As Election Day approaches, state Republicans say they are optimistic they can take control of the House for the next biennium.
Flanked by three dozen House incumbents and hopefuls outside the Statehouse on Tuesday, Minority Leader Don Turner, R-Milton, said he believes the Republican Party can increase its presence in the chamber from the current 53 seats to 76 — a majority.
Several districts are on his radar, he said, including some in Franklin and Rutland counties.
Turner and other members of the House Republican Caucus laid out their priorities, including vowing to curb state spending and shorten the legislative session.
“We cannot sustain this pace of heavy spending and recklessly taxing Vermonters to no end,” Turner said.
Echoing themes of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott’s gubernatorial campaign, the caucus vowed to limit state spending according to economic growth.
The House Republicans back a proposal to shift from a one-year budget cycle to a two-year cycle, as is currently in place for the capital bill, which deals with using bonds to fund state infrastructure projects.
The caucus also came out in favor of a shorter legislative session, a refrain in Scott’s campaign.
Turner said the caucus would support adjourning the session as early as April 1. That would make it three months long, rather than the four and a half months it often lasts.
He said the Legislature’s work would focus on passing the essentials, like the budget bills.
“It’s time to take a break from excessive lawmaking and see what we’ve got,” Turner said. “Let’s evaluate what we’ve got on the books before we add new.”
Should Republicans take control of the House, according to Turner, the leadership would direct all committees to spend the first six weeks exclusively on the budget. For the first three weeks, before the governor typically presents a budget, lawmakers would be tasked with “scrubbing” their respective jurisdictions to find more financial efficiencies, he said.
Rep. Linda Myers, R-Essex, who has been in the House for 15 years, said thousands of proposed bills have come across her desk since she took office.
“Perhaps it’s time to go into the 2017 session with the goal of not passing more laws, but taking time to examine what we already have,” Myers said.
The Republican caucus lambasted Democratic leadership for what it characterized as an expansion of power in Montpelier that erodes local governance.
Rep. Vicki Strong, R-Albany, pointed to Act 46, the omnibus education bill passed and signed into law in 2015. That legislation, she said, had “quite a few unintended consequences.”
She criticized the legislation for challenging local control by encouraging school districts to merge and reducing school choice.
Penny Dubie, a Fairfield resident running to represent a Franklin County district (and wife of former Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie), said there has been a “shift towards centralized decision-making that ignores the strength and the value of our local community.”
She pointed to state policy on the siting of renewable energy projects.
Reached Tuesday by phone, House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, D-Bradford, defended the Democratic leadership.
She said it is “highly likely” the Democratic Party will maintain the 85 seats it currently holds in the 150-member House or will increase its presence in November.
“I know that we are fielding 110 candidates across the state, and many of them are incumbents and a great number of them are uncontested,” Copeland-Hanzas said.
Under Democratic leadership, she said, the budgeting process has been refined to focus on priorities. She said budget growth was in line with economic growth and defended what she called a record of “prudent fiscal management.”
Copeland-Hanzas also disputed the assertion that policies passed under Democratic leadership are frivolous, arguing that actions on issues including pollution in Lake Champlain and child protection were necessary.
“I think that makes us responsive to the needs of Vermonters and not to some arbitrary goal of how many bills should be introduced,” Copeland-Hanzas said.
