“It’s finally over.”
Rep. Brian Savage, R-Swanton, summed up the way many lawmakers felt about the legislative session, which adjourned a little after 11 p.m. Saturday.
Legislators couldn’t leave the House chamber fast enough. By the time the House Speaker and the governor made final remarks, about a third of the seats were empty.
And who can blame them? Some of the early departures could be interpreted as a visceral reaction to what Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, described it as the “craziest” session he’s ever experienced. A senator described it as a “downer.”
The 73rd biennium began with an unprecedented (in modern times) legislative vote for governor and ended with the first arrest of a lawmaker on Statehouse grounds for alleged sexual assaults.
The ill winds began to blow in November when Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin nearly lost his seat to a neophyte Republican candidate who refused to concede. Scott Milne insisted on a legislative gubernatorial election. While Shumlin easily won the contest in January, the election was a huge two-month distraction from his agenda.
Just two weeks before the legislative vote, the governor canned his hallmark single payer health care plan. Demonstrators from the Vermont Workers’ Center who were angered by his decision interrupted his inaugural address, singing and unfurling banners.
Once the session started in earnest, the power dynamic in the Legislature shifted. Shumlin had lost sway. And because of taxpayer backlash, the Democratic caucus lost 11 seats in the House and Senate to the Republicans. The supermajority — and the Dems’ swagger — was gone. They could no longer guarantee the votes on liberal issues, or rely on the governor’s office to set policy direction.
In that unsettled climate, lawmakers took up some of the toughest legislation they’ve addressed in years. Many were re-elected because they had promised to pass legislation that would bring down property taxes. In the Senate and the House, lawmakers forged a compromise education reform plan that will force small school districts to join forces and share resources. Property tax relief could take several years.
Lawmakers passed child protection measures, a same day voter registration bill, controversial childhood vaccine requirements, restrictions on gun ownership and renewable energy targets.
They took on funding for a water cleanup bill, and at the governor’s behest they attempted to address the health care premium cost shift before they realized they couldn’t raise the money to pay for it.
Shumlin and the Legislature were faced with a structural budget and tax problem that has resulted in a spending and revenue gap that has widened over a seven-year period. Vermont hasn’t fully rebounded from the Great Recession and state tax receipts are not keeping up with spending rates. The difference? About 2 percent.
Lawmakers held their noses and made $53 million worth of cuts in state spending growth and raised $35 million in new taxes. Just as they finished their work two weeks before adjournment, Shumlin demanded that they reduce the tax package to $30 million and find more cuts to the $5.5 billion budget. A confrontation ensued, and while in the end lawmakers got what they wanted — a cap on itemized income tax deductions and a compromise on more cuts — they were openly disgusted with what they described as the governor’s late-in-the-game, political one-upmanship.
At the end of the session, legislators learned that their efforts weren’t equal to the challenge: Next year, they will face yet another $50 million to $70 million budget gap.
In the midst of the stressful process of finishing the money bills, last week lawmakers learned that Sen. Norm McAllister, R-Franklin, had allegedly sexually assaulted two women, one of whom had worked in the Statehouse as an intern. Lawmakers who lived with McAllister said they were unaware of his alleged sexual relationship with the 20-year-old woman from Franklin County.
Lawmakers were stunned. The revelations marred the sense of trust and camaraderie in the Statehouse that helps legislators smooth over differences of opinion on political and policy differences. The governor and legislative leaders urged McAllister to resign, but he refused to step down.
As senators listened to the governor’s closing remarks on Saturday night, the tone was muted. Several sat with their arms crossed, and there was no applause during the speech when Shumlin paused. In the House, clapping was spurred by the governor’s staff.
Even the speeches lawmakers gave thanking each other were lifeless.
They were just ready to go home, several legislators said.
