Week 8 - February 20th to February 23th

Guns and Coyotes

Last week brought gun related national and state issues to the Legislature. Events in Florida prompted a gathering outside the capitol Tuesday morning as I struggled up the hill to work. The next day, on the House floor, we debated a bill about coyote hunting derbies in Vermont.  National events are putting pressure on the Legislature to move gun violence related bills toward becoming law.

One of the common responses made to  those advocating gun violence legislation is that Vermont is one of the safest states in the Union. Though we have very loose laws on gun ownership, we are, indeed, free of many of the incidents reported throughout the United States. However, on Tuesday we heard of events in Fair Haven, Vermont that snapped this issue to the fore. Even Colchester had its share of drama early in the week.

Rumors around the State House were that Governor Scott was shaken by these events. Later in the week he released a memo on school safety that heartened those advocating an immediate response. This is an historical shift. There are three gun related bills currently receiving attention in the Senate: S.6 proposes universal background checks, H.422, allows police to seize guns from those arrested or cited for domestic violence, and S.221, will enable authorities to confiscate guns for up to a year from those deemed by a court to be an "extreme risk" to the public.

Meanwhile my committee tries to move forward on the considerable work we're trying to get done before the Town Meeting break. That break a full week from March 5th to March 9th.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 9:40  Took a quick picture of the crowd outside the Capitol then stopped in to see my school funding expert at JFO about my understanding of what Dollar Yield means. He said he has passed it on to two others. He's very busy. However, that does mean he sees some legitimacy in my approach. We'll see.
• 10:00 - 11:30 On the floor to pass some bills. Nothing really controversial. All the votes were voice votes and only one (H.779 about the printing of the Legislative Directory) had some grumbled No's.
• Public Democratic Caucus where we received a budget update. It appears that changes at the Federal level are not going to have a significant impact on this year's budget; some losses and some gains.
• 12:00 Met with a person from DEC about a display I'm working on for Colchester's Town Meeting.
• 1:00 - 2:20 Committee Discussion - We really wanted to get down to some discussion of the various Corrections and Mental Health facilities and what might be done with them. This time was set aside to do that. The Secretary of Human Services, people from DOC and DMH (Dpt. of Mental Health) were there. It was a productive hour and 20 minutes and put some important questions on the table. Though there are some big questions yet to be resolved.
• 2:30 Barbara M. Neal, Executive Director, Enhanced 9-1-1 Board was in to talk about money in the Capital Bill allocated to expanding 911 service in the schools. The concern is that with many systems a person can call 911 from a classroom, but the dispatcher sees only that the call came from the school. The Enhanced 911 would track it to the specific phone.
• 3:05 - 3:47 Presumptive Parole. This is H.844 dealing with bail reform. I explained this in last week's post. We wanted additional input from DOC. My impression is that the current system is really working well and it may be best not to mess with it.
• 4:15 Meeting of the Joint Justice Over-site Committee about Camp Hill inmates in PA. The feeling seems to be that DOC should look for an alternative. There might be issues if the alternative is a privately run facility, but the hope is to find another location in PA. We do not have the facilities here.
• 7:00 School Board meeting in Colchester 
• Wednesday
• 8:30 - 9:45 Eric Blatt from DEC to talk about Municipal Pollution Control Grants. This is interesting in that there is about $6 million total that Brattleboro and South Burlington would like to get from the Capital Bill adjustment. The funds are for projects that have already been completed and one about 5 or 6 years ago. At the time DEC said they qualified for the funds but because of Irene we didn't have the money. Now they want it. Eric briefly went over a system they're developing to prioritize grants from the  program. That system results in list of projects and their priorities call the Intended Use Plan (Download the Plan).
• 9:45 I had a short conversation with a person from JFO about my School Funding explanation (see last week's post). She seems tolerant and said she will go over any explanation I write up. Perhaps I'll get to it over the weekend.
• 9:53 Back to Clean Water and the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. Tiresa Thomas gave an excellent presentation on H.777 and the changes it would bring to how the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund can be used. The fund has about $80 million waiting to go out. And that $80 million is usually match 1 to 5 with Federal funds.
• 10:40 Vermont Council of the Arts. This too was discussed in last week's post. It's getting interesting as the committee is split on what to do. Vice Chair Rep Shaw wants to give them half of what they want. Three others on the committee seem to agree. The rest lean to giving them all of what they want (about $40,000). I'm on the fence. It will be discussed again. 

  

  A Drone Over a Prison

• 11:05 Drones and Corrections - This issue too is a repeat. We're trying get more information and a better understanding of existing law. There is also some concern as to whether or not any law we pass (H.615) will be enforceable. No final decision on this but I think it's close. We should be able to come up with a workable bill by next week.
• 11:30 Legislative Council walk-through of H.777.
• 12:00 Lunch - Incredible weather outside - warm and sunny. Felt like summer. 
• 1:00 On the floor - Everyone knew this would be a long one. "We've got coyotes on the floor today. That'll take a while." Anything that involves gun and/or hunting is controversial. But for the first 40 minutes we plugged along with moving bills. One (H.576) had a roll-call on one amendment but the vote was slanted 125 yes and 12 no, I voted yes.
• 1:41 - 3:30 H.636 Coyotes. This got wonderfully complicated with several amendments and

  

  One Side of the Debate

  

