Last June, the Vermont Legislature’s Democratic supermajority conducted a record number of veto override votes in a single day, marking a turning point in Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s relationship with the House and Senate leadership.
Come Monday, they’ll have an opportunity to set a new record.
Having adjourned the 2024 legislative session last month, lawmakers will return to Montpelier on Monday for what they call a “veto session” — a one- or two-day mini session during which they can override Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s vetoes. To override a gubernatorial veto requires a two-thirds supermajority vote of lawmakers present.
This year’s veto session calendar is stacked. Since lawmakers adjourned on May 10, Scott has issued seven vetoes. As of Friday afternoon, the House and Senate calendars for Monday show override votes scheduled for all seven of the vetoed bills.
Legislators are also slated to take up H.55, a bill which contains a “baby bonds” provision pushed by state Treasurer Mike Pieciak to establish a state-managed trust fund for every Vermont child born on Medicaid. And in the Senate, Andy Julow, a Democrat appointed to fill the Grand Isle district seat, will take his oath of office.
Perhaps the highest profile of all of the veto override attempts will be that of H.887, this year’s yield bill, which sets statewide property tax rates to fund public education. Last week, Scott vetoed the bill within an hour of its arrival on his desk, citing its projected 13.8% statewide average increase on property tax bills. (Local rates would still vary widely.)
“There was no real decision to make from my standpoint,” Scott told reporters of his swift veto shortly thereafter — the double-digit tax increase being, for him, a nonstarter.
This week, Scott cabinet officials — but not the governor himself — met with House and Senate leadership to pitch an alternative yield bill, which the administration estimated would bring down the average property tax increases to somewhere between 4% and 6%. House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, quickly swatted down the plan, deeming it “fiscally irresponsible.”
The yield bill is must-pass legislation in order to fund school budgets normally next year, so all eyes will be on the House and Senate next week as legislators attempt to override the governor’s veto. The bill passed the House 93-44 and the Senate 18-8 — numbers which indicate a narrow path to a successful two-thirds override vote.
Another highly anticipated veto override attempt will be that of H.687, this year’s bill aimed at reforming Act 250, Vermont’s 50-year-old land use and conservation law. Scott vetoed the bill on Thursday evening, writing in a letter to lawmakers that the bill did not go far enough to “address Vermont’s housing affordability crisis.”
Since Scott issued his veto, both the speaker and pro tempore’s offices pledged to attempt an override, signaling a disinterest in the governor’s post-session plea in his veto message to find a “responsible compromise” with his office to pass “a replacement bill.”
There are five more bills on lawmakers’ agendas to attempt to override come Monday: H.121, a sweeping data privacy bill; H.645, a restorative justice bill; H.72, which would greenlight the opening of an overdose prevention site in Burlington; H.289, the Legislature’s “renewable energy standard” bill; and H.706, which would prohibit the use of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides in farming.
Scott holds the record for issuing the greatest number of gubernatorial vetoes by a single governor in state history: 52 during his seven years in office. The second runner-up, former Gov. Howard Dean, previously held the record at 21 vetoes issued during roughly his 12 years in office.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Last year’s veto session set a single-day record for override votes. On Monday, legislators could break it..