Week 2 - January 9th to January 12th

State House Skating

The Summary:

The House is scheduled to meet on the floor at the following times.

• Tuesday - 10:00 
• Wednesday - 1:00
• Thursday - 1:00
• Friday - 9:00

 All other time is scheduled by each committee. Those schedules are set by the committee chairs. At various times throughout the week the chair, the vice-chair and the committee assistant huddle and refine the schedule. At any time a committee member can suggest that we hear testimony about a subject related to our work. Members of the public, lobbyists and organizations can ask for time to give testimony. The hope is to have the week's schedule finalized and posted on the committee page each Monday, but there are usually holes that get filled during the week. The time on the floor is not set in stone and can go for hours, depending on what bills are being considered. This results in a rapid reorganization of the schedule. Our committee chair keeps us busy.

• Tuesday
• Met one-to-one with Mike Touchette (Deputy Commissioner of Corrections) to talk about complaints I have received regarding the treatment of Vermont inmates at the Camp Hill corrections facility in Pennsylvania.
• 10:00 - House floor for 15 minutes
• 10:15 to Noon - Sexual Harassment training for an hour or so
• 1:15 - 1:50 - Democratic Caucus
• 2:00 2:30 Committee Discusion
• 2:30 Department of Corrections (DOC - Mike Touchette) testimony on various issues



Tuesday in the Cafeteria

• Camp Hill inmates (about 260)
• Community High School - That's the high school within the prison system
• Drones near Corrections Facilities dropping drugs etc. 
• Compact vs. Contract - We use an interstate Compact with PA for our inmates housed there. In the past we have had Contracts for out of state prisoners
• We have almost 20 inmates that are out of state, but not at Camp Hill. Five to seven of those are maximum security and 10 or so just need to be out of Vermont. Vermont does not have its own maximum security prison.
• Electronic Monitoring (EM) of those on house detention in Vermont has worked well but is not being used enough. Judges have not gotten used to it or do not know about it. Having 50 inmates on EM is supposed to save us money and free up beds, but we have only 11 home detention people on EM. 
• Video Arraignment in Vermont - still not used much. Privacy issues and prisoner advocates don't like it because the person is given the choice of a video arraignment now without privacy or you spend the night in prison and have a regular arraignment tomorrow.
• 3:45 - Break
• 4:00 - Review of bills on the wall.
• 4:15 - Done

• Wednesday
• Senate passes H.511 (Marijuana Legalization) by voice vote. The bill now goes to the governor. 
• 8:45 - DOC - Jennifer Fitch (Deputy Commission Building and General Services - BGS) gave testimony regarding some rather negative comments from the State Auditor about the running of BGS. Representative Emmonds (our Chair) first went through a review of why many projects were delayed by hurricane Irene and the flooding of the Waterbury Complex in 2011.
• BGS is/has implemented improvements in response to the audit.
• BGS would like to be able to have the Capital Bill pay for the cost of scoping and feasibility studies, but there is some question as to whether bonded money can be used for such short term projects that may go nowhere.
• 11:30 to Noon - iPad training. 
• All legislators are given an iPad. Many are unfamiliar with them.
• 1:00 on the floor for a short session
• 1:46 in Committee
• More BGS - This time the testimony concerned leases that are below market value. BGS is trying to clean these up and get them up to market value so that agencies using state building pay their fair share.
• 2:20 BGS presents information on the controversial move of the State Archives to the Historical Society Building in Barre rather than the original building in Berlin.
• 2:45 - 3:15: Louis Porter - Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife testified about the Roxbury Fish Hatchery project. The hatchery was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011. Getting it back on line has been a problem. A portion of the reconstruction is paid for by the Capital Bill, hence our concern. The total cost of the project is about $7 million. FEMA is paying a portion of that (a little over a million). 
• 3:30 - Capitol Police Chief Matt Romei and Sargent at Arms Janet Miller spoke on safety, security, evacuation routes, how to respond to various threats,etc.
• 4:40 - Done

