The Campaign Begins

The 2018 Campaign has Begun

Last week was the Vermont state primary and  I was outside the polls on a hot and humid day. Thunderclouds threatened. After twelve hours of greeting voters it was good to relax. But this is just the beginning of my campaign for re-election. 

Things will soon get busy and I may not have time to update this blog every week. We'll see.

If you're interested in helping out with the campaign, you can make a donation by going to the Donate page of my website (CT4VT.com). I am also looking for people willing to have yard signs on their property. Please feel free to contact me by phone (802 324 7188 - voice or text) or email (CurtTaylorVT@gmail.com).

Special Session - The Ball in the Senate's Court

For the most up-to-date reporting from me on the impending Shutdown, go to the Special Session page of my website: www.ct4vt.com

June 20th - The Special Session Continues

Scheduling Chaos

I never know from one week to the next what is required of me. This can be frustrating as I try to make plans.

I have been regularly updating my Special Session page of my website. That is he best source of information about what I'm doing and my perspective on what has transpired. Posts to this blog will be sporadic for a while.

One thing I should make clear is that even though it has been 28 days since the Special Session began I have only been paid for about 4 or 5 of those days. We are only paid for the days we actually attend and my presence is not often required (sad to say). Several of the committees have been working and those Legislators are paid, but the rest of us just appear on the days we actually meet on the floor and move legislation along. So it's not as if there are 180 legislators (House 150, Senate 30) standing around collecting money from the state. The number that are getting paid varies from day to day depending on what work is required.

Work on the Capitol Dome progresses

June 1st 2018 - Another week of Special Session

Fire drills, Bats, and Compromises?

A day of delays and just weird stuff. See my 2018 Special Section page of my website for the details. And note the scaffolding going up on the roof for restoration of the Capitol Dome.

We're back Tuesday of next week to see what progress can be made toward funding the state and avoiding a shutdown.

May 26th 2018 - Primary Candidates Announce

The Special Session Begins

The Special Session began on Wednesday, When will it end? No one knows. The first session on the floor lasted 35 minutes. Four bills were introduced and shunted off to committees, and that was it. Done for the day.

The committees that received the bills worked for the rest of the day and came in on Thursday and Friday as well. The rest of us stayed home and saved the beleaguered Vermont tax payers some money. We meet again this coming Wednesday to see what has been accomplished.

This page on my website explains what a Special Session is and what we are doing. I'll update is fairly regularly.

The Primary Election

May 31st, this coming Thursday, is the deadline for submitting petitions to get a candidate's name on the August primary ballots. There were some interesting turns this week as more Colchester candidates filed their petitions.

Colchester is divided into two voting districts (CH-9-1 and CH-9-2). Here's a map that roughly shows the two districts. One (CH-9-1) is referred to as the The Village. The other is referred to as The Bay. They are each two-seat districts, meaning they each send two representatives to the House. The current Representatives are:

• The Village
• Me. Curt Taylor (Democrat)
• Jim Condon (Democrat)
• The Bay
• Pat Brennan (Republican)
• Maureen Dakin (Democrat)

Both Maureen Dakin and Jim Condon are not seeking re-election. Pat Brennan and myself are. The question, for the last month or so, has been: Who else might run?

The Secretary of State website has a button for downloading a spreadsheet to see who has filed petitions. Currently there are the following for these two districts.

• The Village
• Me (Democrat) FaceBook Page, Website
• Deserae Morin (Republican) FaceBook Page, Website
• The Bay
• Pat Brennan (Republican) 
• Herb Downing (Democrat)
• Sarita Austin (Democrat)
• John Nagel III (Republican)

Unless something changes by Thursday, there will be no real race in my district as both Deserae Morin and myself will be on the November ballot and voters will then send both of us to Montpelier. There will be a real race in November on the Bay Side. Herb Downing is a well known Select Board member and Sarita Austin is a motivated member of the Colchester Planning Commission. As things stand, all four will progress to the November ballot where voters will select any two to represent The Bay.

Guns

It appears that the legislation of gun has inspired several of the candidates to run. All the Republicans on the ballot were strongly apposed to the legislation we passed, and the governor signed into law, during this session. I am not clear where Herb Downing and Sarita Austin stand on this issue.

Next Week

The special session continues and the deadline for candidate petitions arrives. Should be interesting

May 19th 2018 - The Endless Session

A Short Vacation

The Coast of Maine

I'm in Maine for a short vacation. Back in Vermont the political struggles continue. The General Assembly (House and Senate) voted out the budget and the education spending bill last week. We're done. All the governor has to do is sign the bills and Vermont can continue on its merry way into a glorious summer. But the governor has threatened to veto at least one of those bills and bring us back for a special session to work something out. This is basically a threat to shut down the state government. We went through this same thing last year. It's not a good way to do legislation.

The Issue

The big issue seems to be $35 million in the Education Fund (some say it's actually $58 million - depends on what you're counting). The Ed Fund is used to fill all the local school budgets in the state. Predictions of revenue and expenses show it coming up that much short . There's money to plug that hole. The controversy is around just how to do it.

The Ed Funding bill we passed raised the average Homestead Property taxes for the state 2.6 cents for every $100 dollars of property value (from $1.50 to $1.526). That's the average for the state. Colchester's rate will go up more because of local issues. One can argue that the legislature raises taxes in order to plug that $35 million hole. The governor has pledged not to raise taxes so he wants to plug the hole by using one-time money from other sources, essentially buying down the tax rate.

What's wrong with one-time money?

We did this last year and perhaps we have learned. One-time money means you're not identifying a long term revenue source for these funds. One-time money should be used for one-time expenses like an emergency situation or to plug a temporary hole. The trouble is that when you use it to fund school budgets you are funding programs and salaries that will be there again next year and will need plugging then as well. It only delays the problem and perhaps makes it worse.

The Two Sides

The governor's plan is to plug the hole this year and put in place cost saving measures that will reduce next year's budget by enough to cover the cost. He proposed a 5-year plan to do this. Unfortunately the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) looked into the plan, found some problems and did not respond favorably.

The legislature wants to keep the increase in the property taxes and use the extra money to restore reserves and pay down some of the debt liability in the Teacher Pension Fund. That proposal will save the tax payers $100 million "over time." They say over time because it actually a pretty long time. Like ten or twenty years.

Where we are now?

The governor has called a special session of the General Assembly in order to work out the differences. As of today he has not vetoed the budget or the education funding bill. He only received the bills this week. We've been told to report for work Wednesday, May 23rd at 10:00 am. Thursday and Friday some committees will meet, but most of us will stay home. Then, the week after, we will return to finalize whatever is agreed upon.

Hanging over all of this is the brinkmanship of a state shutdown. The budget and the education funding bill really need to be passed and signed by the governor before July 1st, the beginning of the next fiscal year.

Week 19 - May 7th to May 12th

The Last Week . . . 

A Scrum at the Podium

The House Journal for Saturday, May 12th ends with:

Adjournment

At twelve o'clock and eighteen minutes in the evening, on motion of Rep. Donahue of Northfield, the House adjourned pursuant to the provisions of J.R. 60.

That's 12:18 as in midnight plus eighteen minutes. I was home in Colchester at 1:30 am. The day, the week, the session, the biennium have all ended. During Saturday's work the two most important bills came out of conference committees for approval by both the House and Senate. They were:

• H.911 An act relating to changes in Vermont’s personal income tax and education financing system. 
• H.924 An act relating to making appropriations for the support of government.

