This story was corrected Thursday morning to indicate the vote was not to override but to suspend rules to allow for a vote on the re-worked budget bill.
Vermont Business Magazine The House this afternoon failed to get a vote on a re-worked Governor Scott's veto of the budget, despite stripping out what the Democratic leadership called all areas of contention regarding funds for public education. As VPR reported yesterday, Speaker Mitzi Johnson and Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe amended the budget, which passed the Appropriations Committee without dissent. However, needing 101 to suspend rules in the House to allow a vote on the re-worked budget, Johnson could muster only 82 votes to 52 against. If Republicans hold together they hold enough votes to prevent a two-thirds majority to suspend rules or succeed in an override. The governor wants to use $60 million in surplus funds to offset any need to raise the property tax, while Democrats maintain that using one-time money for an ongoing expenditure is bad policy and misuse of those funds.
“Today House Republicans blocked the passage of a budget bill that would prevent Vermont state government from shutting down.
“Yesterday, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe and I asked our Appropriations Committees to craft a bill to keep Vermont government open. The bill, H.13, received unanimous support in the House Committee on Appropriations. It excludes any major points of dispute between Governor Scott and the Legislature. The bill includes all of the state budget provisions that all parties agree on, including protecting Vermonters from $30 million in income tax increases, eliminating the tax on Social Security income for low and middle income Vermonters, and funding tuition scholarships to Vermont State Colleges for our Vermont National Guard members. By excluding the disputed education finance and policy items, this bill ensures that Vermonters know they will receive vital public services while we continue working on the narrow, remaining areas of disagreement to be resolved in a separate bill. Moving H.13 forward gives Vermonters certainty. Keeping government open is the right thing to do.
“Every day we fail to move a bill forward erodes the faith Vermonters have in government. Preventing government shutdown is the right thing to do. The legislature refuses to resort to DC-style politics that put Vermont families and the state’s livelihood at risk.”
Source: Speaker 5.30.2018