  The Other Side of the Debate

  votes that were turned into Divisions and Roll-calls on Divisions and finally Divisions on Divisions. These are explained near the end of this post. There was some, but not a lot of debate about the guts of the bill: outlawing coyote hunting derbies. Most of the debate centered around the penalty for the crime: possible prison time. Some thought prison too harsh. The Fish & Wildlife committee took the position that they wanted this to me a major wildlife crime and that meant possible prison time. All those penalties are to be reviewed soon so, near the end, they compromised by delaying implementation of the penalty for two year while they work on changing all the penalties.  I voted with the committee but almost agreed with removing the prison sentence. As the clerk went through the list of legislators, requesting the vote I went back and forth. When "Taylor from Colchester" came up I voted to keep the prison penalty, knowing that it would never be used. It's the same prison sentence you can get for shooting a turkey out of season. It was a close vote (75 yeses to take out the prison part, 64 nos to leave it alone). In the end, the bill passed with a roll-call 141 to 7.
• 3:42 Back in Committee for discussion of H.874 on how medical prescriptions should be handled in Corrections facilities. Testimony from Steven Fisher, Medical Doctor for Centurian which is the company that handles all medical services within Corrections. We also heard from The Advocates. This is term given to those that advocate for the rights of others. You could consider them lobbyists, though I doubt if they would choose that name. They do provide a valuable service to our committee, as they present a perspective that is usually not quite the same as that presented by the administration.
• 5:05 Done for the day.
• 6:00 Dinner with friends and Ruth at the Three Penny Tap Room then back to the State House for a Farmer's Night concert.
• Thursday
• 8:00 - IT Advisory Committee - This is the committee to which the Speaker appointed me. It's a joint Senate and House (seven total) committee that oversees IT in the Statehouse. Seems straightforward enough? Well it ain't. Apparently this is a nice tangle of personalities. Not in the committee, but in who's in charge of whom or what in IT. I need to sit down with a couple people and learn more about this before it goes much further. We met in the Senate Finance committee room and will meet again next week.
• 9:55 Done with IT - Back in Committee to hear from three Dartmouth students who did a bit of policy research for us on Medically Assisted Treatment of addicts in Corrections. It was a very good presentation with some valuable information.
• 10:30 Field trip to a facility we're considering as a Residential Treatment center.
• 11:20 Back in committee to discuss the various options for replacing the Residential Treatment center in Middlesex. 
• 12:10 Lunch
• 1:10 On the floor with coyotes one more time. No one was sure if this will go quickly or not. Four new amendments. For a short time we left the floor to caucus and find out about the amendment and how the leadership felt we should vote. Three went through on voice votes. The last required a roll-call. In the end, the bill passed on a voice vote.
• 3:00 Back in Committee to hear more about bail reform (H.728). This time from the point of view of the judiciary: David Sherr from the Attorney General's Office. The bill is in the Committee on the Judiciary, but they wanted us to weight in on changes proposed to the Home Detention program. We concluded that the bill, as written, did not do what they wanted it to do and that they should remove the portion relating to Home Detention. We finally sent it back to them at 5:15.
• Done for the day.
• Friday
• 8:30 Generators and Switch-gear - This is that half-million dollar upgrade of the Statehouse emergency generator mentioned near the beginning of the session. We had left Buildings and General Services (BGS) with a view questions: What will it take to include the elevators? How much will that cost? Should we consider batteries instead of a generator. The report back was that it would not cost that much more to include the elevators and the use of batteries just might work. The consensus seemed to be that we would allocate enough for the generator but consider putting it into batteries instead after some more research. No crashing hurry on this, as long as the money is available in the Capital Bill. We also heard more about renovations to the Asa Bloomer building in Rutland.
• 9:30 - On the floor but not for long
• 10:15 - Back in committee for H.806. This is a bill that proposes a commission to figure out what to do with the now-closed Windsor Corrections Facility. After some discussion we decided to do a strike-all and basically rewrite the bill to have BGS hire an independent consultant to figure out what the possible uses might be. This, apparently, was what was done with Waterbury after Irene.
• 10:40 or so -  Gus Seelig and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Trust and how they can use about a million dollars we gave them in the Capital Bill for FY18. The funds are to be used to match with other sources. It gets confusing as we want the farmer, in this case, to put up at least some money (10%). But VHCB wants to use the money to help out with that 10%. The agency thinks that reduces what they can give in match. Round and round. I strongly suggested we not kick in for part of that 10% in the future, but this will come up for discussion again as the governor has recommended another million to VHCB for FY19.
• 11:15 - Karen Horn, Director, Public Policy & Advocacy, Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) to testify on H.777 about those changes to the Clean Water Revolving Loan. Nothing really new to add, but it's good to receive support from this organization.
• 11:30 Committee Discussion - about mental health facilities and such
• 12:00 Done in Committee - weather was supposed to turn bad so people wanted to get home.
• 2:00 - After some email and cleaning up paperwork I headed home. Done for the week

Divisions, Divisions of Divisions, Roll-calls and Voice Votes

Generally, when a bill or amendment to a bill is considered, there is a voice vote:

Speaker - "The question is - shall the bill be amended as presented by the member from Newbury. You have heard the question, are you ready to vote. If so, all those in favor signify by saying 'Aye'"

Members - "Aye"

Speaker - "All those apposed - 'Nay'"

Members - "Nay" 

Speaker - "The Ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it and you have passed the amendment."

On to the next

Dividing Questions

But an amendment can have several sections with different changes to the underlying bill. So at any time during discussion of the amendment, a member can stand up and stop the process.

Speaker - "The member from Swanton is recognized."

Member - "Madame Speaker can the amendment be divided? I would like separate votes on section 2 and 3."

The speaker leans forward and consults with the Clerk who nods (or not). 

Speaker - "The member from Swanton has moved that the question be divided into two question, one for section 2 and one for section 3."

I don't think a move to divide needs to be seconded and voted upon. I think it just happens. The affect is to create two questions and two votes.

Dividing Votes

A member can also stand up at any time during consideration of a bill or amendment and ask that the vote be taken by division. In that case, instead of a voice vote, the members vote my standing up and being counted.

Roll-call

Speaker - "The member from Chelsea is recognized."

Member - "Madam Speaker I request that the vote be taken by roll."

Speaker - "The member from Chelsea has requested that the vote be taken by roll, is the member sustained?" And if 5 others stand up (they always do) -  "The member is sustained. When the vote is taken it will be taken by roll."

Requests for vote divisions or roll-calls can be made at any time during consideration of the bill.

Divisions of Divisions

This week we had an amendment split into two votes and one of those votes was by division.

Getting Cranky - Point of Order

My committee chair laments the lack of formality and protocol during work on the floor. There are some basic rules people are supposed to follow and they are getting stretched. This week during the coyote debate one very conservative member began a long speech about how outlawing coyote derbies was an attack on the traditional value of Vermonters. Those hippies from Chittenden County forcing their values on the hard working farmers trying to feed their families. It was a bit much and finally a 'point of order' was called to stop him. 