Without those two bills the government can't function very well after July 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year. In addition to that deadline there was the deadline of the week's end, and the session end. By then everyone wanted to go home. Summer is upon us and legislators start thinking about their other priorities: jobs, vacations, kids, wives and such. No one wanted to come back the following week. That's why we worked Monday as well as Saturday.

Suspending Rules

In order for a bill to become law there are a number of steps it has to go through. Some of those steps are designed to slow the process down. It's all part of the rules set up by the General Assemble. But in the last days of the session people want things to move fast so there is a little trick called: "suspending the rules." By voting to suspend the rules, bills can be cranked through the process more quickly. But suspending the rules requires a three-quarters vote. This gives Vermont's Republican minority a little injection of power in the waning days of the session. If the Republican caucus wants some last minute change to a bill or to have a bill killed, they can refuse to suspend the rules and thereby bring the whole process to its usual slow pace and keep the session going into next week.

All this happens behind the scenes. The Speaker and the majority party never requested a suspension of the rules that failed. That would look bad. Instead there are negotiations ahead of time such that it's agreed to suspend before the vote is taken. The vote is just a legal formality. This is why, for a good deal of Friday and Saturday, we had no idea whether we would be ending the session Saturday or not. This is also why there were a number of long recesses while leadership negotiated or while we waited for bills to come back from the Senate. Both the House and Senate suspended rules to facilitate the movement of bills back and forth and out of conference committees.

H.924 Committee of Conference

Late Friday night the committee of conference for the Appropriations bill (H.924) finished their work. Saturday afternoon we heard the details. Saturday night we approved all changes with a remarkable 117 to 14 vote and sent the bill on to the governor. Saturday we also passed the Taxing bill (H.911) 89 to 43 and sent that on as well. At close to midnight the Governor closed the session with a short speech that basically said he would veto those two bills and we would all get together again soon to work it out. We'll see.

Later this week I'll be putting together a website page listing what was accomplished during the session. There has been quite a bit of good work done. For those who are interested in only the bottom line, here it is:

• Spending went up .5%  which is incredible! There are a number of ways to measure growth of spending but no matter how you do it, this looks very good.
• School budgets state-wide went up 1.8% which is also incredible.
• The state-wide average homestead property taxes is $1.526 for each $100 of property value. That's an increase of 2.6 cents over last year (FY18) and a decrease of .1 cent over FY2017.
• The state-wide non-homestead property tax is $1.59 and increase from $1.535.
• The average household income tax rate (income sensitivity) is 2.53%, that's down from last year's 2.55%

Paid Family Leave

When the Paid Family Leave bill first came up early in the session, I voted against it. It came back from the Senate with some changes. Prior to the vote this week, leadership asked me how I would vote and I told them to expect a "No."  In the course of debate and clarification of some of the changes I changed my mind and voted "Yes". Here's a link to my write-up of the bill and my vote.

Weekly Summary

We had a little bit of Capital Bill work at the beginning of the week, but basically, our work was done. For much of the week we we were either on the floor debating and voting or walking around, passing rumors, and/or wasting time. The weather was beautiful, so I was able to take several long walks at mid-day and after the day's work.

• Monday 
• 10:00 in committee for Capital Bill (H.923) review - some behind the scenes negotiating with Senate Institutions.
• 11:30 lunch break
• 1:00 On the floor - Clean Water Bill (H.260)
• 5:20 Committee vote on Capital Bill changes. Approved. We're done with it!
• 6:30 Done for the day
• Tuesday
• 9:00 In Committee for quick vote on H.777 regarding the State Clean Water Revolving Loan fund.
• 10:00 On the floor
• 11:10 Capital Bill approved and on it's way to the Senater
• 11:15 Minimum Wage (S.40)
• 12:00 Caucus on Minimum Wage
• 3:10 start Vote on Minimum Wage - It passed 77 to 69. I voted "No"
• 5:58 Adjourn
• Wednesday
• 10:00 On the floor. with various bills
• 11:26 Recess until 2:30
• 3:00 Back on the floor
• 3:30 I was on a quick conference committee
• 5:18 Recess after complaint of things moving too fast without everyone knowing where we are and seeing what we're voting on
• 6:30 Done
• Thursday
• 9:00 In committee for presentation on battery backup for the State House.
• 10:10 On the floor for various bills
• 11:30 Recess until 1:30
• 2:35 Back for public caucus
• 3:44 On the floor
• 4:00 break 
• 4:23 Done with Misc. Education Bill
• 5:30 Done for the day
• Friday
• 9:30 On the floor
• 10:17 Started Paid Family Leave bill (H.196) 
• 11:45 Roll-call on Paid Family Leave - it passed 90 to 53. I voted "Yes"
• 12:02 Done with Paid Family Leave
• 12:15 Lunch
• 1:33 Back on the floor
• 3:30 Break
• 5:30  Back to the floor
• 7:15 Adjourn for the day
• Saturday
• 1:30 pm - On the floor for recess
• 2:42 Started orders of the day
• Caucus of the whole. Everyone hearing about Budget Bill and Education Funding
• 5:10 Public Democratic caucus
• 5:47 Break for dinner
• 7:02 Back on the floor for S.260 - Clean Water Funding
• H.928 (The Pay Act) - Roll-call on an amendment that would have kept everyone's pay the same in case there was a veto of the Budget. Roll-call vote failed. I voted "No"
• H.696  - Individual Mandate bill making it mandatory that one have health insurance. Roll-call vote pass 116 to 16. I voted "Yes"
• H.911 - Education Tax Bill - Roll-call vote. It passed 89 to 43. I voted "Yes"
• H.924 - The Big Bill - Roll-call vote passed 117 to 14. I voted "Yes"
• 12:00 (About) - Governor called in to address the House and end the session
• 12:18 Adjourn

What's Next

Our work is done. The General Assembly adjourned. However, the governor is expected to veto at least on of the must-pass bills. Leadership says we will not call a veto session, so it will be up to the governor to call a special section to have us prevent a state shut down.

Week 18 - May 1st to May 4th

Under Pressure

What's Wrong With This Picture?

No it wasn't some Thrill Crazed Youths that took the statue from the top of the dome. It was the lads from Building and General Services. A couple weeks ago they began the renovations of the Golden Dome: a new statue, new gold leaf and more. It's part of the Capital Bill we worked on last session and costs several million. The problem is that with the weather finally improving they're anxious to get started. And the darn legislators keep hanging around debating bills. There may be some overlap of renovation and negotiation but we're into the final week . . . supposedly.

Minimum Wage

The Minimum Wage bill (S.40) came over from the Senate and is now in House Appropriation after a time in House General, Housing and Military Affairs. I put together a page on my website about it. When I ask constituents about it they generally say "It's complicated." and they're right. There a many potential side effects when you start messing with economics, particularly when you mess with something as complex as wages.

The bill proposes to raise the state minimum wage to $15 and hour over the next six years. It's now $10.50. The legislature's economic wizards sat that Vermont's "livable wage" is $13.03 for a single person working 40 hours per week who has no children and lives in a 2-person household. The federal minimum wage is $7.25. Nationally, wages are going up by about 2.6% a year. At that rate I figure we'll hit a $15/hr minimum wage in 2032. And of course, by then the cost of living will have gone up.

Many of the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage are on the website page so I won't go into them here. Suffice it to say that when Leadership asked me how I might vote, I said I could not support it the way it is currently written. The bill seems unable to come out of committee so I suspect there are other Democrats who are having difficulty with it. We hear that the governor will veto it anyway.

Education Funding

Rumors abound on what has, and will, happen with the Education Funding bill (H.911). We sent it over to the Senate back near the end of March. It has been in Senate Appropriations and then Finance since then. It should come to the House, with changes, this coming week. One of those changes is taking out the portion that moves some of the funding from the homestead property tax to a income tax surcharge. That's the part I liked. 

