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Evergreen law's repeal takes effect

Governor neither vetoes nor signs

By Matthew Spolar / Monitor staff

March 2, 2011

The state's evergreen law has been repealed without a veto attempt by Gov. John Lynch, marking the new Republican-controlled Legislature's first rollback of a law signed by the Democratic governor.
"I think it signifies that the majority has the ability to act quickly on certain pieces of legislation," House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, a Republican from Salem, said yesterday. "I think this is a good indication of things to come."
The evergreen law, signed by Lynch in 2008, continued pay plans for public employees after contracts expired, effectively assuring teachers and other public employees they would receive salary step increases based on years of experience instead of having their wages frozen until a subsequent contract was approved.
The law had heavy support from labor unions, which saw it as keeping a promise to public employees who take jobs under the assumption that they will see incremental raises each year until reaching the top of the pay scale.
But the law quickly became a target of Republican lawmakers on behalf of public employers like towns and school districts, which argued that guaranteeing employees automatic step increases tilted negotiations toward unions and away from taxpayers.
As the repeal legislation - Senate Bill 1 - sailed through the Senate and House, Lynch had remained mum about whether he would attempt to veto it. Primary sponsor Sen. Bob Odell, a Republican from Lempster, said he spoke with the governor when the bill reached his desk last week and was still unsure which way Lynch was leaning.
"The main thing was it becomes law before (annual) school meetings and town meetings (this) month," Odell said. That way, voters could approve or deny contracts knowing whether the evergreen law would apply once the contracts expired, he said.
Lynch decided to let the bill sit on his desk for five days, rendering it law without his signature. Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, and the prior floor votes in both chambers suggested a challenge by Lynch would have been overridden.
Mark MacKenzie, president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, said the governor "understands the political reality of where he's at with this piece of legislation."
"I think the governor is faced with a number of bills this year that he's going to have to make some decisions on in terms of what he does and his use of his veto," said MacKenzie, who had testified against the repeal. "I understand that is a process that takes a lot of time and thought."
Lynch's spokesman, Colin Manning, said the governor didn't veto the repeal because he "believes that the law hadn't worked out as well as it had intended" in bringing both sides to the table during public employee negotiations.
But the governor also chose not to sign the repeal bill into law, Manning said, because he felt the legislation could have been improved and he was not convinced a full repeal of the evergreen law was needed.
Now that the evergreen law has been repealed, only contracts that contain specific evergreen language negotiated by unions and employers will continue to be subject to evergreen provisions. For all other contracts, whether they were signed while the evergreen law was in place or after it was repealed, public employees will not see automatic salary step increases once the contracts expire.
Rick Trombly, New Hampshire spokesman for the National Education Association, which represents teachers unions, said "we will be looking at what action we might take" with regard to the repeal immediately eliminating evergreen oversight from contracts signed while the law was in place. MacKenzie said he was aware of attorneys meeting on the issue to discuss possible litigation.