Senate Democrats failed on Thursday to override Christie's veto of a bill that would have required the state to make quarterly payments. The override attempt fell four votes short of the 29 needed to reverse Christie's veto. Democrats have not overturned any of the governor's vetoes in his five years in office.
The legislation — which easily passed both houses in June — was introduced after the Governor cut the state's pension payment by $886 million for the fiscal year ending June 30. Governor Christie also cut the allocation in this year's budget for pension payments from $2.25 billion to $681 million, an amount that he says covers active state employees.
When Christie vetoed the bill in July, he called it "an improper and unwarranted intrusion upon the longstanding executive prerogative to determine the appropriate timing of payments."
Public employee unions, which are challenging in court Christie's decision to cut state pension payments, pledged to continue fighting Christie on the issue. Sponsors of the bill argue that if the state made quarterly payments, it could not claim at the end of the budget cycle that it could not afford its pension contributions.
Source: NorthJersey News