The governor doesn't seem to like this bill either and may veto it depending on what we do with it when it gets back from the Senate. Education funding is always part of the session end games.

The Capital Budget Adjustment Bill

H.923 is the one I've been most involved with. It came back from the Senate this week with some changes. We've been going over those changes in committee, deciding which we agree with and which we don't. There are three options:

• Agree with all the Senate changes. In which case we urge the House to "Concur with the Senate proposal of amendments." Which will send it on to the governor.
• Make some changes ourselves. Then we ask the House to "Concur with Senate proposal of amendments, with further amendments." Sending it back to the Senate with our changes.
• Ask for a conference committee. "Do not concur and request that a committee of conference be formed." Then a couple member of our committee will sit down with a couple members of the Senate Institutions committee and come up with agreements. Those agreements have to be approved by both the House and Senate with an up or down vote, no more amendments.

We're hoping to avoid the committee of conference and just sent the bill back to the Senate with a few changes. Our chair has been talking with the Senate Institutions chair so that any changes will be agreed upon by them. So this is sort of an informal conference committee.

The Big Bill

H.924 is the budget, referred to as "The Big Bill." It's gone back and forth between the House and Senate and is now in a committee of conference with the two Chairs of Appropriations (they are also sisters) working out the differences.  The results should come back to us for a vote this coming week.

Vetoes

Last year the governor vetoed both the budget and the education funding bill. That was no fun. We came back in June for a short veto session. That could well happen this year. 

There are actually two types of Veto Sessions: one called by the Legislature, the other called by the governor.

• Legislature Veto Session - Leadership has already scheduled June 13th for a possible veto session. We can do about anything in a veto session, but generally we just vote to see if the House and Senate can override the veto. It takes a two-thirds vote of each to override.
• Governor's Special Session - If Leadership decides not to call a veto session and just let the vetoes stand, then the governor can, if he wants, call a special session and ask the General Assemble to work on something.

This whole process is confused when the budget is the bill being vetoed. If the governor vetoed a bill on making assault rifles illegal we could skip the veto session and assault rifles would not be illegal. But if the governor vetoes the budget or the ed funding bill then the state government comes to a grinding halt on July 1st when the new fiscal year begins. Those two bills are must pass bills. The government and the public schools do not function without them. All this is a classic battle of the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branch of the state government. Thank god the judiciary doesn't get into it.

Weekly Summary

We're spending a lot of committee time cleaning up the Capital Bill. Floor times are getting longer as the controversial bills are finally coming out of committee.

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 On the floor - S.267 , the "Attempt" bill, mentioned last week, was supposed to come up for consideration. But instead, it was ordered to lie. Its fate is unknown. I suppose there just weren't enough votes to bring it to the floor.
• 11:57 - Break for lunch 
• 12:45 Public caucuses - Discussed minimum wage bill,  H.25 which creates a Domestic Terrorism crime, and S.260 regarding Clean Water funding. 
• 1:50 Back in Committee - to work on Capital Bill adjustment
• 2:00 Secretary of Commerce and Community Development – to talk about use of state building space for maker spaces to enable others to develop products or work remotely.
• 2:30 Commissioner of BGS to talk about maker spaces and remote work places.
• 3:05 Committee vote on Restorative Justice bill H.718. We agreed to the Senate changes.
• 3:15 Back to Capital Bill
• 4:15 On the floor for a couple bill
• 4:52 Adjourned
• Wednesday
• 9:00 - In committee for Capital Bill - Commissioner of BGS is to go over all the projects again.
• 10:10 - Short break
• 10:15 Going over Offender Files bill language with Legislative Counsel. We're close to done with this.
• 10:50 Back to Capital Bill
• 11:07 UVM - Tom Gustafson, Vice President of University Relations and Administration, and Robert Vaughan, Director of Campus Planning, University of Vermont to talk about the couple million we give them for major maintenance projects.
• 11:45 break for lunch - warm sunny day
• 1:00 On the floor -
• 1:36 Prescription Drugs - S.175 allows for the wholesale importation of prescription drugs in order to make them cheaper for Vermonters. This will require a federal waiver which is a bit unlikely. There was a roll-call vote on this. It passed 141 to 2. I voted Yes. There was also a roll-call vote on J.R.H.17 , a joint resolution opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rollback of federal motor vehicle emission standards. It passed 128 to 14. I voted Yes.
• 4:37 Adjourn
• Thursday
• 9:00 In committee for Department of Corrections discussion of the Capital Bill and the use of various facilities throughout the state.
• 9:50 Break
• 10:00 Back in committee for more capital bill discussion
• 12:05 Break
• 1:00 Back in Committee for more capital bill
• 1:30 On the floor
• 2:43 In caucus for S.197. This bill deal with toxic substances. Basically, it gives an individual a slightly greater ability to sue for the cost of health monitoring. It's still a long involved court process, so I voted for it. There was a roll-call vote and it passed 92 to 45 with me voting Yes. It's in the Senate now.
• 6:03 Roll-call on S.105. This bill caused a lot of problems this week. It's about contracts. It's trying to make it so it's not so easy to put some things in those contracts we all agree to by clicking a button or buying a lift ticket. There was a lot of push-back from members thinking it will kill the recreation industry because it relies on waivers. I'm not convinced many of the House members really understood the bill (myself included). The roll-call vote was to move the bill to another committee and essentially kill it. The motion failed 73 to 54 and I voted against moving it, which was a vote to keep it alive.
• 6:00 Vote to approve S.105 for a third reading passed 67 to 56 by divison, which is really pretty close. I vote No this time which was against the party recommendation. I just didn't like parts of it, and wasn't sure I understood the implications.
• 6:37 Adjourn
• Friday
• 9:00 In Committee for discussion of Capital Bill and Agency of Education weanting to give out grants for design of construction changes for schools that merge.
• 10:40 On the floor for S.260 having to do with Clean Water Funding. The bill sets up some fees and taxes to begin in 2020 if no other funding mechanism is put in place.  There's more about it here.
• 1:15 Roll-call vote on S.260. There was actually some interesting parliamentary questions regarding amendments, but the end result was two roll-calls one was an 84 to 55 vote. I voted Yes and then a 92 to 48 vote that passed the bill. I voted Yes. The bill will come up again for third reading.
• 1:28 Break for lunch - during lunch and while the House met on the floor, we were in committee talking more about the capital bill. The chair and vice-chair are about to go negotiate with their counterparts from the Senate and they want to be sure they know how we feel about important part.
• 2:24 Back on the floor - more back and forth on that contract related bill (S.105). Several amendments, divisions and substitute amendments and general confusion. In the end (about 4:50) there was a 72 to 59 roll-call vote that passed the bill.
• 5:05 Adjourn for the week 

Next Week

Next week starts on Monday, though we usually start on Tuesday. We're really trying to get done. The minimum wage bill should come out of committee Monday. Then there's the paid family leave bill to make things interesting later in the week. We'll see.

Week 17 - April 24th to April 27th

A Breath of Spring

A Sure Sign of Spring

Last week the weather finally warmed enough for the Sargent at Arms to open the front doors of the Statehouse and let the place breathe. We are The People's House. Anyone can walk in. Committee rooms are open to the public. There are only a couple places in the State House that are off limits to visitors. I like to think there is great transparency in our laws and the way the state conducts business. But somehow, the opening of those doors always makes me feel that we are really out in the open. It's also a sure sign of spring, and that has been too long in coming.

