vermont House.
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