When a point of order is called a member suddenly stands up and says "Point of Order." The member who is interrupted sits down.

Speaker - "Member from Westminster what is your point of order."

Member - "Madame chair the speaker is attributing motive to the presenter of the bill. Members can only address the bill itself, not the motive of those that present it."

The Speaker may then confer with the clerk (or not) and responda

Speaker - "Member from Westminster I find your point of order well taken. The member from Chelsea will refrain from attributing motive to the bill presenter."

Member for Chelsea - "Madame Speaker I apologize." and then he continues without the attributions.

Points of order are rare.

Next Week

Next week is supposed to be a rough one. It's the last week before Town Meeting and there's that gun related legislation coming over from the Senate.

Week 7 - February 13th to February 16th

The Holy Grail

Vermont's Public Education Funding Formula

For six years (since I first ran for office in 2012) I have been haunted by a quest for my personal Holy Grail. That quest was (and is) to really understand Vermont's public education funding formula. I kid you not. Any time I get close to a public forum where I might be expected to respond to a question about the topic I toss and turn at 3:00 AM working through the calculations. With Town Meeting coming up in a couple weeks I renewed my search for this treasure.

PowerPoint of Holy Grail

Last Sunday I thought I had it, but I couldn't quite make the numbers work out. I called my connection at the Joint Fiscal Office Monday morning to see if I was heading in the right direction. He's the expert on Ed Funding in Vermont. One of the advantages of being a Legislator is that he doesn't hang up on me when I ask stupid questions. After about a half hour of back and forth he stated, and I concluded, that I was all wrong. I gave up for most of the week.

But yesterday (Saturday) I attended a small gathering here in Colchester where our Superintendent went over the district budget and how we pay for public education. It reminded me, once again, that I have yet to hear a clear statement on how the system works. I attacked it again during the day and around dinner time I found the key I had overlooked. The numbers worked and the algebra looked tight, I forced Ruth to sit down and concentrate on it with me and she agreed that it made sense. Although, at the end, she asked, "You're not going to go over this in Town Meeting are you?" The answer is no. 

Last night I put together the PowerPoint you see here and sent it off to Mark to see if he agrees. Meanwhile . . .

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00  On the floor. Some new bills but nothing exciting.
• 10:45 In committee for a vote on H.559 . We took a partial vote on this bill last Friday but needed to pick up the other votes. It was unanimously in favor.  Part of the bill advocated forgiving loans to municipalities when the project documents were lost at the Waterbury Complex as a result of Hurricane Irene. There was also some catchup discussion on various subjects: drones, residential treatment etc.
• Presumptive Parole - H.844 is an implementation of Presumptive Parole. When an inmate has served her/his minimum sentence they are eligible for parole. Currently that means applying to the parole board and convincing them that you deserve to be released (most likely with conditions) into the community. With Presumptive Parole, it is assumed that you deserve parole and the parole board has to be convinced that you do not. The hope is to get more people out on parole.
• 11:27 Accessibility Signs for All Public Buildings - H.697 requires that the international accessibility sign be posted on all public buildings that are, indeed, accessible. It basically went from "may" post an accessibility sign to "shall." This is a big deal in legal lingo and is discussed below.
• Noon - lunch
• 1:15 - Public Democratic Caucus. H.636 will please one of my constituents, as it will make coyote hunting derbies illegal. There are other portions of the bill that may generate some action on the floor when it comes up for 2nd reading. 
• 2:10 - H.718 on creating a Restorative Justice Commission to investigate the pros and cons of having domestic violence cases handled by Community Justice Centers. We heard testimony about this last week, and there was some question about the make up of the study commission. 
• 2:45 - 4:50  H.728 regarding bail reform. This is yet another attempt to get more inmates out of prison and on home detention with electronic monitoring. Last session, when we were talking about whether or not to close the Windsor facility, DOC said that we could save a lot of money by putting people on 24/7 real time electronic monitoring. We jumped at it. But, a year later, there are only 11 individuals on the program and those 11 are not the type of inmate we had hoped would be using it; they are high risk serious crimes people and we intended it for low risk criminal. The Chair suggested we drop the whole Home Detention program. That caused quite a stir, but it might happen.
• Wednesday
• 8:30 Eric Blatt, Director Facilities Engineering Division, DEC tried to testify on the Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund but it took us a while to get going. This day being both Valentine's Day and the Chair's birthday. There was a lot of sugar in the building. It was hard to get into the serious discussion of the $80 million in this fund and how it is used.
• 9:30 - Steffen Flibotte, Correctional Officer, Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA).  One of the Corrections Officers at the Chittenden women's facility testified about the 10 year vision report with the 925 bed corrections campus. He doesn't like it and says the VSEA will not support it. He did have some good insights from the perspective of a front line employee in Corrections.
• 10:00 - Brandon Malschuk, Recovery Center Newport and Mike Lucier, Recovery Coach. Testimony about community recovery services. These are the people that try to work those coming out of Corrections back into the community.
• 10:30 Break
• 10:40 Windsor - The Windsor town manager testified about what the town of Windsor prefers to have done with the now-closed Windsor facility. The administration put out a report about using the facility for Transitional Housing. The Chair is very sensitive to the used of the expression: Transitional Housing. Last year, when we requested the report, it was to look into "Re-entry Services." Not the same thing at all. The town of Windsor does not want unsupervised inmates working in the community. This turned into a rather testy exchange based on a bit of miscommunication. But we survived.
• 11:40 Sarah Buxton back on Technical Education equipment request in the Capital Bill Adjustment. The Dept of Labor wants $500k for this and spoke to us last week. She came back with the information we had requested.
• 12:05 Quick lunch with a constituent - Ruth (my wife), then over to the MMR lobbyist's house in hopes of talking with someone from Champlain Cable. 
• 1:00 On the Floor
• 1:45 - 2:40  Back in Committee to hear from Tom Huebner, President, Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC). He implied that Rutland is eager to build a new Secure Residential Treatment Center to replace the one in Middlesex. He is emphatic that hospital emergency rooms are in crisis with mental health patients. He implores us to do something about it.
• 2:40 - 3:05 - More committee discussion about Windsor
• 3:05 - Committee work with Leg Council to write a "strike all" change to H.718 about the Restorative Justice Study.
• 3:16 - 4:15 Discussion of Representative Connor's bill (H.874) on prescription drugs in prisons. He, and we, have been hearing of inmates being taken of prescriptions when they enter a facility. Or the prescription is changed. The bill would require Corrections Facility doctors to follow the recommendations of the inmate's doctor on the outside with regard to prescriptions. This gets messy fast, as you have doctors prescribing meds for people that are not really under their care.
• Thursday



