MONTPELIER, Vt. -
Surrounded by a roomful of Vermont leaders, Governor Peter Shumlin wasted no time Wednesday to introduce 2013's first piece of legislation.
It's a bill that would target teachers, municipal and state employees' pensions, if they're caught stealing tax payer money.
"If you rip off the public, if you break the public trust, if you take taxpayers dollars, the judge has the discretion to order those to be repaid to the state," said Shumlin.
The reason, last year state police say one of its own, James Deeghan, was padding his time sheet with overtime.
And even if he is convicted, the state can't touch his pension.
This bill couldn't change Deeghan's case, but if passed, a judge could sentence someone to pay back all or part of their pension if they steal money.
Despite the Deeghan case, Shumlin says this is the only statewide change he wants to make.
"We trust our state employees," said Shumlin.
While there won't be changes across the board, things are different within the state police department.
For example, if someone works excessive amounts of overtime, red flags go off and just recently they've added lieutenants to the night shift to give even more oversight.
So far leaders say it appears Deeghan acted alone and they hope this bill will make others think twice.
"We can't change the past, we can only look to the future," said Vermont Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn.
The 2013 legislative session starts next week.
Lawmakers at the news conference told us they expect to take this bill up when it begins and hope to have something passed before the session ends.