Ghosts from January - Marijuana

Starting July 1st the possession of a small amount of marijuana and the growing of several plants will not be against state law. Back in January we had that debate and part of the debate was a Tax and Regulate system. That idea failed. But now, two weeks before the end of the session, an effort was made to revive the scheme with an 80 page amendment to H.167 which was tabled about a year ago. Since it's tabling, H.511 which is the one that legalized small amounts, passed the House and Senate and was signed by he governor. Now a couple members wanted to give Tax and Regulate (T & R) another try.

The new marijuana bill came to the floor on Friday but action on the bill was quickly "postponed indefinitely." That means it's dead. The vote to postpone was a roll-call vote with 106 in favor and 28 opposed. There was little interest in taking up such a controversial issue this late in the session. However, there is enough interest in the scheme to bring it back next session and I'm sure we will see it again. I voted in favor of postponing even though I am a supporter of taxing and regulating marijuana in Vermont.

Minimum Wage in the Wings

S.40 is a bill to stage increases in Vermont's minimum wage (now $10.50 and hour) for the next 6 years in order to reach $15/hr by 2024. The bill is in the House Appropriations committee but should be coming out this week. There was been much talk.

The majority whip asked what my vote will be and I've hedged.  But I told him Friday that I would come up with a decision this weekend. There is a bunch of research I need to do on this. It's not easy. I plan to update the minimum wage page of my website before Tuesday and make a decision.

Attempt Bill

S.267 is referred to as the Attempt bill. It is in response to the Jack Sawyer incident in Fair Haven, VT. The bill wants to make it possible to arrest a person who is about to commit a crime, but has not yet done it. So, essentially, you are arresting a person who has not done anything wrong . . . yet. There are already crimes for Attempting Murder or Attempting Arson but to prove the attempt is not easy. If a person shoots another person, but the other person did not die, then it's possible to arrest them for attempting murder.

The bill uses what is called the Substantial Steps test of the attempt. Here's a recent draft of the bill. The bill allows for the arrest and conviction of Attempting crimes if the Substantial Steps test is proved true. There is a bit of controversy about this bill and it may not make it to the House floor this session. But there is also a growing frustration outside the State House. People think we are not doing anything to prevent a mass shooting in a school. So there's all kind of things mixed up in the discussion.

Reporting Out H.874

H.874 is the bill I've been shepherding through the process of becoming law. I didn't propose or sponsor the bill, but when it left our committee for the first time I was appointed by the chair as the one to report it and follow it along. The bill has to do with continuing prescriptions for those who enter a corrections facility while taking prescription medication prescribed by a doctor outside corrections. The bill passed the House and went to the Senate. The Senate made a couple small changes and sent it back. We agreed with those changes and added a couple more. Those new changes had to be approved by the House. So Thursday I gave a short speech describing all this. The House then voted to approve it all and send it back to the Senate to see what they think of our most recent amendments.There has been a lot of background talk between the committees in the House and Senate, so there is no doubt they will approve what we sent and the bill can finally go to the governor.

Elections Around the Corner

May 31st is the deadline for turning in petitions (with at least 50 signatures) for those who want to have their names on the August primary election ballot. As Chair of the Colchester Democrats I've been running around looking for candidates. Both Jim Condon and Maureen Dakin are not running again and I hope to find good candidates to replace them. There are a number of favorable possibilities. 

Weekly Summary

These weekly summaries are getting shorter. The committee is, indeed, dealing with fewer issues. There are only a couple bills that can get done by the end of the session, so we are concentrating on those. And we are taking testimony about a long range plan for Corrections and Mental Health facilities.

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 On the floor - announcements etc. Nothing too exciting
• 12:00 Recess for photos on the Capitol steps
• 12:36 Committee workgroup on Offender Files - This is work with DOC on which offender files are to be available to inmates. We're making progress.
• 1:30 Done with work group
• 1:50 Steve Howard of Vermont State Employee's Association in committee regarding the proposed changes in mental health facilities. He's concerned that State Employees will get the short end of the stick.
• 2:30 Brad Ferlin from the Agency of Administration on the $1.9 million that seemed to have slipped everyone's attention.  This is the Vermont Telecom  money left over from a $10 million grant for expanding broadband to rural areas. It's complicated and everyone wants a piece of it.
• 3:00 Back on the floor
• 3:30 Adjourn for caucuses for discussion of Miscellaneous Education bill.
• 4:10 Done for the day
• Wednesday
• 9:00 John Gorczyk, Former Commissioner, Department of Corrections testimony on the future of Corrections facilities. No one likes big prisons. No one like privately run prisons.
• 10:45 Brief talk with Legislative Council about Offender Files. Helena Gardner is working on drafts of the legislation.
• 11:05 Back in committee for Matthew Valerio, Defender General, Defender General's Office testimony on long term plan.
• 12:00 Lunch break
• 1:00 On the floor
• Some sparks with S.272, a miscellaneous transportation bill. There was a proposal by a fairly conservative member that changed the definition of "resident" in the Transportation law. The change is that if you register to vote you will be considered a resident when it comes to registration of vehicles, licenses etc.  The gist of this is that the member didn't like the idea of students who are not residents in terms of some fees but can registered to vote. It's interesting, but would be a sort of backwards poll-tax in that, if you register to vote, it can cost you money. This proposed change was voted down.
• 2:20 Short Recess
• 2:52 Veto vote. The governor has vetoed S.103 regarding toxic chemical. The Senate had the two-thirds vote needed to override the governor's veto. Now it was the House's turn. This was a roll-call vote. The House did not have the votes to over-ride so the veto stands. The vote was close: 94 to override, 53 not. I voted to over-ride.
• 4:00 In committee to hear Representative Kate Webb from the Education Committee to talk about providing capital funds for radon testing in school. The funds may also be used for mitigation efforts.
• 5:00 - Done for the day
• Thursday
• 8:00 Meeting with Legislative Counsel and Rep. Morrissey about offender files.
• 9:00 John Campbell, Executive  Director, Department of State's Attorneys & Sheriffs to talk about Corrections facilities
• 10:00 Chris Cole, Commissioner, Buildings and General Services about Windsor facility
• 10:15 Done with BGS - Break
• 10:25 Explanation of offender files bill details. 
• 10:35 Rebecca Ellis, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Environmental Conservation to talk about phosphorus extraction equipment for dairy farms. This is part of the Capital Bill which is now in the Senate. There was a line item of a million or so for this equipment and we zeroed it out. The Senate is putting it back in.
• 12:30 Voted on some changes to H.874 which I will be reporting out in about an hour.
• 1:00 On the floor
• 1:25 Reported H.874
• 1:35 Attempt bill (discussed above) .
• 2:44 - break for caucuses
• 3:47 - Back on the floor - Instead of more debate and votes on the Attempt Bill, leadership decided to postpone action for another day.
• 5:00 Met with others to discuss this Attempt Bill.
• 6:00 Done for the day.
• Friday
• 8:30 In committee for Offender Files discussion. We hope to be done with this Tuesday.
• 9:30 on the floor -  H.167 Marijuana Tax and Regulate roll-call vote to postpone indefinitely. The vote to postpone passed. I voted yes.
• There was also a strange vote on a resolution (H.R.20) to appose the proposed New Vistas project. The resolution passed. I voted against it. It's just a resolution, so there's no law against the project going forward.
• 11:05 In Committee with more on Offender files
• 12:15 Done for the week.
• 
  

Next Week? Who Know?

• Minimum Wage
• Clean Water Funding?
• Capital Bill comes back from the Senate
• Budget Bill comes back from the Senate ?

