Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen is trying to get a session of the Legislation called for next Wednesday to consider her proposal that $20 million from the Public Finance Authority be used to "satisfy the demands of teachers and other essential employees of the government."
Sen. Adelbert Bryan tried and failed earlier in the week to do the same thing. He was trying, however, to bring about an override of Gov. Charles Turnbull’s veto of Hansen’s plan, which was attached to a bill approved in the last special session of the Senate. But because Hansen’s $20 million amendment came as a separate item, an executive veto couldn’t be overridden.
Hansen maintains that the $20 million from the Public Finance Authority's earned-interest income can be used to provide $10 million for striking teachers, $5 million for police officers and $5 million for the Union Arbitration Fund.
In his veto message, however, Turnbull said there was not $20 million in the Finance Authority accounts in "uncommitted, unrestricted or unattached resources."
Hansen said the Senate Post Auditor, Campbell Malone, had given his opinion that the $20 million is "good money."
"It was disingenuous for the governor to say that he has already committed the money because only legislators can decide where funds are committed to," Hansen said in a release on Friday. "Once and for all let us bring an end to this terrible chapter in the relationship between our government and some of its most essential employees."
