In off-the-record remarks, Vermont Dems high up the food chain chalked up last week’s kerfuffle with the House GOP caucus, in which the minority successfully blocked Democrats’ efforts to fast-track a bill, to pure politics.
The GOP refused to allow the Dems in the House to suspend the rules in order to expedite passage of H.275, the veterans’ employment tax credit bill. Ostensibly, the Republican minority didn’t want Gov. Peter Shumlin or the Democratic majority to have a victory to bring home to constituents for the Town Meeting Day break, according to vt.buzz, the Burlington Free Press blog.
Rep. Don Turner, R-Milton, the GOP minority leader, laid down the gauntlet at the beginning of the session. He sent a letter to House Speaker Shap Smith explaining when the caucus would and wouldn’t support suspending the rules in order to expedite bills.
“Last year a lot of our members were very concerned that things were being rushed through,” Turner said. “The caucus wants to have time to read the stuff.”
Ironically, there was no disagreement about the substance of the veterans’ tax credit bill. It fared well in committee – there was only one dissenting vote in House Ways and Means and one anti-vote in House Commerce and Economic Development.
After all, it’s hard to argue against a $2,000 tax credit for employers who want to hire recent veterans from the Iraq War and the conflict in Afghanistan. Unemployment among that sliver of Vermont’s working population (about 1,500 veterans) has been running at around 30 percent.
In the end, the bill passed on a voice vote in the House on Friday.
It was still a long way, though, from a vote in the Senate and a signing ceremony in the governor’s office.
The House GOP locked horns with the Democratic leadership over timing because it’s trying to make a point, and in a period in which the party holds less sway in the Legislature, this was one way to do it.
The Republican caucus has just 48 members and no ally in the governor’s office. It also has no say about the legislative agenda or the bill schedule. Against that backdrop, the minority is flexing its muscle in one
of the few ways it can, in this case by invoking a procedural maneuver designed to delay fast-tracking legislation.
Typically, a bill is supposed to sit in limbo for 24 hours between the time it’s placed on the calendar and taken up for a vote. But over the last few years, Turner, the GOP minority leader, said it has become common practice for the House to expedite bills without giving representatives adequate time to review the content of the legislation. House reps had 23.5 hours to read the bill, several sources said.
“Vermonters expect us to review legislation, and I don’t think we’re asking for something unreasonable,” Turner said in a phone interview. “(Some bills) are complex and take a long time to read. I’m going to give my caucus an opportunity to read the legislation.”
If this dust-up over a no-brainer issue everyone inside the Golden Bubble agrees on is any indication, lawmakers can expect more procedural delays in the near future on issues. That’s because Turner says he believes the 24-hour rule should be adhered to, though he said he hoped it wouldn’t be a daily occurrence. “My goal is to work with the leadership,” he said. (The GOP caucus meets with the Democratic leadership in the House once a week.)
In addition, Turner has asked the Joint Fiscal Office to provide “fiscal notes,” or a budget analysis, for every bill that passes through the House Chamber this session. And that was one of the key stumbling blocks for the veterans’ tax credit bill. The notes weren’t ready on Tuesday afternoon, when the Democratic leadership asked the members to suspend the rules.
Once the information was provided on Wednesday, Turner said, the GOP caucus was satisfied.
According to information from JFO, the veterans’ tax credit, for example, will cost $600,000 if the bill is enacted. Turner is determined to track new expenditures attached to every bill.
“It’s something I’m really adamant about,” Turner said. “People have a right to know, and when you’re voting, it’s essential to have all the information.”
That doesn’t mean the GOP caucus is opposed to all new spending, however, Turner said. Members, after all, supported the veterans’ tax credit bill.
That said, Turner will be keeping a hawkeye on expenditures during the session because he’s worried about the Legislature meeting its targets for resolving the $176 million budget gap. “I’m not going to back off on the fiscal notes,” he said.
“If we keep adding stuff … where are we going to get the money?” Turner asked.
Statehouse watchers can also expect the 48 members of the Republican caucus to bring the same level of scrutiny to the governor’s health care proposal. Instead of directly attacking the plan, Turner issued a press release last week asking representatives to question its financial viability.
Though Turner says he supports Shumlin’s cost-containment-first approach to health care reform, he is worried about the unknowns. At this point, the legislation doesn’t outline who will pay for the plan, how much it will cost and what the benefits will include, he said. The House Health Care Committee hopes to vote out a bill at the end of next week.
Turner suggested the committee is moving too quickly. He also said the federal health care reform changes might be enough for now and that the governor’s state-level proposal could be too all-encompassing. “Maybe it’s way more than we need to do at this time,” he said.
