Monday, May 20, 2019
Legislative leaders on Monday floated a plan to fund clean water projects in the state not by raising new taxes, but by siphoning off one-time funds and existing revenue streams — and figuring out later how to plug the hole that will blow in future budgets.
The last-minute maneuvering, conceived in a closed-door meeting Monday morning and approved that afternoon by the Senate Finance Committee, would give legislators a way to claim victory in identifying a long-term source of funding without really doing so. By Tuesday morning, the full Senate backed the proposal on a voice vote and sent it to the House for consideration.
“This is a solution for now," said Senate Finance Committee chair Ann Cummings (D-Washington). "It gets us our money."
It would also obviate the need to immediately impose a new "cloud tax" on online software or raise the rooms and meals tax by 1 percentage point — two previous proposals that met resistance from industry lobbyists.
The plan calls for dedicating 6 percent of the general fund’s allotment of the rooms and meals tax — or about $12 million — annually to the Clean Water Fund to augment about $40 million in existing state and federal spending.
Tags: clean water , Vermont , Ann Cummings , Chris Pearson , Kaj Samsom , Phil Scott , Environmental Protection Agency , rooms and meals tax , cloud tax , general fund , Web Only , Image
According to Kelley, the Republican governor "has ruled out a veto" of H.57, which codifies the right to an abortion and prohibits public entities from interfering with a woman's right to choose. "It will become law," Kelley said.
Scott has not, however, decided whether he will sign H.57 or let it become law without his signature. Though the Vermont House and Senate have both passed the measure, the legislature has not yet formally transmitted it to Scott's office.
"He plans to/wants to read the final bill in full and deliberate further from there," Kelley said in a written message. NBC5 reporter Stewart Ledbetter first reported the news earlier Monday evening.
Tags: abortion , Vermont , Phil Scott , H.57 , Web Only , Image
Friday, May 17, 2019
Rep. Chris Bates (D-Bennington) was convicted of aggravated DUI in 2012, according to McHenry County, Ill., court records obtained by Seven Days. The charge stemmed from a 2010 arrest.
It was his third DUI, making it a felony.
Bates pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a lighter form of probation called conditional discharge. But the state sought to revoke the sentence in October 2013 because Bates missed a court date and failed to pay all fees. A judge issued a warrant for Bates' arrest that remains active, though Vermont is not among the states from which he may be extradited.
Tags: Christopher Bates , Kevin Hoyt , DUI , Vermont House of Representatives , arrest warrants , Bennington , Web Only , Image
After a robust debate Friday morning about the wisdom of raising millions annually by increasing the rooms and meals tax by 1 percent — a plan vigorously opposed by Scott administration officials and tourism interests — the idea fizzled out by afternoon in the powerful Senate Finance Committee.
Instead, the panel used up its dwindling end-of-session time to revisit the “cloud tax” on software purchases that the House proposed and passed last week.
The committee eventually took a break, at which point chair Sen. Ann Cummings (D-Washington) went behind closed doors to update Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) on the proceedings. After the better part of an hour, Cummings reemerged around 4:30 p.m. and announced the committee would take no vote on the issue before Monday.
Tags: Vermont , Statehouse , rooms and meals tax , clean water , cloud tax , Senate , House , legislature , Wendy Knight , Kaj Samsom , tourism , Web Only , Image
Still, the two chambers remain divided over many key issues, including a proposed increase in the minimum wage, establishment of a paid family leave program and a long-term funding source for cleaning up Vermont's waterways.
With these and other issues still unresolved, legislative leaders gave up on earlier plans to adjourn this weekend. Instead, lawmakers will return next week for what they hope will be a brief, two- or three-day session that would conclude before the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Legislators did manage to resolve some disputes before hitting the highway Friday.
Tags: Phil Baruth , Kate Webb , Michael Sirotkin , Phil Scott , Anthony Pollina , adjournment , Web Only , Image
The governor signed S.86 on Thursday, to the delight of groups such as the American Heart Association. Because most smokers pick up the harmful and addictive habit before they are 21, fewer people will start, health advocates reason.