Chachka

• 8:00 Meeting with the Chair and another committee member to talk about a topics that might be discussed at Town Meetings. Unfortunately, at this time, I was supposed to be in another meeting of a committee to which I have been assigned: the IT Advisory Committee. I had gone through some trouble to get everyone else on the committee to attend, and then blew it off myself. Not good, but a reminder that I really need to keep track of all these commitments.
• 8:30 In Committee with Gus Seelig testifying about the bonded dollars we provide the Vermont Conservation and Housing Board (VHCB). These are good works providing affordable housing and conservation efforts. I can't say I really understand why those two are tied together, but the VHCB has been very good about leveraging Vermont dollars to get more from the Feds or other sources.
• 9:45 Break
• 9:50 Vermont Fairs & Field Days Association came in to thank us for the funds we have provided in the past for their projects. They hope we will continue. The free Cheese Curds and Maple Syrup they distribute may help their cause. 
• 10:30 On the floor for a House/Senate joint session to vote for candidates running for  positions on the board of trustees of the Vermont State Colleges Corporation.
• 11:00 Back in committee - Heard from Chris Cockran from the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) 's Downtown Transportation Fund about their projects using bonded dollars
• 11:20 Committee Discussion. The Chair and Vice Chair reported to us about their meeting with various other high upty-ups (Secretary of Human Services, Commissioner of FOC and Mental Health etc. etc.) about a forensic mental health unit. This is an issue in constant turmoil. The current plan is to renovate and modify a portion of the NorthWest State Correction Facility for this population. At the end of the discussion we decided to email the Secretary of Human Services requesting, in writing, some basic information about the proposed facility. We hoped to have an answer by the end of the day, but it came Friday.
• 11:45 - Break for lunch
• 12:15 - Representative Connor and I met with two members of the Agriculture Committee about Clean Water projects.
• 1:00 - On the floor for consideration of bills
• H.294 - Disclosing Salary History - resulted in a roll-call vote with Yes = 137 and No = 0. 
• H.624 - Removing some personal data from the voter checklist. This was somewhat political as it is in response to Trump's commission on election fraud and requests for data from the feds. Turned into a roll-call vote: Yes = 93, No = 47. I voted Yes.
• H.764 - Having to do with DataBrokers who sell data. The bill would have them register and disclose a bunch of information about what they do with the data. This had some lively debate on an amendment submitted by Representative Browning. She's another one that I always listen to carefully. She often has good ideas. This amendment resulted in another roll-call vote:56 Yes to amend the bill and 84 no's. I voted No, which was the committee recommendation. After the failed amendment the vote was taken to see if the bill should pass this reading and again it was a roll-cal with 92 to pass and 46 not to. I voted to pass it on for third reading. I think it will come up again.
• Done on the floor at 3:52 - all these roll-call votes take time.
• 4:00 - Back in committee to hear testimony on H.777 - which wants to allow the State's Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund to make loans to private entities.  
• 4:55 - Done in Committee
• 5;10 - 5:45 Met with some others to talk about issues.
• Friday
• 8:30 - All the Valentine's Day sugar has worn off and the chair wants to get to work right away with testimony from Karen Mittelman, the new Executive  Director, of the Vermont Council of the Arts (VCA). She testified about their projects and the new directions she would like to take. The VCA has been a bit of a problem for our committee as the previous director seemed to spend too much money on fancy receptions and such. The State was giving them a break on their lease of state space and that did not go over well with some. But we we were impressed with this new director. No decision made.
• 9:30 - On the floor for more bills
• H.582 on Connectivity. The bill raises a fee used to provide internet service to more areas of Vermont. This turned political as the governor has promised to not raise any fees or taxes. So this is a tough one for the Republicans. After much debate a roll-call vote resulted in 109 yes and 27 no to pass it for third reading. 
• H.582 another Connectivity bill but not as interesting. Passed on voice vote
• 11:55 - H.843 - Five minutes before the time we usually adjourn for lunch or for the day, this 150 page bill came up for consideration. Everyone was tired after the debate and roll-call and wanted to adjourn. The presenter of the bill was Rep. Harrison who, several days before has risen to speak against a bill that came out of his committee with a recommendation to pass. You're not supposed to do that. If you don't like a bill, you argue against it in committee and vote against it in committee, but when you come to the floor you are supposed to support your committee decision. Everyone knows that, including Rep. Harrison. The result of such an action is that you get to defend a 150 page bill on the House floor. He avoided the whole thing by saying there were only spelling and technical changes, nothing substantive, and let's vote this through and go to lunch. We did that. But it will come up again.
• 12:05 Adjourned for the week - and lunch
• 12:30 Met with the Vice Chair to go over our notes on what Forensic means.
• 12:45 In committee to take testimony from Katie McLinn, Legislative Counsel,

  

  Accessibility Symbol

  about H.697 requiring the posting of the international accessibility sign if your public building is compliant. 
• 1:20 or so - We received a response from the Secretary of Human Services to our email requesting information about the proposed Forensic Mental Health Unit at NorthWest Corrections Facility. This turned into a long and convoluted discussion that was beginning to get frustrating. Committee members were tired, looking to long drives home, and wanting to leave.
• 2:15 Done for the week

May or Shall

The change in the bill involving the  accessibility symbol is very simple. It changes one word: may to shall. Here's the way the whole bill reads:

An act relating to notification of public building accessibility

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 

Sec. 1. 20 V.S.A. § 2905 is amended to read:

§ 2905. ACCESSIBILITY; MARKINGS

All public buildings which that comply with the standards adopted under this chapter may shall be marked with the international symbol of access. 

Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE This act shall take effect on July 1, 2018

The strike-through and underline means one replaces the other.

Anytime someone starts with "This is a simple bill." you know you're in trouble. Nothing is ever simple.  The presenter of this bill just wanted to make sure people know when a building is accessible, so change may to shall. What could be simpler?

Two problems arose during our discussion:

1. I wondered if, when you have to post a sign, someone will eventually question whether the sign you posted was big enough, or at the correct location. As long as it is may, no one could really object. As soon as it becomes shall, it seemed to me, you need to be very specific as to what is required.
2. The vice Chair wondered what happens if the building is only partially accessible; there is a ramp for wheelchairs, but the bathroom is too small. Does one still have to show the symbol? 

There was much discussion about both of these.

Finally we decided to not deal with the bill. Just let it die on the wall. At least I think that's what we decided.

Next Week

More bills will come up for votes on the floor as we close in on the deadline for getting bills to the Senate. Since the shootings in Florida there is, again, more talk of gun violence legislation.

Week 6 - February 6th to February 9th

Snow, Forensics and Water

Panorama of Montpelier in the Snow

A snow storm dropped about eight inches of the white stuff on Montpelier this week. All the storms this winter have hit while I was spending the night in town. I haven't had to commute through that treacherous weather.

Montpelier is beautiful in the snow. There's a real feeling of small town Vermont even though this is the Capital City.

Work this week centered on our continual struggle to understand the facility needs of both the Corrections and Mental Health communities, and those caught in between. I'm working on a seperate blog post that will explain those populations. Clean Water also came to the fore as we took testimony regarding how the Governor proposes to use bonded dollars for Clean Water projects throughout the state.

Deadlines for submitted bills are fast approaching. Town meeting day (March 6th) is roughly the target date for getting any House bills over to the Senate, so my committee has also been taking testimony on bills assigned to us by the Speaker. We'll take Committee votes and push them out onto the House floor over the next couple weeks. If they don't make it over to the Senate by March 2nd they're dead for this biennium and will have to start all over again in 2019.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00- 12:20  On the floor for most of the morning with what turned out to be a controversial bill (H.562) having to do with Parentage. The bill modernized the legal definition of a parent. This is a complicated matter involving many combinations of individuals. Much of the problem comes when there is disagreement over who is a legal parent. But most of the controversy (and a roll-call vote) dealt with destroying genetic samples when they are taken from someone outside the immediate legal proceeding.
• 12:20 - 1:15  Lunch
• 1:15 - Public Democratic Caucus - Rep. Emmons (Corrections and Institutions Chair) explained that the 10-year vision of a 195-bed Corrections facility in northwest Vermont is only a proposal.
• 2:15 - 3:00 Back in Committee for testimony on several lines of the Capital budget regarding the Police and Fire Training Academy in Pittsford.  There are line items for a new Burn Building and the renovation of the East cottage.
• 3:15 Forensic clarification and facilities. We are having continued discussions on exactly what population needs to be in what facility.
• Michael Kuhn, Design & Construction Program Chief, Building and General Services (BGS) testified regarding the Psychiatric Care we visited last week.
• Wednesday
• 8:30 - 9:30 Diane Bothfeld, Director of Administrative Services, Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (AAFM) testified about items they have in the Capital budget. She explained a line item that the governor has recommended adding providing $1.6 million for Best Management Practices (BMP). This is funding for the Clean Water Initiative in the form of grants to farmers for various improvements needed to meet permit requirements. Depending on the project there are degrees of cost sharing required on the farmer's part. One problem with these is that the farmer does not get reimbursed until the project is finished, so he is on the hook to contractors etc. until then. But these are usually fairly small grants and there are means to help.
• Bothfeld also explained the Clean Water Initiative grant Program (CWIP), which is another set of grants for innovative ways to reduce phosphorus. This might be additional equipment to extract phosphorus from manure. The governor's dream is that the extracted phosphorus will be sold and/or exported from the state. That's another $1.6 million.
• 9:45 - Secretary Julie Moore, Secretary, ANR and Perry Thomas, Program Manager, Watershed Management Division, DEC to testify about their line items in the Capital Bill Adjustment recommendation. The governor is proposing $200k for an Aeration System at Lake Carmi that will, allegedly, prevent the kind of algae blooms they had last summer. It's basically a hose that runs along the bottom of the lake bubbling oxygen into the lower level of the lake. There are all kinds of issues with this proposal and the cost may well be higher.
• Moore also explained a Reverse Pitch program they're trying. Instead of the state specifying a project to solve a problem (phosphorus in our lakes), they say "Here's the problem. Sell us on your solution."
• 10:35 - Rebecca Ellis, Deputy Commissioner of DEC testified about the Capital Bill dollars in the Ecosystem Restoration Fund. These funds are used for Clean Water Projects throughout the state. The grants are used for non-point-source pollution control projects: drainage improvements and stream buffers, rather than Sewer Treatment plants. We put $6 million into this fund for FY18 and $5 million in FY19. The governor want to boost that FY19 figure by a little more than $3 million. We want to know where the money is going. There have been numerous other reports submitted, but wading through all that information is tough.
• Ellis also discussed the roughly $2.5 million going to the Municipal Roads Program.
• 11:23 Sue Scribner, Director, Municipal Assistance Bureau, Agency of Transportation (AOT) informed us of the funds VTRANS is using for Clean Water projects.That's another $2.4 million.
• 12:00 to 1:00 Lunch
• 1:00 On the floor to consider bills. Nothing exciting. All voice votes.
• 2:00 Back in committee for testimony on Corrections. We are trying to understand the characteristics of  those in the Corrections system that are called Detainees. A detainee is being held in a Corrections facility, but could, theoretically be released. They may be awaiting trial and cannot make bail. They may be awaiting trial and held without bail. There are about 350 such individuals in the Vermont Corrections system. The problem is that they have been charged, but not convicted, of any crime. Prison becomes a crime school for many of these inmates that might otherwise not become hardened criminals. Commissioner Menard's report gave us some idea of what sort of facility is required for this population.
• 3:03 Break
• 3:15 Back to Clean Water. This time to review a report from the Vermont Citizen Advisory Committee regarding Lake Champlain.
• 3:45 Testimony regarding H.718 setting up a study committee on the use of restorative justice for handling individuals charged with domestic violence. Current state law prohibits the use of restorative justice for domestic assault cases.
• 4:15 Done for the day