• Thursday



Members of the AGC in the cafeteria

• 8:38 - 10:00: BGS - Dan Edson Manager of BGS Energy Office - Testimony on energy conservation in State building and related projects. 
• 10:05 - 11:00 Association of General Contractors (lots of high-viz vests in the room) testified about how much they like the changes in BGS and problems they are having finding good workers.
• 11:10 Matt Agistino from Department of Corrections about a request they are making for budget adjustment. They need more money for out-of-state Corrections beds. 
• Representative Hooper from the House Committee on Appropriations also spoke about a perpetually extended sunset date for a bill having to do with public inebriantes (read: drunks).
• Noon - lunch
• 1:00 for five minutes on the floor
• 1:35 - Back in Committee for more budget adjustment testimony from Representative Hooper.
• 1:39 Betsy Ann Wrath - Legislative Council presented Government Accountability Committee (GAC) report, a portion of which we review. This is all part of the Results Based Accountability (RBA) effort by the legislature.
• 3:40 - Annie Ramniceanu, Mental Health Systems Director from DOC testified about pilot programs within Vermont prisons - Peer-to-Peer pilot has proved very successful.
• 4:30 - Done for the day
• Meeting with other Democrats until 5:15

• Friday
• 9:30 to 9:46 - On the floor
• 10:00 Back in Committee
• Mike O'Grady from Legislative Council testified about legal language needed to clarify how we want the capital money we gave to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) used.
• 11:15 - Discussion about GAC and Results Based Accountability, again.
• 11:30 - Done for the day with regard to Committee
• 12:15 to 1:00 Workshop on taxes. Explanation by the Joint Fiscal Office about how Vermont's income taxes relate to Federal taxes and the possible impact of change in the federal tax code.

Leader

Breakfast

Last session I gained about 15 pounds, and it wasn't muscle. Free food abounds at the capitol. There are breakfast buffets with doughnuts, coffee and bagels. There are receptions in the Cedar Creek room in the late afternoon with cheese, meatballs, shrimp, and chicken skewers. Everyone looks forward to the Maple Association's breakfast spread of pancakes and maple syrup. Organizations and lobbyists have learned that providing free food to legislatores is a first step toward winning their hearts, and sometimes their votes. 

But this session I'm trying to loose, rather than gain, those 15. I hide in our committee room. One of our committee members, Representative Martel, is kind enough to bring in a platter of cut fruits and melons, grapes and other healthy additions at the beginning of each week.

Details

There are a few topics in that outline that may be of interest

The Budget Adjustment Act (BAA)

The finances of the state is a primary concern of the House. The House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for how funds are spent, meets five days a week while other committees have Monday off. Members of that committee are generally not on the floor when the House is in session, unless there is an important vote. They are constantly in committee.

When the session begins in January one of the first issues to consider is the BAA. In January we are about half-way through the state's fiscal year (July 1st to June 30th). It's time to check how the spending and revenues have been going and make adjustments. Adjustments to the budget are suggested by the  governor. Appropriations (actually referred to as Appropes) then considers those adjustments, along with suggestions from other interested parties, and put together a bill, in this case it's H.633. That bill should come before the House for a vote next week. There's a lot of scrambling going on to get it done. The House vote is not just a rubber stamp. Approval of the bill might fail, so Appropes consults with effected committees, explains the changes, seeks committee votes or memos approving the changes. That's why Representative Hooper was in our committee room on Thursday.

As soon as the BAA is done and approved, Appropes must start on the budget for the next fiscal year. They will work on that until the very last day of the session in May or June. That's not because they can't get things done. It's because any bill may require financing. Bills past late in the session may need lines in the budget. That's one of the reasons why the budget passes at the very end of the session.

State House Security

The State House is often referred to as The People's House. During normal hours the doors are not locked. There are no weapon detectors at the entrances, but there is a sign outside each entrance. A member of the public can wonder freely through the building. It is, after all, an official museum. Committee room doors are often closed, but that is to keep out the noise from the hall. People can come and go into, and out of, any committee room at any time. When school groups come to the building there are backpacks left just about anywhere. The lieutenant governor is in the building (he presides over the Senate) and it is not unusual to see the governor in the halls. This drives those responsible for our security crazy.

