MONTPELIER — The Vermont House has advanced a proposal to block public employees convicted of certain crimes from collecting their full pensions.

The bill would allow a court to order the forfeiture of state or municipal employee or teacher pensions if a former employee is convicted of fraud or embezzlement.

Gov. Peter Shumlin made the proposal following revelations last year that a long-time Vermont State Police employee, Sgt. James Deeghan, had been padding his overtime reports.

Deeghan recently pleaded guilty and faces up to two years in prison and the repayment of more than $200,000 from his pension over six years.

Pensions typically are based on a person’s last three years of income. The legislation would guard against pensions being paid out when that income was improperly inflated.