The Vermont General Assembly adjourned at12:22 amon Friday, May 19th. After four long weeks of debate between legislative leaders and Governor Scott over a proposal that would shift bargaining for teachers’ health benefit contracts from local school boards to a statewide process, lawmakers and the Governor reached an impasse in their negotiationsThursdaynight. Lawmakers elected to adjourn earlyFridaymorning expecting that Governor Scott will veto the budget bill (H.518) and an education property tax bill that attempts to address the statewide teacher health insurance contract issue (H.509). Before wrapping up their work for the session, lawmakers also passed an economic development bill (S.135) and the miscellaneous tax bill (H.516). Interestingly, many sections of S.135, the economic development bill, will not go into effect until the FY18 budget bill is enacted into law, a last minute amendment by lawmakers.
In the event of a veto, the General Assembly will reconvene onJune 21stfor a veto override session. This gives legislative leaders and the Governor five weeks to figure out how to address the teacher health care benefits issue. The Governor must also decide whether to sign the other bills that have been delivered to his desk, including a bill to legalize small amounts of marijuana.
We will send a final report next week with a summary of the significant bills that passed during the 2017 legislative session.