Week 16 - April 17th to April 20th

Colchester in the Spot Light

Well that title is a bit of an exaggeration, but this week there were a number of Colchester oriented actions in Montpelier. The resolution I had put together honoring out town manager Dawn Francis came to the floor. A similar resolution that Representative Pat Brennan put together for Karen Richard came to the floor that same day. And finally, the Colchester Charter Change bill I've been shepherding, cleared the House and is now in the Senate. Tuesday was a busy day.

Karen Richard, Me  and Dawn Francis

Wednesday my brother-in-law came up from Massachusetts for a couple-day visit, and Thursday Ruth came down to do some lobbying for climate change legislation.

Otherwise it was a slow, somewhat confusing, week. The Capital Bill, our big responsibility, is being reviewed and revised over in the Senate, as is the Budget. The window for bills to get out of the General Assembly and on to the Governor's desk is narrowing fast. We expect to be done in four weeks.

Making Bills Match

There are two bills (H.874 and S.166) working their way through the House and Senate that modify the same piece of current law.  Both bills add a definition of Medication-Assisted Treatment to Vermont Statutes and Acts Title 18 on Health. So, which one is will be the legal definition? This is particularly important as this definition is, and will be, used in other portions of law and in the general community. When people ask, "So what is Medication-Assisted Treatment?", this will be the official state definition that will be referenced. In fact, whichever bill is signed last by the governor will be the one that becomes the final law, but it's better to make the definitions match. The trick is to keep all the committees in the House and Senate that touch the bill from changing that definition. There was a good deal of running back and forth between committees to keep things in line until they both hit the House floor this coming week. I'll be reporting out the changes that the Senate and the House have made to H.874, the one dealing with Inmate Access to Prescription Drugs.

Long Range Planning

I continue to get letters from the Vermont inmates at the Camp Hill Corrections Facility in Pennsylvania. They remind me that we really haven't done anything about getting those out-of-state prisoners back to Vermont. There has been a lot of people saying that we should do it but nothing has been done. I cornered the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee and told them I think we should do some long range planning while we have the time at the end of this session. In fact, I find myself getting a bit frustrated with the amount of time spent on things that have very little to do with what I think we should be doing. It may be just that spring is taking forever to get here. At any rate, this week we started taking testimony and talking about long term planning of Vermont's Prison population.

Near the beginning of the this session the Secretary of Human Services issued a report proposing a ten-year plan to build a 925 bed Corrections Campus in Northwest Vermont. We never really took a hard look at that. We are now.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 On the floor - announcements etc.
• 10:30 Start orders of the Day
• H.482 drew some attention. This is a bill designed to reduce the number of credit card debt cases going through the courts. The idea is to set up a process whereby debtor and debtee can meet and resolve differences without going to court. 
• 11:00 break for Caucus - Some discussion in caucus about the Jack Sawyer case and the need for an "intent" law. That would be charging someone with the "intent" to commit a crime. This is a tricky area because there are free speech issues and we don't want to charge people with a crime every time they say "I'd like to kill that guy." The Red Flag bill passed early in the session and signed by the governor involves the confiscation of weapons, not the charging of a crime.
• 12:00 back on the floor with more on credit card debt. That bill passed second reading and will be back on the floor Wednesday.
• 12:30 Done on the floor - Lunch
• 1:30 In committee with discussion of the definitions in H.874
• 2:15 or so - Long Range Corrections Planning discussion
• 3:00 - Testimony for Home Detention with legislative counsel. This is the one having to do with real-time electronic monitoring of inmates on home detention. It's confused by the Jack Sawyer case mentioned early as there are some people who do or do not want him on Home Detention. We're thinking of getting rid of the program entirely as it does not seem to be working. I believe I mentioned this last week.
• 4:00 Break - but back to the same afterward.
• 5:00 Done
• 7:00 School Board meeting in Colchester
• Wednesday
• 9:00 in Committee, though I'm not sure why. we really didn't start for half an hour. Some talk of that $1.9 million left over from Vermont Telecom that we want to use for Mental Health beds.
• 9:35 Offender Files - This issue drags on. Which parts of a prisoner's files should be made available to them. The decision was reached to have four members of the committee and Monica Weever from DOC and any advocates get together on Friday and pick through some of the details of this to decide which records should be made available.
• 10:29 Break
• 10:35 The room was suddenly crowded with people wanting to hear what the Secretary of Human Services had to say about a plan to increase the number of mental health beds at the Brattleboro Retreat.  We moved the meeting downstairs to Rm 11 for space.
• 11:37 Done in Room 11 - Back to Committee for discussion of the Retreat plan
• 12:00 Break
• 1:00 On the floor
• 1:30 Done with announcements etc.
• 2:45 Colchester Charter Change bill passed.
• 2:50 Adjourn
• 3:00 Back in committee for offender files and other cleanup things.
• 4:30 Done for the day
• Thursday
• 8:00 IT Advisory Committee meeting - These always seem to go well. Less wasted time. Senator Pierce runs the meeting well.
• 8:30 Done with IT. Back to Home Detention
• 10:00 Working on S.222. Sent Leg Counsel off to do another draft. Break for half hour.
• 10:27 Back in Committee for committee vote on S.222. Passed unanimously. I believe in the last two years we have not had a vote that was not unanimous.
• 11:00 Discussion of long term planning until noon.
• 12:00 Break
• 1:00 On the floor
• During announcements I introduced both brother-in-law Steph Bader from Concord, MA and Ruth to the House. Too nervous still. I referred to the Speaker as Madame Secretary for some reason instead of Madame Speaker.
• 2:00 - Back in Committee to go over H.874 which I will be reporting out next week
• We voted it out of committee  (10,0,1 that's 10 approve, 0 disapprove, and one absent.)
• 2:25 Testimony from BGS and the Retreat Option 
• 2:50 Tuning up language about relocating the Secure Residential facility now in Middlesex
• Testimony from State's Attorneys and Sheriffs (Campbell) about Long Range Planning. We're doing the pros and cons about a regional vs. centralized model for detention.
• 4:30 Done for the day
• Friday
• 9:00 In committee for discussion of Home Detention
• 9:30 On the floor
• 10:05 Adjourn
• 10:30 Workgroup on Offender Files in committee room. 
• 12:00 Done for the week.

Coming Up

Minimum Wage

A minimum wage bill (S.40S) came over from the Senate and is about to be reported out of committee to the House floor for a vote. I'm still doing some research on this one and have not really decided where I stand. I believe the bill brings the minimum up to $15/hr by 2024.

Week 15 - April 10th to April 13th

Immigration ?

Governor Scott Signs Gun Related Legislation

Is was sunny the day Governor Scott signed gun-related legislation: S.55, H.422 and S.221. while on the steps of the capitol. That was Wednesday. The session on floor adjourned early so all members could attend the signing. My impression was that there were a good deal more of those in favor of the regulations than there were of those against it, a newspaper account I read said the opposite,

I've heard Governor Scott speak several times and he always seemed a bit wooden. This time he was much better . Though there was a continuous series of insults from the gun advocates, he continued unfazed. I did not stick around for Speaker Mitzi's speech.

Immigration

It took me by surprise. I didn't think there was a big controversy. With all the complaints about Vermont's dwindling population and difficulty finding and retaining workers I did not think immigration would be a controversial issue. Apparently, I was wrong.

S.237 began in the Senate. As introduced it had the following statement of purpose

This bill proposes to require that needy persons be provided with representation concerning immigration matters.

It was about six pages long and proposed several changes to Title 13 of the Vermont statutes. Basically it said that the law would not prohibit a Defender General attorney from defending needy people with regard to immigration issues.

