Editor’s note: This column is an occasional rundown on politics and public policy.
Reform redux
The stars align this week for health care reform.
At 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Gov. Peter Shumlin is holding a press conference in his ceremonial office in the Statehouse with Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch. Vermont’s congressional delegation will announce support for new federal legislation “to advance Gov. Shumlin’s goal of implementing a single payer system.”
Shumlin campaigned on universal health care for Vermonters, and according to experts, he will need eight separate federal waivers from the federal government to implement a single-payer system.
On Wednesday, internationally renowned Harvard health care economist William Hsiao will introduce his long-awaited blueprints for three different health care reform plans to lawmakers. His findings will be unveiled at 9:30 a.m. in the House Chamber. Afterward, he will attend several joint House and Senate Health committee meetings.
In December, Hsiao and his team gave the Health Care Reform Commission a status update on their research. At the time, he said it would take 12 years to fully reform the existing system.
After Hsiao issues his report on Wednesday, a two-week public comment period will ensue. Hsiao and his team will then have another two weeks to make changes to the plans. The final report will be presented on Feb. 17.
Hsiao, who is the architect of Taiwan’s single-payer system, is charged with fulfilling the criteria set out in Act 128 for the design of three different health care models. He has been asked to design plans that contain health care costs and provide universal access and high quality care to Vermonters. The three different approaches to health care reform – single payer, public option and a third option to be determined by Hsiao and his staff – will be considered by lawmakers during this legislative session.
Single-payer activists are already in motion. The Vermont Workers Center’s Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign plans to release an assessment tool for evaluating proposed healthcare legislation tomorrow called the “Detailed Human Rights Standards for Healthcare Systems.”
The “standards,” Web site is set to go live tomorrow.
Legislative lineup
Lawmakers will not only be learning the ins and outs of Dr. Hsiao’s proposals this week, they’ll also be getting an overview of the fiscal outlook from the Vermont Joint Fiscal Office on Tuesday. Typically, this is the kind of thing that is handled in Rooms 10 or 11 – or even in committee. This time around though, Tom Kavet, the policy analyst who advises the JFO, will be explaining the revenue forecast to the whole body in the well of the House Chamber. On Friday, he told the Emergency Board that Vermont’s revenues are running about $27 million higher than originally predicted last July.
Sen. Vince Illuzzi, D-Essex Orleans, will hold a press conference on Wednesday at 11 a.m. to discuss the Vermont Native American Affairs Commission’s decision to recommend two tribes for state recognition — the Nulhegan Abenaki of the Northeast Kingdom and the Elnu Abenaki. A third application is pending review.
The House of Representatives will vote on the Budget Adjustment Act this week. There are no big surprises in the bill, which is a mid-year reckoning of the fiscal year 2011 budget, and the total amount is roughly $6 million, according to state officials. UPDATE: Jim Reardon, commissioner of the Department of Finance and Management, said on Wednesday that the $6 million BAA amount will be budget neutral — he’ll be using a $6 million transfer from human services to cover the gap for fiscal year 2011.
Expect to see lawmakers discuss new bills associated with the Farm to Plate report that was introduced last week. The comprehensive analysis of Vermont’s agricultural system and the state’s food needs over the next 10 years will likely spur legislation. The House Agriculture Committee is looking at possible “actions” in several meetings this week.
Don Vickers, the CEO of the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, will make an appearance in House Ways and Means 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The Legislature asked VSAC to submit a report on its future in light of the elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan program, which was a significant portion of VSAC’s lending portfolio. VSAC issued its last FFEL loans on June 30, 2010. According to the report, VSAC has had to significantly cut costs. The company has eliminated $7.4 million (18 percent) from its operating budget and reduced its workforce by 21 percent, or by 84 employees.
VSAC’s federal loan portfolio is $2.4 billion and it provides 88 percent of the corporation’s revenues and funding for state grant programs. As students pay off their loans, the company will continue to shrink. The report suggests that by the end of 2012, the corporation will have downsized its workforce by one-third, eliminating 114 positions.
