[T]wo pieces of legislation made a surprise reappearance last week: paid leave and school immunizations.
Both had been declared dead earlier in the legislative session, but last week was slow (think spring-induced torpor). Lawmakers had time on their hands, deals were made behind the scenes, and here we are.
Neither bill is greased for passage.
Paid leave will be a heavy lift in the House, sources say. Twenty prominent business groups have come out in opposition to H.187, which would require companies to offer a minimum of three days off for sick time. That minimum would increase to five days in two years.
Rep. Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, will be getting plenty of exercise over the next few days. These days Webb, who is the majority whip, spends a lot of time pinning down votes and this week will be no exception if this week’s straw poll going into the paid leave vote is anything like the 70-73 vote on the teachers strike bill a few weeks ago.
At least one House member is expected to propose sending the bill to the House Commerce and Community Development Committee where it could well languish for the rest of the session.
While House Speaker Shap Smith still wields power from the podium and his corner office, few votes on the floor are a sure thing these days. The near-constant vote counting in advance of bills coming to the floor of the House is part of a shift in the balance of partisan power that was tipped by the election. There are just enough newbie independents, Republicans and conservative Dems in the House to make the speaker’s office sweat over controversial legislation.
The House health care bill, for example, doesn’t have the votes on the floor to make it out of the appropriations committee where it has languished for several weeks. The sugar sweetened beverage tax is the bitter pill that many in the House can’t swallow and that means lawmakers may jettison everything but higher Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care physicians and subsidies for Vermonters on the health insurance exchange.
The Senate has also shifted politically as blue dog Dems join forces with Republicans to block legislation that just a few years ago were guaranteed passage. The Sodexo bill, for example, passed unanimously last session, but was defeated in a 12-14 vote a few weeks ago.
The proposed elimination of the philosophical exemption for required public school vaccinations is one of those issues that will likely divide the Green Room on Wednesday. Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, said he had the votes to pass an amendment on Friday, but “there’s so much lobbying going on,” lawmakers’ phones are getting “rung off the hook” and he couldn’t tell where his colleagues would land.
Floor action in the Senate, as in the House, will be minimal this week as senators scramble to finish committee work. The Senate Education Committee is expected to pass its version of education restructuring on Tuesday, and a public hearing will be held on Wednesday. The bill is expected to hit the Senate floor next week after it makes pit stops in the Senate Finance and Senate Appropriations committees.
The technical tax and budget bills are expected to be voted out of committee on Friday.
Once the money bills are ready for the Senate floor, the way is paved for adjournment, and at this point, lawmakers are in no mood for dallying. House and Senate members of the money committees have been hearing detailed rundowns of the legislation from the Joint Fiscal Office simultaneously.
Dust-ups between the House and Senate on budget and tax matters could be minimal. The question is how much Gov. Peter Shumlin will insert himself in the process as the Senate and House have rejected several of his key budget and tax proposals, namely the 0.7 percent payroll tax to fund an increase in Medicaid reimbursements to doctors and hospitals.