The Senate trashed the whole thing and replaced it with a half page of text as follows:

[This chapter] does not prohibit the defender general Defender General, the deputy defender general Deputy Defender General, or public defenders from representing a needy person in a federal court of the United States, if:

• (1) The the matter arises out of or is related to an action pending or recently pending in a court of criminal jurisdiction of the state State; or
• (2) Representation representation is under a plan of the United States U.S. District Court as required by the Criminal Justice Act of 1964 (18 U.S.C.§ 3006A); or
• (3) representation is in or with respect to a matter arising out of or relating to immigration status.

Which basically says that if there is a state case already in the court then the attorney in the Defender General's office can take on any related immigration issues that come up. Apparently, these attorneys are already doing it, but on their own time and separate from the Defender General's office. Keep in mind that immigration is a federal issue. Immigration crimes are federal crimes tried in federal courts. Vermont's Defender General's office deal with state crimes. Without there being a charge of a state crime the Defender General does not get involved. If a person is picked up by federal officials and charged with being in the country illegally, the defender general would not be contacted. However, if a person is charged with petty theft and while defending that person the Defender General discovers that the charge will effect the person's immigration status then the Defender General is not prohibited from representing that person in federal court. I'm pretty sure I have that right. It all came up in the three hours of floor debate of that one paragraph.

There were plenty of misunderstandings. The Sixth Amendment of the  US Constitution was referred to as guaranteeing criminal defense to everyone which, I believe, is not necessarily true in immigration matters. Another member referred to Article 10 of the Vermont Constitution was also deals with criminal defense. And there were some pretty broad statements like "If you're not in the country legally, you have no constitutional rights" which runs contrary to my understanding of the law.

The debate ended with a roll-call vote: 97 in favor and 40 opposed. This was second reading of the bill in the House, so it would come up again, and did, on Wednesday.  An amendment was proposed clarifying that this change would not overburden the Defender General's office, The amendment and the bill passed by voice vote and was sent back to the Senate. The three hours of debate on Tuesday was interesting and informative.

Working toward the end-of-session

I'm told that, behind the scenes, leadership is looking to the end of the session. The target is now May 11th, which is only a month away. The leadership of both the House and the Senate along with various committee chairs go off somewhere and prioritize the bills that need work and might make it to the governor's desk. Committees look to find ways to get favored items attached to bills that are likely to move. This last month is when all the trading, shuffling, negotiating, speculation and rumors take place. Fortunately, as a freshman legislator, I am not an active participant. Similar to a year ago there will be a lot of waiting and idling and then feverish work, then waiting again. It may not be fun, but it is interesting.

Karen Richard, Me and Dawn Francis

Resolution for Dawn Francis and Karen Richard

This week the concurrent (that's House and Senate) resolution I was working on to honor our retiring town manager came to the floor and was read to the chamber. A resolution honoring our town clerk was also presented. During the announcements portion of the calendar I announced Dawn Francis. Colchester's Representative Pat Brennan announced Karen Richard. They came down from Colchester and witnessed the reading and received the applause of the House. Rep. Brennan did a better job than I on the announcement, but I'm still learning. It's not a lot of work to get a resolution done, but it does take some sustained effort.

The Colchester Charter Change bill

Me Testifying to Gov Ops

Friday was busy. There were the two resolutions just mentioned and H.926 which changes Colchester's charter to make the town clerk and treasurer positions appointed rather than elected. It had been read for the first time and assigned to the House Committee on Government Operations. Friday, that committee took testimony on the bill, so I got to sit in and make a few statements. I had submitted written testimony so didn't plan to say much. It also seemed like a pretty easy committee decision. As a result, my presentation was lacking. No one ever reads the testimony in advance. I should have known that. And any committee can make a simple bill more complicated.

There was some interest in changing the bill so that firing the appointed clerk would require just cause. After some discussion, they decided to do that elsewhere for all charters so the Colchester bill was not changes. H.926 received the unanimous support of the committee. It will go back to the House floor this coming week for second and third reading. Then on to the Senate. I may have a chance to improve my testimony there.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 Basically the three hours of debate on S.237 described above
• 1:00 break
• 1:45 Public caucus
• S.203 regarding mental health was presented and reviewed.
• 2:45 In room 11 for public discussion of a new proposal by UVM Health Network and the Secretary of Human Services. This is part of a plan to relieve the pressure of mental health issues in hospital emergency departments. 
• 4:15 Back in committee for discussion 
• 6:30 In Colchester for the Select Board meeting and public hearing on Green Play's proposed changes to Malletts Bay.
• 10:00 Done for the day.
• Wednesday
• 9:00 In committee with Leg Council attorney going over the problems of access to Offender Files; what should be made available to the inmate, to the public or only to the corrections people.
• 10:30 Quick discussion and committee vote on the H.551. This is the one from way back in January about flying a special flag one day a year.
• 10:40 Break - During this time I'm running around trying to get that resolution for Dawn Francis finalized. I showed it to Dawn during the Select Board meeting Tuesday and she suggested some small changes. So I had to chase down the lawyer in charge of resolutions and get him to change it. When he was finished I needed to get it to the House clerk's office so that it would be read in on Friday.
• 11:00 More on Offender Files.
• 12:00 Break
• 1:00 On the floor for nothing crucial
• 1:45 Adjourn for the day. Everyone was outside for the Governor's bill-signing on the capitol steps.
• 2:53 Back in committee for more talk and some Offender Files work. 
• 4:30 Done - A disjointed day.
• Thursday
• 8:00 - Arrived for IT Advisory Committee meeting. After about 15 minutes we were told that the meeting had been cancelled.
• 9:00 In committee. Going through S.234 having to do with Youthful Offenders. This is the bill that changes the age of those that can have a Youthful Offender status and thereby go though family court and avoid prisons and a criminal record. There was also some talk of the Essex Woodside facility.
• 9:52 Break
• 10:10 Back to S.179 and Restorative Justice Centers. This bill took an interesting turn. It began as just a cleanup, but the more questions we asked about how all this works the more it became apparent that more work needed to be done. A bit of re-thinking was in order. So everyone is talking about dumping the bill and starting over next session.
• 10:54 Done with Restorative Justice Centers. Looks like this will come up next session.
• 11:05 H.806 began as a request by the Windsor Select Board to have some sort of commission decide what happens to the now defunct Windsor Corrections Facility. It has morphed into a directive for Buildings and General Services to figure it out and report back to us. The discussion got a little heated as the Commission of Buildings and General Services resists too much meddling by our committee. Several members of our committee think the Commission needs more guidelines. 
• 12:05 Break
• 1:00 On the floor. H.R.23. That's House Resolution 23. It has been peculating in the background of the gun debate. It's a resolution directing the governor to "use available funds to examine the connection between excessive video game playing and the propensity to engage in gun violence and to propose restrictions on the rental or sale of violent video games to persons under a designated age." This issue has been studied a bit and, I believe, no connection found. But that seems counter-intuitive. The resolution was controversial because it mentioned Dave Grossman's book Assassination Generation and there are those that think this promotes the wrong approach to policing. An amendment was introduced to remove reference to the man and the book. The resolution passed without much trouble.
• 2:40 Back in Committee for discussion of Home Detention program in Corrections. Home detention combined with real-time electronic monitoring is something we instigated last year in hopes of saving about $700,000. It hasn't worked out that way and we're now thinking of ending the whole program. There are about 14 offenders now in the program and they are a group that committed serious crimes. We had hoped for about 50 and only those with low-risk crimes. We heard from a number of people including a victim advocate.
• 4:20 Done with Home Detention 
• 5:00 Discussion outside committee on H.260 regarding Clean Water Initiative funding. The House Committee on Natural Resources is proposing changing the bill. They want an added $2.00 a day room tax to raise money for Clean Water projects. The tax would not take effect for two years and would be the default funding mechanism if nothing else is approved by then.
• 6:00 Done for the day
• Friday
• 9:00 In committee for discussion of various bills
• 9:30 On the floor
• Dawn Francis and Karen Richard resolutions read to the House
• I introduced Dawn to the House
• Some back and forth on the fine points of a Judiciary bill.
• 10:25 Done on the floor
• 11:30 My testimony to House Government Operations about Colchester's Charter change.
• 12:00 Back to committee to find we're done for the week.