The law takes effect September 1, 2019.
Similar legislation failed in 2016 and 2017. This year, lawmakers cited concerns about young people being exposed to more and more products.
"E-cigarettes, vaping, Juuling are taking over," Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden), a sponsor of the bill, warned in February. Flavored smokes appeal to kids, she added, and raising the legal age to 21 would make it harder for teens to get around age restrictions.
Tags: Vermont , smoking age , hike , 18 , 21 , e-cigarettes , Juul , Web Only , Image
Thursday, May 16, 2019
The House wants the legislature to retain its power to elect the adjutant general every two years, a prerogative that stretches back to the state’s storied militia era. The Senate prefers handing over that power to the governor, reasoning that it just makes sense to let the state's top elected official appoint its top military officer.
Members of a six-member conference committee met for the first time Thursday to come up with a compromise over the bill, H.530, that would pass muster with the House, the Senate and, ultimately, the governor. It quickly became clear that there was only one real battle line to draw.
“The $1 million question here is, does the governor appoint, or does the General Assembly continue to elect?” legislative attorney Damien Leonard told the committee.
Tags: Vermont adjutant general , Brian Collamore , Tom Stevens , Jeanette White , Web Only , Image
About a dozen protesters initiated the demonstration by unfurling banners from a second-floor gallery and delivering a series of speeches about the urgent threat of climate change and what they called a failure by the legislature to address it.
At first, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) tried to restore order from the podium with forceful strikes of her gavel. After Capitol Police led a woman out of the chamber, protesters threw hundreds of slips of paper off the balcony, showering legislators seated below. Johnson declared a recess and ordered representatives to clear the room.
After most lawmakers had departed, a man approached the vacant speaker’s podium, pounded the gavel and declared his fellow activists “in order” and “truthful” before Capitol Police removed him from the chamber.
Tags: climate change , climate activism , Vermont House , Capitol Police , Matthew Romei , Mitzi Johnson , Brian Cina , Zach Ralph , Colin Meyn , Carmen Richardson-Skinder , Asa Skinder , Alec Fleischer , press freedom , First Amendment , protest , Vermont statehouse , Web Only , Image
The triumphant declaration came after the Senate’s tax committee agreed for the first time this year to a source of revenue to pay for Vermont’s $50 to $60 million annual obligation under the federal Clean Water Act.
Even still, Campion acknowledged that the plan is far from finalized.
The proposal would raise Vermont’s rooms and meals tax from 9 percent to 10 percent starting in January and dedicate the increased revenues to the state’s Clean Water Fund.
Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint (D-Windham) said the plan would raise an estimated $8.1 million next year. Combining that sum with existing revenues from the property transfer tax and unreturned bottle deposits, she said, would be enough to put the state on a path toward meeting its clean water goals.
Tags: Lake Champlain , clean water , Heidi Scheuermann , Brian Campion , Becca Balint , Ann Cummings , Janet Ancel , Web Only , Image
"I'm looking at the aggregate burden," Scott said of Democratic proposals to raise the minimum wage, create a paid family leave program and increase other taxes and fees. He would not identify how he would arrive at an acceptable "aggregate burden."
It's a prudent strategy at a time when lawmakers and Statehouse observers are wondering how Scott will handle the endgame. Will he continue the cooperative path he has followed to date this session, or will he revert to the Quick Draw McVeto of 2018? The uncertainty does force lawmakers to negotiate details among themselves, as they try to avoid veto showdowns whenever possible.
The governor's presentation tended strongly toward the former. "I wanted to set a standard of behavior, one that unites rather than divides," he said. "I have focused on areas of agreement and listened to all ideas. I asked the legislature to give my ideas a fair shot, and I thank the legislature for doing just that."
Tags: Phil Scott , Susanne Young , Donald Trump , Bill Weld , Larry Hogan , Charlie Baker , Web Only , Image