There are a number of entities involved. The state police are responsible for the governor's safety. The capitol police cover the state house. Building and General Services has security personnel responsible for the other builds within the capital complex. And there is the Montpelier police, though we see little of them.

So there is always a degree of tension between those who think we need more security and those that want to assure that we remain open and available to the public. In general, we go about our business and don't worry about it.

Bills on the Wall

The expression Bills on the Wall is literal. When a bill is introduced for first reading it is assigned to a committee. All committee rooms have bulletin boards where a piece of paper for that bill is posted. The paper states the bill number, a one sentence description and the names of the person or committee that created the bill. Placement on the board shows what status the bill is in: 

• In Committee - nothing has been done yet
• Tabled - we're not going to do anything with it
• Active - we're working on it
• Acted on - we're finished with it and sent it to the House for action 

Different committees have different ways of organizing their bulletin boards and what groupings they use, but it easy to find out what bills are in what status at any time.

Results Based Accountability (RBA)

They're buzzwords but I'm willing to give it a try. The idea is to add some structure and accountability to the workings of the state government. There is a Government Accountability Committee (GAC) created in statute that oversees the process. Here's a brief summary of how it all works.

What population are we dealing with?

The first step is to identify the effected population. In this case this would be the citizens of the great state of Vermont.

What are the goals?

What are we trying to do? What should the outcomes be? The GAC has concluded that there are 10. They are listed in this document as:

1. Vermont has a prosperous economy
2. Vermonters are healthy
3. Vermont's environment is clean and sustainable
4. Vermont is a safe place to live
5. Vermont’s families are safe, nurturing, stable, and supported
6. Vermont’s children and young people achieve their potential
7. Vermont’s elders live with dignity and in settings they prefer
8. Vermont has open, effective, and inclusive government
9. Vermonters with disabilities live with dignity and in settings they prefer
10. Vermont’s State infrastructure meets the needs of Vermonters, the economy, and the environment

What are the indicators?

How do we measure our success or failure in achieving these lofty goals? That's what we worked on in committee on Thursday. We determined that goal number 4 (safety) is a central concern of our committee. We reviewed the indicators for goal 4 and suggested changes. Here are the indicators:

1. rate of petitions granted for relief from domestic abuse per 1,000 residents;
2. rate of violent crime per 1,000 crimes;
3. rate of sexual assault committed against residents per 1,000 residents; 
4. recidivism rate;
5. incarceration rate per 100,000 residents;
6. number of first-time entrants into the corrections system

We added a 7th having to do with opiodes.

The hope is that we can regularly look at the indicators to determine how well we are moving toward our goal and make adjustments along the way.

I'm interested, but somewhat skeptical. 

Climate Change

On the day this session began, the speaker gave a speech in which she stressed the importance of climate change. She also asked that each committee do something to address this issue. Our committee chair brought this up while taking testimony from BGS about energy usage in our state buildings.

BGS testified as to the savings they had achieved by various projects but the chair insisted that they not only measure dollars saved, but carbon emissions reduced as well. We want to further reduce our carbon footprint.

Revolving Loan Funds

There are several revolving loan funds available from the state of Vermont. They are an interesting concept, particularly those relating to energy conservation.

The usual revolving loan fund is a pool of money from which loans are given. The loan is then paid back to the fund so that more loans can be given out. The hit to state is that first chuck of money that sets up the funds, so it works well.

Within the department of Buildings and General Services there is the State Energy Management Program (SEMP) that manages two funds: the State Resource Management Revolving Fund (SRMRF) is a standard revolving loan fund for energy related projects within state government. It began with $1.5 million. The other is the State Energy Revolving Fund (SERF). It is unique in that the money saved by the efficiency project is paid into the loan. So if a project saves $20,000 a year in electric costs, $20,000 every year is paid, by BGS, into the fund. I need to ask a few more questions about this one.

Next Week

There's talk of a bill to get around the Feds cutting subsidies for Obamacare. That's something referred to as Silver Loading or the Silver Switcheroo. It's complicated but intreresting.

I'm meeting Tuesday with the expert from Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) to get yet another explanation of Education Funding in Vermont. A long story.