• Thursday 
• 8:30 DOC Commissioner Lisa Menard and Ben Watts, DOC Health Services Administrator, to talk about Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) of opioid addiction within Corrections. There is a bill (H.773) which directs DOC to establish Opioid Treatment Programs within two Corrections facilities. This would enable Corrections to more easily distribute Methadone and initiate MAT for an addicted inmate. It's messy. Currently, Vermont is on the forefront with regard to the use of MAT in Corrections. There is also a Senate (S.166) concerning MAT in Corrections.
• 10:00 Break while I talked to Seth Lipschutz from the Office of the Defender General about complaints I received from Vermont inmates at the Camp Hill Corrections Facility in PA .
• 10:10 - 11:10 - Back in committee to hear Ken Schatz, Commissioner of DCF, about the future of the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center and its current status. The current facility is not conducive to rehabilitation and has lost Medicaid funding. A new facility at the same location may solve both problems.
• 11:10 to Noon: Committee Discussion. Committee Discussion means we get a chance to talk without someone giving testimony. Often there is no one else in the room, so we get to be a little more free ranging in our remarks.
• 1:00 - 2:45 On the floor for a rather extensive session with two roll-call votes. One was a resolution (H.R.19) supporting Black Lives Matter (130 yes, 6 no). I voted yes, though I question the value of the resolution. Sometimes it just seems to bring up what is a slightly divisive issue requiring several speeches of support. The second roll-call vote concerned an amended version of a bill (H.690) dealing with Advanced Directives. This was a little ridiculous as it passed with 135 yes votes and not one no vote. A roll-call vote takes about a half hour.
• 3:00 Julie Moore Commissioner of DEC and Rebecca Ellis, Deputy Commissioner, to talk about H.777 allowing the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund to be used for loans to private enterprises. There's about $80 million sitting in the fund and they want to get it out the door.
• 3:40 - 4:30 Sarah Buxton testified regarding money for Technical Education Centers. The governor wants to give the agency of education $500,000 of Capital Bill funds to purchase equipment for adult technical education.
• 4:45 - Done for the day.
• Friday 



The Speaker Thanks a Page

• 8:35 - 9:30 - Lisa Menard, Commissioner of DOC and Karen Barber, General Council for the Department of Mental Health (DMH) to explain what the state's forensic mental health needs are. We've finally decided to do away with talk about little-f-forensic and big-f-forensic. No one really understood what the difference is. Now we have Hospital Forensics and Non-Hospital-Forensics, which is a little clearer. I'll explain them in detail in a separate post. Similar to the Detainees discussion mentioned above, this reflects a desire to truly understand the nature of the various populations within Corrections and Mental Health.
• 9:30 - on the floor, This was long because there was a lot going on. Not much of it related to voting on bill, but it was still important. 
• House Pages - The House Pages, 8th graders, are in the House for two 6-week rotations. On this day the first group left. The Speaker gives a speech. Much applause and photos of each page with the Speaker at the podium. 
• Eagle Scouts - This day we also honor this year's new Eagle Scouts. So the gallery was filled and there were speeches and applause.
• 10:48 Back in Committee to hear reports from several people about how funds we routed to the Vermont Housing and Conservation Trust were used. It was good to hear some of the positive results of our efforts. 
• 11:37 - More Building and General Services (BGS) testimony about various lines in the Capital Budget: 
• The wall at Marble Valley Corrections Facility in Rutland
• Asa Bloomber building, also in Rutlnd - This one is going to be a big project - Several million when it is done.
• 12:07 - Break for Lunch
• 12:50 -1:58 Drones in Corrections. DOC has proposed legislation (H.615) to restrict the use of drones over and near Corrections facilities. This has just started to be a problem. There are fears that drones will be used to drop contraband within the facility or to observe a facility at close range and in real time.
• 2:00 - Done for the week.

Food

I believe I have remarked before about the amount of free food available to legislators. This week it peaked (I hope). I'm really trying to keep from gaining, again, the weight I gained during the last session (15 pounds!). I end up having to loose it all before the Colchester Triathlon in July, and that's work.

In the Cafeteria After Hours

Cedar Creek Room

There are several prime locations for food

• The Cedar Creek room in the State House. Several days, around 4:00 pm, this week there were receptions in the Cedar Creek room. This is generally meat balls, cheese and crackers, stuffed mushrooms, crudites, free beer and wine. 
• The side bar at the cafeteria - These are generally breakfast fare: doughnuts, muffins, apples, oranges, yogurt, coffee and hot water for tea. This week there were also pancakes and one afternoon there was ice cream.
• The cafeteria - Occasionally there are events in the cafeteria with all kinds of free goodies from various organizations. One this week. That's the picture above.
• The Capitol Plaza - This week there was also two events in the dining areas of the Capital Plaza hotel. The Speaker's Dinner, for Democrats, with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar was one. The next night was the Taste of Vermont event with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.
• Our Committee Room - I've mentioned before that two members of my committee bring food in. One brings the healthy stuff: cut fruit, grapes, clementines, etc. and the other brings the sinful stuff: snacks, coffee cake, nuts etc.

At the Capital Plaza

I've done well so far in avoiding most of these temptations. But a guys gotta eat.

Week 5 - January 29th to February 2nd

Firearm Bills on the Horizon

The House Chamber beginning to fill for the hearing

There are three bills moving through the Senate that deal with firearms in Vermont. Tuesday evening there was a public hearing on the bills. The place was packed with many attendees sporting orange vests and hats. I spoke with a couple before I had to leave in order to get back to Colchester for a forum on the selection of a new Malletts Bay School principal. The picture shows the crowd just arriving.

