Video: Senate Sustains Governor Doug Burgum’s Veto, Protects Bonuses for Executive Branch Employees

Did I call this? I’m pretty sure I called this.

Earlier this week I wrote that the House would likely vote to override Governor Doug Burgum’s veto of HB1153 – which, if it had become law, would have restricted bonuses for executive branch employees to no more than 10 percent of their salary or $5,000 – and that the Senate would likely vote to sustain it.

That’s exactly what happened. Yesterday the House voted overwhelmingly to override the veto, with both Majority Leader Al Carlson (R-Fargo) and Minority Leader Corey Mock (D-Grand Forks) supporting the vote.

Today the Senate, despite originally passing the bill with enough votes to override a veto, could only muster 13 votes to override the veto. A total of 33 Senators voted to sustain it.

Senator Kyle Davison (R-Fargo) called the bill an “overreaction to a controversial decision made by a previous administration.”

Nobody else spoke on the vote.

So put a point on the board for Burgum in his first showdown with lawmakers though, to be fair, the Senate has a pretty lengthy history of caving to the executive branch.

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