Despite winning support from every Senate Republican, the bill, which increases spending over the previous year by less than 1 percent, faces an uncertain future.
It relies on a $34 million tobacco settlement, and Scott announced Tuesday that he wants to use a majority of that money to hold property taxes level. The Republican governor could decide to veto the budget to pressure lawmakers into supporting his property tax and education cost-containment proposal.
Like the House, the Senate rejected a number of cuts that Scott recommended. Its budget would restore funding to two programs that serve people with disabilities, a loan repayment program for doctors and a health insurance cost-sharing program.
The Senate budget, unlike the House version, doesn’t include tuition assistance for Vermont National Guard members, which the governor proposed.
The budget would invest $7 million from the tobacco settlement into the state’s child welfare system. Calling the current court model “very adversarial,” Senate Appropriations Committee chair Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia) said she wants to “see if we can do a better job for our children and for our families that are suffering.”
Another $10 million from the settlement would be used to shore up the teachers’ pension fund. And $5 million would support programs to expand the number of mental health and substance abuse workers, complementing a $4.3 million allocation that would raise salaries for mental health workers.
The budget would also provide more money for mental health beds. Again drawing on the settlement money, it would give $1 million to the Brattleboro Retreat, a private psychiatric hospital, to renovate space for 12 beds for patients in state custody. The capital bill includes another $4.5 million for this project.
The Senate and House will now need to reconcile their respective versions of the budget in a conference committee.
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