The bills being considered are:

• H.422 - The House passed this bill last session and sent it to the Senate for consideration. Statement of purpose of bill: This bill proposes to require enable a law enforcement officer to confiscate a dangerous or deadly weapon from a person who is arrested or cited for domestic assault if the weapon is (1) in the immediate possession or control of the person being arrested or cited; (2) in plain view of the officer; or (3) discovered during a consensual search. The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Judiciary. The original bill "required". It was amended by the House to "enable."
• S.221 - This bill proposes to establish a procedure for a law enforcement officer to obtain an extreme risk protection order. The order would prohibit a person from possessing a firearm for up to one year if the Family Division of the Superior Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the person poses a significant danger of causing injury to himself or herself or another person by purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm or by having a firearm within the person’s custody or control. 
• S.6 This bill proposes to require that a background check be conducted on the proposed transferee before a firearm may be transferred unless the transfer is between immediate family members, by or to a law enforcement agency, or by or to a law enforcement officer or member of the U.S. Armed Forces acting within the course of his or her official duties. 

Here are a couple VTDigger articles about the issue:

• January 15th article announcing the hearing
• January 31st article reviewing the hearing

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 to 11:10 Lots of bills introduced for first reading and shunted off to committees. We're also beginning to get some that have already been approved by the Senate.
• 11:15 to 12:15 - Buildings and General Services testified about various projects in the adjusted capital budget. Basically they're coming to us to say they need more money to complete projects. These requests are in the proposed Capital Bill Adjustment we are now considering. And if that weren't enough, we were given a list of about $13 million in deferred maintenance that needs to be done by 2020 (not so far away). The big construction projects were:
• Police Barracks renovation in Rockingham and Springfield $800k 
• Repair of a retaining wall at the State Office Building in Springfield - $600k
• Life/Safety improvements to 120 State Str., Montpelier - $968k
• Modifications to the rear entry to 120 State Str. - $2.8 million
• Lunch Break
• 1:15 - 1:45 Public Democratic Caucus
• 2:00 Katie Buckley, Commissioner, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Laura Trieschmann, State Historic Preservation Officer, DHCD gave a presentation about how capital dollars have been spent and will be spent on historical restoration projects as well as the placement of  historical markers throughout the state.
• 3:00 Robert Wood Academy – Police academy projects for a total of about $1.25 million.
• 4:00 Done with testimony. Some committee planning regarding the field trip Wednesday

• Wednesday - Field Trip
• 9:00 Committee met at the Middlesex Residential Treatment Center for a short tour of the facility. 
• 10:00 Tour continued to Vermont State Libraries building in Berlin
• 10:30 Toured the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Barre
• 12:20 Met with Rep. Trevor Squirrel and Rep. Dan Connor regarding Clean Water Funding
• 1:00 On the floor. Roll-call vote on H.410 having to do with Energy Efficiency Standards. The bill adds several products to Vermont's list of products covered by energy efficiency standards. 133 members voted for it and 4 voted against it. I voted for it.
• 2:30 Back in Committee to hear from a parent who's son went through the Corrections and Mental Health systems in Vermont, including Mental Health Court. He is advocating for making it known to parents and those in court that there is a genetic test for adverse reactions to drugs used in psychiatric therapy. 
• 2:47 More testimony about projects in the Capital Bill Adjustment
• Northern State Corrections Facility door control system - $2.7 million
• Vermont Supreme Court building reconfiguration -$20 million
• Parking garage repair in Rutland - $250k
• 4:40 Done with testimony. Some continued discussion about our field trip and the work we have before us.
• Thursday
• 8:30 - 10:00 The chair wanted some time for 'Committee Discussion'; just a chance for us to talk without taking testimony. We need to concentrate on the big picture needs regarding Corrections and Mental Health. 
• Switchgear and Generator - Interesting discussion about what the State House should have with regard to generator backup. It's a $500k project. We have an aging 45kw generator that supports the emergency lights and the IT servers, but little else, and not the elevators. During the June 2017 veto session we lost power and a couple of tourists were stuck in the elevator between floors. There are a number of legislators who really can't use the stairs. We need more information on this issue. Near the end of the discussion I raised the possibility of Tesla Batteries, so BGS will look into that as well. I'm pretty sure that will be too expensive.
• 11:00 Short Break
• 11:30 The Military - Brigadier General Michael T. Heston, Deputy Adjutant General, Military Department (MD) and John Patry, Military Operations Supervisor, MD testified about what the National Guard needs and is using for armories and training. A new armory in Bennington is planned. There are also several small project at Camp Johnson in my district.
• 12:00 to 1:00 - break
• 1:00 to 1:30 on the floor for some quick action on Swimming Holes (H.132) and a couple other bills. The swimming holes are discussed later in this blog.
• 1:30 Back in Committee to hear testimony on several bills that are 'on our wall', meaning we have to make some sort of decision about them: should be really consider them or not? back them or forget them? This is an early step in a bill's trail to becoming law. The sponsors of the following bills gave short presentations.
• H.756 Regarding the use of Capital Bill dollars to fund school construction. Currently there is a moratorium on the use of any state bonded money to help with school construction.  This bill proposes using it only when schools are consolidating. This could be a real can of worms.
• H.760 This bill proposes to preclude defendants held without bail from eligibility for the Home Detention Program. I discuss this later in this blog under Legislation by Anecdote.
• H.773 on Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) of those in the Corrections system who are addicted to drugs. The bill wants DOC to have several facilities apply for designation as an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) and encourage DOC to induce treatment for addicted inmates who are not already on MAT. Opioids, and the treatment of same, within Corrections is another messy issue we're dealing with. We will take more testimony from DOC on this before deciding what to do with the bill.
• 3:00 - Cornelius Hogan (former Commissioner of Corrections) gave us his opinion of the proposed 925-bed Corrections Campus. This was particularly good testimony from a person with considerable experience within Corrections. He is against such a large facility.
• H.806 (4:00 - 4:22) Committee member Paul Belaski introduced this bill on behalf of some community leaders in the area around the now-closed Corrections facility in Windsor. The bill creates a committee of community members that will make recommendations to the state.
• 4:30 - Done for the day.
• Friday
• 8:45 - T.J. Donovan, Vermont Attorney General weighed in on the proposed Corrections Campus. He admits that talking to the Committee is a bit unusual, but he has some strong feelings. He is concerned about overbuilding. By some measures we are the safest state in the union. Crime has been reduced while we have reduced our incarceration rate. This is the result of community based efforts and an enlightened criminal justice system. With our Corrections population decreasing he does see the need for a new large facility.
• 9:30 - 11:40 On the floor - Lots of bill introduced and pushed off to committees. There was considerable discussion on a couple.
• H.562 for 2nd reading - Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to repeal  Vermont’s parentage laws and replace them with a more comprehensive parentage title that includes de facto parentage, genetic parentage, parentage by assisted reproductive technology, and parentage by gestational carrier agreement. By voice vote the bill was ordered for 3rd reading and will come back again.
• H.633 is the Budget Adjustment Act. The House passed this in mid-January. The Senate has been working on it and finally sent it back with some amendments. We passed it again with a voice vote. Now it goes to the governor. 
• 11:45 - Back in Committee for a little discussion and that was it for the week. Soon we will begin working Friday afternoons.

