Posts tagged veto
Connecticut governor vetoes bill that could lead to $3 million in assistance to striking workers
June 14, 2024 // Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday vetoed a vaguely written bill to create a $3 million fund that could have financially helped striking workers in Connecticut. Calling it commendable to provide assistance to low-wage workers, as the bill was described on the final night of the 2024 legislative session, Lamont said he was concerned about how the legislation lacked clarity, financial accountability and oversight.
Biden vetoes bid to repeal US labor board rule on contract, franchise workers
May 3, 2024 // Matthew Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association, said the rule would cause particular harm to underrepresented groups including minorities, women and veterans who have often turned to franchising as a path to business ownership. “President Biden claims to be a champion for small businesses, but today he turned his back on franchising," Haller said in a statement. The rule was set to take effect in February, but was delayed and ultimately blocked by U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Tyler, Texas, in a lawsuit by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.
MAINE: Mills vetoes farm worker minimum wage hike
April 28, 2024 // "Small family farms will no longer be independent businesses, but will be subsidiaries of large producers contracting out production processes or out of business completely," Julie Ann Smith, the bureau's executive director, said in recent testimony. "You do not have masses of agricultural workers clamoring for unionization. But you have farmers pleading with you not to destroy their livelihoods." Lawmakers could vote to override Mills' objections when they reconvene in August, but the slim margin by which the package of bills was passed will make it difficult to garner the two-thirds majority needed to reverse the governor's decision. In 2022, lawmakers failed to muster enough votes to override Mills' veto of a similar farm worker package that had called for closing loopholes in state and federal labor laws for farm workers, who are not covered by Maine’s minimum wage and overtime regulations.
Va. governor vetoes bill requiring two crew members on trains, federal guidance pending
March 13, 2024 // In 2016, the railroad administration stated that the “FRA cannot provide reliable or conclusive statistical data to suggest whether one-person crew operations are generally safer or less safe than multiple-person crew operations.” New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman studied accident reporting data spanning a period from 2006 to 2019 for 28 railroads in Europe and concluded in a 2021 report there was “no evidence that railroads operating with two-person crews are statistically safer than railroads operating with one-person crews.”
Biden vows veto if Congress moves to repeal NLRB rule on contract, franchise workers
January 10, 2024 // The rule replaced a Trump-era regulation requiring companies to have "direct and immediate" control over workers in order to be considered joint employers, which was favored by business groups. "Reversing this rulemaking will prevent workers from exercising their right to bargain for higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions," the OMB said on Monday. "Too often, companies deny workers this right by hiding behind subcontractors, staffing agencies, and temporary agencies." The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved the resolution for a vote last month. The federal Congressional Review Act allows Congress to repeal agency rules within 60 days of their adoption. The resolution only needs the support of a majority in the House and Senate to pass, but would require a two-thirds majority to overcome a Biden veto.
Four states advance bills prohibiting union dues deductions
April 21, 2023 //
House attempt to override Biden comes up short Labor Department regulation regarding ESG investments will stand
March 24, 2023 // "Thanks to Democrats, workers can be placed into ESG investment vehicles by default, and if a fiduciary finds that two investments are equal, the fiduciary is allowed to use collateral ESG factors to break the tie, without justifying or documenting that decision,” Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, said during the floor debate on the veto message.
Biden’s first veto backs pension investments in ESG
March 22, 2023 // The House is set to vote Thursday on overriding the veto, which requires a two-thirds vote, or support from 290 members. That outcome is unlikely after the resolution of disapproval first passed the House 216-204 last month. The Labor Department regulation was finalized last year and sought to strike a compromise between financial services companies that wanted clear rules and plan sponsors that did not want to be required to consider environmental, social and governance factors. It reversed a Trump administration policy that made changes to how a 1974 law, known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, is implemented.
Biden set for first veto on Senate bill opposing climate-friendly investing
March 2, 2023 // President Biden is expected to issue the first veto of his presidency after the Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would revoke a Labor Department rule allowing the managers of the agency’s vast retirement funds to use climate-oriented and social criteria when making investments. The Senate passed the measure after Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) crossed party lines and joined the Republicans, providing the key pieces of the 50-46 majority needed. Both senators are up for reelection next year in heavily Republican states. Four senators abstained. The House passed the bill on Tuesday. The measure takes aim at big asset managers who often use criteria that they believe are crucial for building a portfolio that can withstand changes, especially climate changes, over the coming years. These criteria are known as ESG — environmental, social and governance — and have become sensitive political and cultural touchstones, with critics calling them evidence of “woke” financial institutions.
Michigan Teachers’ Unions’ Desperate ‘Dark Money’ Fearmongering
February 9, 2022 // The unions and their allies are running out of options to preserve the public-school monopoly and deny the state’s families educational choice.