Week 15: April 11th to April 14th

At Last

Spring came to Montpelier last week with temperatures in the 70s. The front doors of the State House were opened to the sunshine at last. The crowded halls, packed committee rooms, and busy cafeteria gave way to the music, costumes, placards, and speeches of those that gathered on the front lawn. Wednesday it was the Courage to Care Rally celebrating efforts to promote child care and early education. And Thursday the Vermont Youth Lobby campaigned for Climate related legislation. Legislators took short breaks to join the crowds and listen to concerns.

Back inside, the work continued as House and Senate committees took testimony and began adjusting the legislation sent over from one body to the other. Time on the floor with debate and votes was minimal. 

There is about a month left in the session. Not much time to bring sharp focus on several important pieces of legislation. Aside from the State Budget (H.494) currently being picked over by Senate Appropriations there is:

Why two versions of the same legislation - Child Care and Early Education

There is now both a House and Senate versions of a Child Care and Early Education bill: one from the House (H.208 - Summary) and one from the Senate (S.56 - Summary,  Fiscal Note). The House version was introduced to the House and sent off to the House Human Services committee. The Senate passed their version and sent it over to the House several weeks ago. It too was sent to House Human Services. This is not unusual. That committee is primarily working on the Senate version and has been taking testimony for several weeks. It is just now coming out with some proposed changes. It's an iterative process. After hearing all the testimony the committee discusses possible changes. A member of Legislative Counsel takes notes on any proposed changes and implements those proposals as amendments to the bill. On this web page you can see the proposed changes as Draft "S.56: Draft 2.1". The committee discusses the changes and proposes more. That results in another draft by Legislative Counsel. There can easily be 7 or 8 drafts before a final version results. Bills can change a lot.

H.208, the House version, may never come out of committee. If it does, it then has to go to the House floor for debate and a vote. If it passes, it goes to the Senate for more of the same. Rather than do that, why not just change the Senate bill, incorporate some or all of the House bill, and send it back to the Senate? That shortens the process. With end-of-session just down the street, that's important. 

The result will probably be that the Senate will not like the changes to their bill. In which case, a Committee of Conference (CoC), is likely. The CoC, consisting of three members from the Senate and three from the House will work out the differences and propose a revised bill for both bodies to vote on.

This legislation is not a kneejerk reaction to the recent critical need for child care services in Vermont. Let's Grow Kids and Building Bright Futures have been working on this for nearly a decade. This report from Let's Grow Kids details the work that has been done. In addition the RAND corporation was commissioned through legislation to analyse and report on Vermont Early Care and Education Financing.

Before this proposed legislation comes to the House floor, it will come to my committee (House Ways & Means). We will look into the financial side of the proposed legislation.

Other Interesting Proposals

Pay Raises for Legislators - S.39 passed the Senate with an 18 to 9 vote last week and will be coming over to the House for consideration. It never looks good for Legislators to raise their own pay, even if it's needed. Last biennium, legislation was passed that tied any increase in Legislator's salaries to the negotiated increase in Vermont employees' pay. That provided for some cost of living adjustment. We'll see how the House feels about it.

Paramilitary Training Camps - S.3, relating to prohibiting paramilitary training camps, passed out of the House on a voice vote with only a few grumbled "nays." The bill was a direct result of all the chaos surrounding the Slate Ridge operation in Pawlet. The Governor is likely to sign it into law.

Housing - S.100 is the Senate's response to Vermont's housing crisis. Here's an official summary of the version that came out of the Senate. It is now in the House committee on General and Housing. 

Tax Exemptions - Each session there are proposals to exempt some people, entities, and such from various taxes. Those bills come to my committee. These are called Tax Expenditures. Every two years the Administration prepares a report of all the State's Tax Expenditures. The total of the taxes not collected is in the hundred millions. Here are some of the proposals this session.

The problem, of course, is that if current services and programs are to be maintained, every exemption means more taxes paid by someone else. Few of these bills will become law.

Gender in sports - H.513 relates to "protecting the competitive integrity and safety of girls and women in sports." It is a "short form" bill that "proposes to prohibit individuals that were assigned the sex of male at birth from participating in an elementary, secondary, or postsecondary school athletic program or activity that is designated for girls or women." A Short Form bill puts forth the idea of the bill without the specific language needed to implement it. If it looks like the bill will receive serious consideration the details will be developed. H.513 is currently in the Education committee.

Age for Marraige - H.148 is an "Act to Ban Child Marriage." It has passed both the House and Senate and is awaiting the Governor's signature. The bill raises the age at which one can marry in Vermont from 16 to 18.

Coming Up

Financing Child Care and Early Education is the primary focus of my committee this coming week. The Affordable Heat Standard bill (S.5) will be coming out of the Environment and Energy committee soon. The end-of-session will not be pretty as the House and Senate have some broad disagreements to resolve. It is unfortunate that the personalities of those in leadership positions in the House, the Senate and the Administration will become increasingly important as negotiations play out. Who will be stubborn? Who will be reasonable? The big decisions will be made in Committees of Conference and between the Speaker of the House (Rep. Jill Krowinski), the Senate Pro Tempore (Senator Phil Baruth) and the Governor (Phil Scott). The rest of us will work around the edges but . . . in the end there is always a vote.