Wrap Up

Last week was a bit disjointed. We made some progress on a couple bills but, in general, things did not progress smoothly. I'm afraid next week will be more of the same. The closer we get to the end of the session the less predictable things are. We'll see.

Week 14 - April 3rd to April 6th

Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT)

MAT related bills and research

We've settled down a bit. The day's work has fallen to a more normal pattern without any long sessions stretching into the evenings. We generally start at 8:30 in Committee, then an hour or so of floor time and back into Committee until 4:30 or 5:00. Friday we were done by 1:00 PM. Other committees are working longer hours and there are hearings and meetings that individuals attend. I sat in on the minimum wage bill hearing Thursday evening and had an 8:00 IT Advisory Committee meeting that morning. For those that like the chatter and thrive on the social aspects of politics there are receptions, breakfasts and lunches. This week there was also a dance party fund raiser for the Make A Wish Foundation. Not being a dancer or very social, I spent the evening summarizing what S.55 (that gun bill) contained and posted it to my website.

Guns

We did have another gun related bill come to the House floor this week. That was H.422, related to the removal of firearms from a person arrested or cited for domestic assault. We had passed it earlier in the session and sent it to the Senate. The Senate made some changes and sent it back to us. After only a little debate, it passed 133 to 0 and is on its way to the Governor. Here's the official purpose of the bill:

This bill proposes to require 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.

Drug Addiction in Prisons

Much of my committee work this week centered on the treatment of drug addiction in Vermont's prisons. We have at least three bills on the wall that deal with this issue. We are combining them into one by amending S.166.

A few questions that comes to mind is: Why are you dealing with this? Isn't that up to someone else to decide? Maybe a doctor?  Or a prison superintendent? What do you know about how to treat drug addiction?

I asked those same questions of my committee chair and vice-chair. The answer was, "Get used to it. It's your job." (Though they were more polite than that). That's part of being on Corrections and Institutions. We are the policy committee for Corrections and the medical care of prisoners is a policy we regulate. I was also told that we would check with House Committee on Human Services before we are finished with it. So, that means I need to learn about drug addiction and treatment. I'm on it!

The treatment of drug abuse has changed a lot in the past 10 years or so. The opioid crisis, with its enormous economic and safety impact, has brought about much of this change. Drug addiction, like alcoholism, is being looked at as a public health issue rather than a public safety issue. The goal is no longer to lock up addicts and force them to withdraw from their addiction. Rather it is to treat the illness and thereby reduce the criminal behavior that supports it. I hesitate to quote numbers about which I know little but . . . for every dollar spent on substance abuse programming in prisons, Missouri reported saving $1.03 to $3.76, and Kentucky reported saving $4.46.

Medication Assisted Treatment is nearly as complicated as the Opioid Use Disorder it addresses. In the non-incarcerated community is varies from state to state. Vermont has developed a Hub and Spoke system that has proven very effective, but providing that type of treatment and programming within Corrections is not easy. There are several drugs used within MAT: buprenorphine (a.k.a suboxone), methadone  and Naltrexone (a.k.a  Vivitrol).  And there are federal guideline for each, particularly methadone.

Keep in mind that there are many people being held within corrections facilities who have not been convicted of a crime. They may be charged with a crime, but are being held for lack of bail. They may be charged but judged not mentally able to stand trial. In addition, the Department of Corrections may not know exactly how long a person may be in prison. It may be an overnight visit, or a weekend awaiting arraignment, or weeks awaiting psychiatric evaluation, or years until a person is mentally able to stand trial.

The bill we are working on addresses several different situations.

1. A person who is already on a MAT program outside Corrections is suddenly within the corrections system. How is that treatment which, may include the provision of methadone, continued? Who is the primary physician? The one inside or outside Corrections?
2. A person with a Substance Use Disorder comes into Corrections and is not on a MAT program. Should we start treatment for that person? What kinds of treatment will it be? What medications might be used? Who will prescribe them? What behavior programming or counseling will it include? Can/Should it be mandatory? How long will it be provided?
3. A person is about to leave the corrections facility, how does that effect treatment. There have been many overdoses of inmates who have recently left corrections. How do we prevent that? How do we continue care outside corrections so the person is not right back in after committing another crime in order to buy street drugs?
4. An inmate suddenly shows signs of addiction and wants treatment. Drugs do get smuggled into prisons. Inmates do get addicted. Do we start treatment? 

These issues intertwine with our need to provide for the safety of Corrections staff, for the protection of prisoners against those seeking drugs, and for the general health and welfare of the facility and society.

But somehow, we are almost finished with this and hope to vote it out of committee next week.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday 
• 10:00 On the floor for a half hour
• 10:30 - Noon - Public caucus - Discussion and explanation of H.422 
• 1:00 In committee to hammer out legal definition of Medication Assisted Treatment - The problem being that we want the legal definition with DOC to match the definition in the outside world. Does it include counseling and programming as well as medications?
• 2:00 - Senator Benning testifies to the committee on S.179 about restorative justice. This bill is trying to clean up the language in statute and have it more accurately reflect what is being done in the real world. Restorative Justice started out as a pilot program but has been found to be very successful at reducing the number of incarcerated people.
• 3:00 - Back to MAT
• 4:05 - Basically done, but some more committee discussion.
• Wednesday
• 9:00 In committee for more Restorative Justice testimony: Derek Miodownik, Restorative and Community Justice Executive. He presented a comprehensive history of the program in Vermont. Also explained the funding. It is state grants to municipalities or organizations. It is far cheaper and more effective to use Restorative Justice than it is to lock a person up with other criminals. There are now 20 Community Justice Centers in Vermont. They administer two basic programs:
• Re-entry to society for people leaving the Corrections system. This is the Circle of Support and Accountability (CoSA).
• Court Diversion where a panel of community volunteers helps a person understand the implications of their crime (usually petty) and atone for it by some action or process. The goal is to have the person realize that they are part of a community.
• 10:05 Break
• 10:13 Monica Weever - Director of Administrative Services, DOC to talk about inmate access to their files. This is a long standing controversy. What records should be made available to inmates? DOC resists because of the cost of copying and time consumed redacting information. The controversy is in the rule making process. DOC seems unable to develop the rules that determine what is provided to the inmate.
• 11:00 Back to MAT
• 12:00 Break
• 1:00 On the floor for about an hour
• 2:15 Back to Community Justice Centers - Beth Tanzman, Executive Director, Blueprint for Health, Department of Vermont Health Access with more explanation of how the Centers work. There is close cooperation with Probation and Parole.
• 3:25 break
• 3:35 Back to MAT - We're picking through the language of S.166 with our Legislative Council  lawyer - Katie McLinn
• 4:30 - Back to Inmate Records controversy.
• 5:00 - Done
• Thursday
• 8:15 - Meeting with IT Advisory Committee - We're trying to straighten out the organization of IT within the Capitol. There are several competing interests and personalities and no clear paths of authority.
• 9:00 In Committee for random discussion 
• 9:30 Vice-chair went through the House proposed budget, pointed out the portions that pertain to our Capital Budget and also Corrections. We'll see what the Senate does with those portions.
• 9:55 break
• 10:00 in Committee for discussion of Youthful Offenders. This is the issue of how we will work with 18 to 25 year olds within Corrections. The age limits are changing. Currently, the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex handles those under 18 (I think). The goal is, again, to avoid incarceration and criminal records yet protect community safety. This is also tied up with the Family Court system. I need to look into this more carefully.
• 11:10 Done with Youthful Offenders
• 11:15 Back to inmate files issue - Monica Weever and legal council
• 12:05 Lunch
• 1:00 On the floor
• H.422 came to the floor and passed unanimously.
• 3:37 In committee with MAT
• 4:45 Done - but some additional discussion outside committee about Clean Water Funding bill (S.260) that should come to us in a week or so. It will be considerably changed by the House Natural Resources Committee.
• 5:30 Attended the hearing in Rm 11 of the Capitol about a Minimum Wage bill (S.40).
• 6:30 Done
• Friday
• 9:00 In committee with MAT and language clean up
• 9:30 On the floor
• 10:00 Back in Committee - for more MAT - This turned out to be a long, detailed discussion that went around and around until we finally gave up and decided we were as close as we could get to a perfect bill. There are still some minor problems but the steps forward make it worth while.
• 12:30 Done for the Week.
• Weekend
• While writing this review I found further problems with our MAT bill. We'll see what happens.

