Thursday, May 11, 2017
In separate announcements Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) offered an alternative to Scott's proposal to mandate statewide negotiation of public school health insurance plans — a change the governor claims could save up to $26 million.
Johnson and Ashe characterized their plan, which would require the savings but allow school districts to determine how to achieve them, as a "compromise." But it was, in fact, a repurposed version of the same proposal Ashe had offered the governor a day earlier.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont Legislature , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
"I’ve seen no movement whatsoever," said Jeff Francis, executive director of the Vermont Superintendents Association. Francis and the Vermont School Boards Association support Scott's call for a statewide contract for teachers' health insurance, which the governor claims could save up to $26 million.
House and Senate leaders have questioned that projection and, along with the Vermont-National Education Association, a statewide teachers' union, they oppose the state intervening in collective bargaining. But all sides say they want to save money through the negotiation of new health insurance plans, and Scott has indicated he won't sign a budget that doesn't include those savings.
Lawmakers had hoped to adjourn last Saturday, a week earlier than scheduled. But the impasse prompted them to abandon that plan last Friday and return to Montpelier on Wednesday.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont Legislature , Vermont-NEA , budget , Image , Web Only
The Vermont House on Wednesday voted to legalize marijuana possession, a miraculous revival for legislation that appeared just days before to be going nowhere fast.
“Vermont lawmakers made history today,” declared Matt Simon, New England political director for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. “There is no rational reason to continue punishing adults for consuming a substance that is safer than alcohol.”
The 79-66 vote means the bill, already approved by the Senate, goes next to Gov. Phil Scott. Asked Wednesday what he would do — sign, veto or let the legislation become law without his signature — the governor declined to say.
“I don’t believe this is a priority for Vermont,” the first-term Republican governor said, reiterating his concern that there is no roadside test to detect drivers impaired by marijuana. The bill, S.22, would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana and home growing of up to two mature and four immature plants for adults age 21 and over. It would go into effect July 2018.
Tags: Cannabeat , Don Turner , Laura Sibilia , marijuana legalization , Maxine Grad , Patrick Brennan , Phil Scott , Tom Burditt , Vermont House , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
S.22 also calls for a commission to study how the state might eventually tax and regulate the drug. House Judiciary Committee Chair Maxine Grad (D-Moretown) said she'll ask her committee Wednesday to recommend the full House pass the bill.
"I will put this on the table and see what happens," Grad said Tuesday. "I'm pretty confident I have the votes [in committee] to concur. Then beyond that, I don't know."
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana legalization , Maxine Grad , Vermont House , Vermont marijuana legalization , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 8, 2017
The dispute over how to implement changes in health plans prompted by the Affordable Care Act is prolonging the legislative session. Originally planned for last Saturday, adjournment was postponed until this Thursday. Scott is demanding that the budget include the expected savings, but his proposal to recoup them by negotiating a statewide teachers’ contract has met with resistance in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate.
After failing to reach agreement Friday, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) met with one another again Monday morning — and with the governor later in the afternoon. No one, however, suggested a grand bargain was imminent.
Scott spokesperson Rebecca Kelley said Monday morning that the governor remains “confident” that his proposal is best, and he doesn’t plan to offer up any other solution. He has rebuffed legislative counter-proposals that would preserve collective bargaining at the school-district level. Scott has not, however, “drawn a line in the sand that it has to be this proposal,” Kelley noted.
In an interview Monday afternoon in the Statehouse cafeteria, Johnson said, “I think we’re making progress in terms of understanding where people’s bumpers are, in terms of what they’re willing to do and what they’re not willing to do.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Tim Ashe , Mitzi Johnson , Vermont Legislature , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 5, 2017
Unable to find common ground with Gov. Phil Scott, Vermont legislative leaders announced Friday evening that they have postponed session adjournment until next Thursday.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) emerged from the Republican governor’s ceremonial office around 6 p.m., having made a last-ditch attempt to come to an agreement on the budget.
The sticking point: How to recoup up to $26 million in savings from teacher health insurance plans. The Scott administration wants to negotiate a statewide teacher's contract for health insurance. Ashe and Johnson, meanwhile, have said they won't meddle with the collective bargaining process, preferring to let local school districts negotiate on their own.
Ashe told senators that they will resume business Wednesday at 10 a.m. and hope to conclude the session the next day.
Tags: Phil Scott , Vermont legislature , Mitzi Johnson , Tim Ashe , teacher health care plans , Image , Web Only
But Mazza is also known for his flamboyant ties — fuchsia, ultramarine, lavender — matched with a pocket square and a satiny cloth rose pinned to his lapel.
While it's common knowledge that the Colchester grocer has the ear of both Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), few are aware that his influence extends into both men's wardrobes.
Mazza's main objective: Liven up the neckwear of the two most powerful men in the Statehouse. Scott and Ashe are currently embroiled in budget negotiations with one another, as well as with House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero).
The fashion fix-up started with Scott, for whom Mazza estimates he has purchased at least a dozen ties over the years. "He’s very difficult. He doesn’t like to dress [up]. He'll come over here in work boots," Mazza said Thursday, standing outside the governor's ceremonial office.
Tags: Phil Scott , Dick Mazza , Tim Ashe , fashion , Image , Web Only
Sears introduced an amendment on the Vermont Senate floor mirroring a House-passed measure, H.170, that would legalize marijuana possession. He added to it a study commission to look at how Vermont might go about taxing and regulating the drug.
The amendment passed the full Senate in a 20-9 vote. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider it late Friday afternoon, meaning the full House could still vote on the measure before the end of the session.
"This is an effort to put something that might have an opportunity to pass," Sears told fellow senators Friday afternoon.
Tags: Cannabeat , Dick Sears , marijuana legallization , Maxine Grad , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
The Senate Agriculture Committee introduced an amendment on the floor to the “miscellaneous agriculture bill” that would exempt farms’ nutrient management plans from the state Public Records Act. It passed easily, without debate.
Those state-mandated plans detail what each farm is doing to curb pollution of the state’s waterways. Vermont is spending millions to help agricultural operations comply with the law.
“What this provision does is it essentially blinds the public from how those dollars are going to be implemented on farm fields,” said Rebekah Weber, “lakekeeper” for the Conservation Law Foundation. “I don’t understand the need for secrecy around that, especially when we’re asking the public to help foot the bill.”
CLF previously sued the state for failing to enforce federal clean water requirements — and won. It’s not enough, Weber suggested, to trust the Agency of Agriculture to inspect farmers’ plans. “The state hasn’t done a great job on enforcement,” she said.
Sen. Bobby Starr (D-Essex/Orleans) is the chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. He argued that the public would still be able to see plans — so long as a farm’s name was redacted. According to Weber, that would limit CLF’s efforts to hold farms accountable.
Tags: Vermont Senate , Conservation Law Foundation , Bobby Starr , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Along with eight other Democratic representatives, they broke ranks with their party leaders to support Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s proposal to negotiate a statewide teachers’ health insurance contract.
“The reason we were in the position we were in was because of the freshman Democrats,” said Rep. Heidi Scheuermann (R-Stowe).
“Most wayward freshmen class of all time,” said Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover), sounding somewhat exasperated.
The GOP coup was short-lived. As Republicans were about to triumph by a 74-73 margin, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) cast a rare vote, resulting in a tie that killed the proposal. Still, all anyone could talk about Thursday was the Democratic defections.
Tags: Phil Scott , Mitzi Johnson , Vermont legislature , teacher health insurance , Image , Web Only