The chief Senate architect of a major public employee pension overhaul said Saturday afternoon he's baffled by Gov. Tim Pawlenty's shifting signals on the legislation.

Although the governor hinted Thursday that the bill could become a bargaining chip in rancorous state budget negotiations, Sen. Don Betzold, DFL-Fridley, said there have been no such discussions.

"I don't understand it," Betzold said.

On Wednesday, Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung stated emphatically that the governor would veto the pension measure. "The pensions bill lacks significant reform, continues to provide future increases, mandates additional costs to local governments and makes the structural budget worse by tens of millions of dollars," McClung said. "This bill will be vetoed."

But Pawlenty later said, "I'm going to hold it for a few days until we see how the negotiations go."

He has until midnight Saturday to veto the legislation. It passed the House and Senate by wide margins with substantial Republican support and enough votes to override a veto if those votes remained the same.

In a statement early Saturday morning announcing Pawlenty's signing or vetoing of 13 bills, McClung made a pointed reference to the pension package. "Governor Pawlenty did not take action on...the Omnibus Pensions Bill," McClung said. "He will have to take action on that bill by the end of today (12 midnight)."

Pawlenty spent much of Saturday at the fishing opener in northern Minnesota, but headed back to the Twin Cities in the afternoon to resume negotiations.

Betzold and others in the DFL camp said Pawlenty's office has received numerous appeals from groups effected by the pension changes to sign the legislation. The overhaul provides for higher contributions from government employees and cities, counties and the state, and suspends or trims benefit increases for retirees. It is projected to save $2.1 billion in current pension obligations over five years.

Betzold said vetoing the legislation would increase public costs by allowing previously scheduled retiree benefit increases to go into effect without the reductions provided by the overhaul.