Legislative
Update, Veto Session
Rep.
Anne Donahue
June 11, 2024
Five bills have been vetoed thus far since
the end of the legislative session, with some not yet acted upon by the
governor. The legislature will be meeting next Monday and Tuesday, the 16th
and 17th, for possible votes on overrides of the vetoes.
Constituents have begun to reach out to
urge for or against voting to override. One note said the person assumed I was
going to vote against any overrides, since as a Republican I will support my
Republican governor. So I want to be clear from the outset: a veto from a
governor, from either party, would never affect my previous decision of whether
it was a good bill or not.
The only reason I would change my prior
vote would be if I received new or different information to consider that
developed after we passed a bill. That has not been the case for any of the
vetoed bills thus far, so I do not expect to change any of my votes, whether
they are in line with the governor’s position or not. I have always been a
fairly independent Republican and in fact, in the interest of greater
transparency, that is why I am running this year as an Independent.
A lot has been made of the record number
of vetoes by Governor Scott. That should not be surprising. For as far back as
my history can recall, this may be the first time that we have had a governor
of one party and a legislature with a supermajority from the opposing party. A
“supermajority” means that a party has two-thirds of the legislative seats,
enough to override any veto. If power is divided between legislative and
executive branches, there is a range between 50% and 2/3rds that forces efforts
to compromise. If the majority in the legislature passes a bill but has not
listened to concerns by the minority, it faces a potential veto that it may not
be able to override. In that situation it is in everyone’s interests to work
together. There could still be an override of the governor if there is enough
minority support to reach the 2/3 threshold, but it is far from guaranteed.
Once the supermajority number is reached,
the only way an override will fail is if some members of the majority party
itself do not support the bill. That happened earlier this year, for example,
when there was no override attempt of the governor’s veto of the flavored vape
and tobacco ban. The majority knew some of its members did not support it, so
it did not call for a vote at all and left the veto standing. (It was a bill I
had supported.)
Given that level of power – where
compromise is not needed – one party can fully control outcomes. Inevitably, it
means that some bills will go farther to an extreme on a spectrum of viewpoints.
Unless a governor wants to simply concede to every such initiative instead of communicating
her or his beliefs about better outcomes for Vermonters, there will be more
vetoes than if there was a more level balance of power.
While Governor Scott has voiced concerns
about many bills passed this session, he has only vetoed a few. Those we
already know will be on the agenda next week – and my earlier votes on them –
are these:
H.887: An act relating to homestead
property tax yields, non-homestead rates, and policy changes to education
finance and taxation.
This is the bill setting property tax
rates, which must pass in some form every year. Voters pass the spending amount
in their school budgets, and the legislature must set a rate that will raise
the money to pay the bill. We have known for years that the system, within its
very effort to create fairness, is fundamentally flawed. Towns vote on
individual budgets but must pay a designated amount of the statewide spending,
regardless of the reasonable of its own spending. When big increases in home
values combine with big increases in budgets, everyone feels it most harshly,
which happened this year. Rates have skyrocketed.
The bill passed by the legislature adds
stopgap funds from other sources to reduce those rates a bit for this year but
does nothing to resolve the fact that the same thing will keep happening in the
future. I am less deeply concerned by this year’s increase as I am about the ongoing
deferral of tackling the underlying issue. I voted against the bill and will
vote against the override. This is potentially the only bill that has some
Democrats feeling nervous about voter reaction, so it is possible that there
will be an effort to develop and pass a new bill rather than to override the
veto.
***
H.706: An act relating to banning the use
of neonicotinoid pesticides.
The focus of this bill is the critical
protection of pollinator bees. The governor is concerned that it is anti-farmer,
because Vermont is a tiny market and can’t control the availability of seeds
that are not treated with these chemicals. I voted to support it, because I
believe it has protections built in against adverse consequences. It doesn’t
take effect until the New York State law does, and that state’s market can
ensure access to seed. The bill also allows for suspending the law if crops or
economic stability are significantly threatened. I will support an override.
***
H.289: An act relating to the Renewable
Energy Standard.
In contrast to H. 706, the RES bill has no
protection against an unknown, but potentially severe, financial consequence.
It seeks to expedite our existing, aggressive standards towards fully renewable
energy, but experts can’t predict the costs with any degree of confidence. I
voted against it and will vote against the override.
***
H.72: An act relating to a harm-reduction
criminal justice response to drug use.
This is the “safe injection site” bill, to
fund a program in Burlington where illicit drugs can be used under supervision
so that if a person overdoses, they can receive an immediate medical response. The
mantra is, it will save lives. I have supported broad access to Narcan, the
overdose reversal drug for that reason. I support strong resources for
prevention and treatment.
But will a site like this actually save
lives? Or do we shoot ourselves in the foot by educating on prevention and yet
sending a public message that it’s OK to use, as long as you practice “safe
use” – when we know there is no such thing as safe use? We could lose more
lives in the longer term, and in a world of limited resources, choosing one
thing ($1,000,000 for the safe injection site) means fewer resources for
existing, proven interventions. I voted against it and will vote to sustain the
veto.
***
H.645: An act relating to the expansion of
approaches to restorative justice.
I found this bill to be a tough call. I
believe in the evidence that restorative justice for non-violent crime is more
effective than punitive measures. I strongly believe that there should be equal
access to these programs in Vermont, regardless of county. That isn’t true now.
This bill works to ensure access across
the state. It will be expensive, and there is no money in the budget to pay for
it, since the costs won’t come until next year. The governor’s veto was based
upon the fact that we don’t know where the money will come from to implement
it.
For me, the bigger problem is that
although it professes equity in access, it doesn’t actually create it. It will
require every county to have a program, but in the name of local prosecutorial
authority, it doesn’t require that the standards be the same. The same crime
will block access to a restorative justice program in one county, but not in
another. That’s still not equity. I voted no and will vote against an override.
***
Given the supermajority, will my votes
make a difference when I oppose an override, given that the original House and
Senate votes have it locked in already? Not likely. Fortunately, the
Legislature still retains degrees of collaboration at the nitty-gritty level of
committee work.
While some majority priorities can be and
are rammed through, most committee chairs do want to build consensus, and bring
bills to the floor that have a unanimous committee vote. Democracy survives
there, even within a supermajority legislature. Once a bill gets to the floor,
no one is listening to debate anymore because the votes are pre-ordained. This
is even more true, when a veto override vote is called. Don’t expect any
surprises.
***
Thank you, as always, to all those who
make contact and share your concerns. You can reach out any time to Rep. Ken
Goslant at kgoslant@leg.state.vt.us or me at adonahue@leg.state.vt.us. And have a great
summer!
