The Vermont House has failed to override Governor Phil Scott’s first veto of the legislative session. A bill intended to give Vermont more power to regulate children's and consumer products containing unsafe chemicals was drafted following the discovery of PFOA in Bennington water wells. It was passed by the Legislature, but Governor Scott vetoed the measure on April 16th, saying it was duplicative and could make the state less competitive.
The Vermont Senate voted to override the governor’s veto on April 19th and forwarded it to the House. On Wednesday afternoon the Democratically-controlled House was unable to gain the two-thirds majority needed and failed to override the Republican governor’s veto. Speaker Mitzi Johnson announced the results: ”Those voting yes 94. Those voting no 53. 98 votes are required to pass and you have declined to pass the bill the failure of the governor to approve notwithstanding.
There was minimal debate prior to the vote. One Bennington representative stepped up and urged the chamber to overturn the governor’s action. “The heartbreak that I witnessed when our community found out about PFOA in our waterways was so heady. They have been rocked to their foundations and we did the appropriate thing as a legislature to push forth on that understanding that no one deserves to be poisoned.”
House Minority Leader Don Turner had pledged that the Republican caucus would uphold the governor’s veto. Prior to the vote he told legislators that the bill was not needed. “Children will not be any safer as a result of the proposed changes in S.103.”
Following the defeat of the override, Turner said he was pleased with the outcome. “It’s very important at this point in the year for the caucus to stand behind the Governor. You know these bills that we have had concern with, we still have concern with and it definitely would really strengthen the Governor’s position if we were able to sustain his veto. And I’m proud that we did sustain his veto.”
Vermont Natural Resources Council Executive Director Brian Shupe says S.103 addressed key areas to protect Vermonters from contaminants. “We’re obviously disappointed. We’re especially disappointed that several of the representatives who voted initially in favor of the bill reversed their vote to support the Governor’s veto. Although not entirely surprised. We believe it was solid legislation that despite the Governor’s comments would have no harmful impacts on Vermont industry or the economy. It provides an efficient and effective way for state government to act to protect children from toxic chemicals should they be found to be in children’s products. At the same time the bill would protect Vermonters’ drinking water supplies by at least letting them know if there are toxic chemicals present in new drilled wells.”
Vermont Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Paul Burns issued a statement saying “53 cowardly legislators” have made protecting children harder. “This is a real missed opportunity to provide some greater protections from products that may contain chemicals that could be harmful to kids. I think that this ended up being a political vote on the part of most members of the Republican party. There were two members of the Republican party who represent areas near to where the PFOA water contamination problems were discovered and they had I think the courage to vote in favor of this legislation. But it shouldn’t take a pollution catastrophe in a legislative district to allow legislators the freedom to vote their conscience on an issue. And I think for most others they were expected to vote the political line and that’s what they did.”
Speaker Johnson issued a statement expressing her disappointment and noting that she will continue to work on similar legislation.
Audio from the House session is courtesy of the Statehouse webstream provided by Vermont Public Radio.