Legislation by Anecdote

On Thursday we heard testimony from Representative Chesnut-Tangerman about his bill H.760. He began his presentation by saying that he knows Legislation by Anecdote is a bad thing, but, just the same, he wanted to tell us the story of events in the town of Tinmouth, VT. He then presented a story of a dairy farmer killed in a hit and run by a neighbor with a considerable crime record. The town does not want the charged person released on home detention. They think someone will get killed if he is. The person charged has been held without bail for over a year. The trial is coming up in March.

The proposed bill would state that anyone who is held without bail cannot be released on home detention. 

The story was compelling and the committee hastened to assure the presenter that no one in their right mind would release the guy. But the presenter made it clear that the town was not swayed by those arguments. They wanted a firm guarantee, by law, that he would not get out of jail before the trial. 

I tried to explain that all the talk of whether or not a judge would release him is irrelevant. We had to ignore the anecdote and how terrible it all was, and consider only the law: should a person who is being held with no bail be eligible for release on home detention. Given that being held without bail means that this is a serious crime and there is a strong likelihood of flight, it would seem sensible to say that such persons should not be illegible for home detention. In fact, in the the state of Vermont there are only 8 to 12 people on home detention and they have real-time electronic monitors on them. The whole issue seems a little over the top.

Legislating by Anecdote is a real danger. Legislators have to be able to pull back and view the law as it is, divorced from the story that may have created it.

It was also interesting that there is no way this bill will become law before the trial, so, in a way, it's moot for this specific case. 

After considerable discussion the Chair found the related statute with the following wording:

At the request of the court, the Department of Corrections, or the defendant, the status of a defendant who is detained pretrial in a correctional facility for lack of bail may be reviewed by the court to determine whether the defendant is appropriate for home detention. 

The keys words are for lack of bail in the first sentence. In this case the detainee is being held without bail not for lack of bail, so, by law, he cannot be released on home detention. QED - quod erat demonstrandum or So it is demonstrated.

Someone needs to tell the community of Tinmouth. By my continual question is: "How did this get this far?" The town is all worked up. A bill was conceived. Legislative Council lawyers put in time researching and drafting. A bill was printed and distributed, read for a first time, sent to a committee and presented to us. All without real purpose?

Well, in fact, Representative Chesnut-Tangerman gets credit for listening to his constituents and for acting upon their concerns. We are also all made aware of the facts of the case. And I get an interesting entry in my blog.

The Governor's Race

This week we heard of two new candidates to be listed in the Democratic Primary to run against the incumbent Republican - Phil Scott. All the current Democratic candidate are:

• James Ehlers - Who was a Colchester resident and is not living in Winooski. 
• Ethan Sonneborn of Bristol, Vermont
• Christine Hallquist of Hyde Park

Let it never be said that Vermont Democratic Party candidates are dull. I know James Ehlers. He's smart, dedicated to the environment (particularly drinking water) and veterans' issues. Ethan Sonneborn is 13 years old. Apparently there is nothing in the Vermont constitution regarding what age a candidate has to be in order to run for governor. Christine Hallquist is the CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative and also very smart. She was David Hallquist until 2015. 

Swimming Holes and Fine Points

On Thursday we debated a bill about swimming holes in Vermont. People die in them. But can a landowner be sued by the survivors? Current Vermont law reads as follows:

An owner shall not be liable for property damage or personal injury sustained by a person who, without consideration, enters or goes upon the owner's land for a recreational use unless the damage or injury is the result of the willful or wanton misconduct of the owner.

Seems pretty straight forward. So then we have this bill coming up for third, and final, reading on Thursday. A legislator interrogated the presenter, asking for clarification of the last sentence in the bill. It reads "An owner who posts a sign pursuant to this subsection shall not be liable for any damage or injury allegedly arising out of the posting. " The interrogating legislator asked, "Is the owner not liable for the injuries in the swimming hole or for the posting of the sign. Is the owner worried about someone injuring themselves on the sign or in the swimming hole?" The presenter of the bill was confused and unsure. He shuffled his papers as he stood. The crowd waited. The Speaker rescued him, "Would the presenter like to the House to stand at ease for a few minutes will you consult with leg council?"

A few minutes later came the clarification. It was, indeed, the posting of the sign that was the issue, not the swimming hole itself. The purpose of the bill reads - "This bill proposes to provide a landowner with immunity from liability for posting a sign warning about the dangers of swimming in a swimming hole on the landowner’s property. " The idea was that the owner cannot be sued for his sign not conforming to some legal description of what a proper posting might be. So if the sign had lettering that was too small to read he could not be sued for not properly warning about the swimming hole. This seems just a little ridiculous, but we passed it on to the Senate on a voice vote. I may be missing something.

Next Week

• Clean Water Funding should be on the docket for next week. 
• Education Funding has come back into the spotlight with House Ways & Means working on a significant change to Vermont Public Education Funding mechanism. I'm been collecting information on this, some of which is on my website (CT4VT.com) and hope to add to it. There is, as yet, no bill.