Vermont Student Assistance Corporation legislative report Jan. 14, 2011
Reservation list made available
Alex MacLean, the governor’s secretary of civil and military affairs, released the list of people who were “guaranteed” room in the House Chamber gallery for the inauguration ceremony. About 216 people were allowed to reserve seats in advance; of those guests, 33 were affiliated with members of the House or Senate. The Chamber can accommodate about 500 people. On that very busy day, there were 180 lawmakers in the Chamber, as well as their personal guests and about 30 journalists. At least 15 members of the public who attempted to be seated in the Chamber were turned away, and some who had been seated for an hour and a half or so were asked to leave to make way for the pre-approved list of guests.
MacLean wrote in an e-mail that “many more folks … were also allowed in the gallery and it was not just limited to this list.” The guests included cabinet members, staff, family, personal friends, donors and long time supporters of the governor.
Gov ops goes digital
Each lawmaker in the General Assembly burns through about $450 worth of paper over the course of the 16-week legislative session.
In an effort to go green and save money, the House Government Operations Committee has abandoned dead tree legislating altogether this year. Each of the 11 members – plus their legislative counsel representative and committee assistant, 13 people in all – now use an iPad to read bills (they hope to be able to edit them, too, very soon), communicate via e-mail and keep up with the hectic House calendar. iPads cost about $500.
If the new system is successful, paper bills in committee will go the way of the dodo in the Statehouse.
The new system will also make it easier for committee members to write bills, according to Rep. Linda Martin, D-Wolcott.
“Many times someone will come into committee and you don’t know what draft you’re working on – now it’s right there,” Martin said. “Anyone who comes in to testify can send (files) electronically.”
Gov ops also has a large screen display on one wall for PowerPoint presentations and the like. It’ll come in handy next year, when the committee takes on the all-consuming topic of reapportionment.
Beyond the hipper, greener justifications, lawmakers may actually like the digital bill system better over the long haul because of the convenience
One fringe benefit? Lawmakers are on the same page – or rather iPad — more quickly. With the current paper trail there often are multiple drafts of a bill on hand at any given time. With the new device, lawmakers can keep track of bills more easily through an electronic filing system.
Canadians want to vote for Obama
Whatever you may think of President Barack Obama’s performance in office, his commitment, smarts and steady temperament are capturing the attention of our neighbors to the north. One Canadian columnist says Americans haven’t given the president a fair shake.
Mother won’t face trial for growing pot
Susan Thayer has been given a reprieve. Thayer, 65, faced felony charges for growing pot in her Wallingford garden to help her 23-year-old son Max cope with symptoms related to kidney disease. Now instead of going to trial, her case will be sent to court diversion, according to Vermont Public Radio. http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/89759/
Thayer first allowed her eldest son Tristan, who suffered with and eventually died from leukemia, to smoke marijuana to alleviate his intense nausea. Max was also very ill and his mother began to grow pot for him to help him develop an appetite. At the time, it was still illegal to grow marijuana for his particular medical condition. Later the law was amended to allow Vermonters to grow medical marijuana for a broader set of illnesses – as long as the plants were located inside a building. Thayer, however, tended cannabis in her garden. The Vermont State Police confiscated the plants and charged her with growing an illegal substance in 2007.
Freelance reporter Sharon Nimtz wrote about Thayer’s family and their experiences as the case wended its way through the legal system, eventually winding up in the Vermont Supreme Court. Read “Nimtz: The State vs. Tristan and Max.
In November, the Court decided the case should go to a jury trial, but Thayer would not have been allowed to explain during the proceedings that she grew pot in order to save her son’s life. Prosecutors decided earlier this month that they will drop the charges against Thayer as long as she completes a court diversion program, according to VPR.
In case you missed it: Sharpton keynotes in Burlington
The Rev. Al Sharpton gave the keynote address for the Martin Luther King Day celebration at the Burlington Multicultural Center on Monday. The 56-year-old Baptist minister and civil rights activist gave a rousing speech about racism, hypocrisy and justice.
“What made Dr. Martin Luther King great was that he believed you cannot limit justice and the quest for freedom,” Sharpton said.
