CONCORD — Gov. John Lynch vetoed a bill giving lawmakers greater oversight over collective bargaining contracts reached with state workers.

House Bill 1666 would require the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee to approve any contract negotiated with state employees.

Lynch said the bill would hamper the executive branch’s ability to negotiate contracts and dramatically change the process.

The bill was the one of only a few dealing with labor agreements and collective bargaining to be approved by lawmakers this year.

House Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, said lawmakers deserve to have a voice on state employee contracts. The bill creates greater accountability, he argued.

O’Brien this session, continued to push for right-to-work legislation that would have prohibited unions from charging non-members for the cost of negotiating and administering contracts.

The Senate blocked his effort saying it was a waste of time in light of the House’s failure last year to override Lynch’s veto of similar legislation.

HB 1666 originally would have allowed the House and Senate to vote on labor agreements with state employees, but the Senate decided to give authority to the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee to approve the contracts.

For many years the Joint Committee on Employee Relations was briefed by state negotiators on the collective bargaining agreements and submitted recommendations to the House and Senate. The committee was repealed in 2010.

In his veto message Lynch said the provisions of HB 1666 could mean reopening negotiations with the unions after settlements had been reached.

“HB 1666 would dramatically change the process of collective bargaining in New Hampshire by requiring the fiscal committee to approve all collective bargaining agreements,” Lynch said. “This runs counter to established law and procedure in New Hampshire, and would, in effect, turn the fiscal committee into its own state negotiating team, potentially requiring dozens of fiscal committee meetings.”

Lynch noted the executive branch negotiates with three unions on eight master collective bargaining agreements and 27 sub-unit agreements.

Those agreements include hundreds of provisions negotiated item by item over a period of many months, he said.

Lynch said HB 1666 creates a redundant and cumbersome process where each item, in each collective bargaining agreement, will now be subject to fiscal committee approval.

“The potential exists for reopening debate on hundreds of items, all of which inter-relate and comprise the entire agreement,” he said, which would make it nearly impossible to finalize contracts.

“We should be working to streamline government and make it run more efficiently, not adding additional layers, which is what HB 1666 will do,” Lynch wrote. “The Legislature has a time tested and practical role to play in the collective bargaining process — approval of cost items through the state budget. This system has served our state well over the years, and major changes contemplated by HB 1666 will be a detriment to that system.”

But O’Brien said lawmakers need greater oversight of collective bargaining agreements in order to control costs and for greater accountability.

“Oversight by elected officials in the collective bargaining process for the public sector means that taxpayers will finally be at the negotiating table and not just agency heads, which promotes accountability within state government,” he said. “This bill would give the Legislature a role in determining the fairness of contracts that the State negotiates and as stewards of taxpayers’ hard earned money we should support policies that bring government accountability and integrity.”

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Garry Rayno may be reached at grayno@unionleader.com.