Next Week

Behind the scenes two things are going on. The Colchester Charter Change bill  (H.926) is in the Government Operations committee. Friday of next week I have to go testify about the bill and see if I can push it through that committee and get it out on then House floor for a vote. This should not be difficult. The bill makes it so our Town Clerk is appointed rather than elected. The current clerk has announced her retirement, as of June 31st, so we need to get this bill signed by the governor before then.

Also behind the scenes a Leg Council lawyer is putting together two House resolutions: one for our retiring town clerk and the other for our retiring town manager. I'm the lead on the Town Manager one. So I need to push that along.

The Clean Water funding bill may come out of committee this coming week. That will be controversial. 

Week 13 - March 27th to March 30th

Done with Guns - for now

Last week we moved S.55 out of the House and sent it to the Senate. On Friday the Senate narrowly agreed to the House bill. It's now on its way to the Governor, who is expected to sign it. Here's a quick description of all the amendments we considered. Many of them were to improve the portion regarding large capacity magazines.

The last two weeks of this bill
Friday of the week before (3/23/2018), the bill came to the House floor for second reading. That was the session that ran until 9:30 at night. I wrote about that on my website. Over the weekend several members put together amendments primarily to make the restrictions on high capacity magazines more reasonable. Those amendments came up for votes on Tuesday of this week (3/27/2018), another long session. If you want the details, the official House calendar contains some of the amendments, and the official House journal has the others. Tuesday evening at about 8:20 the House passed S.55 as amended for third and final reading and sent it over to the Senate to consider. Friday (3/30/2018) the Senate approved the House changes. That sent it to the Governor. Here's a VTDigger article about it.

Weekly Summary

• Tuesday - 
• 10:00 Lots of orange vests and hats in the gallery and the Senate seats. I had a packed

  

  Printed Amendments to S.55

  House for my devotional that started the session. I'll write that up in another post. The House calendar showed us starting with S.55, but over the weekend the order of events changed. Leadership decided that it would be better to have the Capital Adjustment bill first and the gun legislation second. The previous week we did the opposite; that Friday we had guns first and ended with the Budget Bill. Everyone was exhausted and didn't really want to think about the budget. So Tuesday the order was reversed and my committee (Corrections &Institutions) reported out the adjustments to the Capital Bill. This was both good and bad for all the people dressed in orange and eager to get started debating gun regulations. Some had been there at 8:30 in the morning! So that was bad. But it was good that they saw a bit more of how the House operates and where the State's bonded money goes. 
• 10:15 - In committee. Right after the devotional the pledge of allegiance (which we do every Tuesday) our committee left the floor to meet. One of the amendments to S.55 had to do with School Safety. It had been decided to make that an amendment to the Capital Bill instead, because we had a section about School Safety. So we had to consider it and vote on it prior to presenting the Capital Bill which was scheduled to be first up on the day's agenda. This was real hurried work and not the way I like to do things. Close to 11:00  the committee voted unanimously to support the amendment  and we returned to the floor to begin reporting the Capital Bill. I reported out the Clean Water section of the bill. That entails speaking to the assembled House, going through a spreadsheet explaining how we allocated the money. It went fairly well.
• 11:27 - After reporting the capital bill we took up the amendment, which was approved, and then the bill itself. It was approved for second reading with only one vote opposed.
• 12:00 - Break for lunch
• 1:00 - Party caucuses before taking up S.55. In the caucus Leadership went over the amendments that would be presented on the floor.
• 1:30 - We left caucus to find that the Judiciary committee was meeting to consider various amendments. We knew it would be a long day.
• 2:30 - We finally started floor work on S.55.
• 2:30 - 8:20 Over the course of these six hours we debated and voted the dozen or so amendments listed at the beginning of this post. There was also a half-hour or so break for food and exercise and there were several recesses while the Judiciary Committee considered amendments. There was plenty of listening to speeches and explanations of votes. But it was all civil enough and a fine demonstration of the legislative process.
• Wednesday
• 8:45 -  Noon -  In committee on Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction in Corrections facilities. Though everyone was a little tired from the day before, we switched gears and started work on three bills (H.166, H.867 & H.773) that are in our committee and deal with this issue. This gets complicated fast and I confess to being uncomfortable making what may be medical decisions when I am not a doctor and not real familiar with the treatment of addiction. We are trying to coordinate with the Human Services committee on this but they are busy with other bills. We had several people in to testify about the issue including people from DOC and the Dept of Health.  Prisoner advocates also testified.
• Noon - break for lunch
• 1:00 on the floor 
• 1:30 roll-call vote on the third reading of H.932 which is our Capital Bill adjustment. It passed unanimously. Our bill received some attention during the previous day's gun-regulation debate as there is $4 million in the bill for a school safety program. Much of the gun debate hinged on school safety.
• 1:50 - Back in Committee for more testimony on MAT.
• 4:45 - Done for the day
• Thursday
• 8:00 for IT Advisory Committee meeting
• 9:00 In committee for more testimony on MAT - This was a particularly frustrating day with a lot of talk and little progress.
• 12:00 break for lunch
• 1:00 On the Floor - I spent much of the afternoon going back and forth to a Senate committee taking up the bill I reported to House over a week ago (H.874). Because I reported it out of our committee it's my responsibility to see what happens to it. Meanwhile, on the floor of the House they were debating the Toxic Substance bill (S.103) primarily arguing about who should make the decision as to what chemicals are on the list of toxic substances and therefor subject to the regulations. In the end here was a roll-call vote and we agreed with the Senate version of the bill 96 to 42. I voted "Yes."
• 4:30 - adjourn
• Friday (Good Friday)
• 9:00 In Committee for discussion of MAT
• 9:30 On the floor - S.221 establishing an Extreme Risk Protection Order that sets up a judicial process for confiscating guns from a person who poses an extreme risk and preventing that person from purchasing guns. This passed easily on a voice vote.
• 10:08 In Committee for a little more testimony on MAT
• 11:30 Done for the week

Next week

We're hoping things will settle down a bit but there's talk of ending the session during the first week in May and that doesn't leave a lot time to deal with some big decision my committee needs to make.