House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, said there will be hearings on Gov. Peter Shumlin’s single payer financing report, but they won’t be held to the schedule demanded by demonstrators.
Twenty-nine people were arrested after refusing to leave the House floor after Thursday’s inaugural address. The group demanded Smith publicly commit to holding legislative hearings on the report before Jan. 29.
Smith said that time frame is not feasible. The hearings he says need to be coordinated to fit the schedule of relevant House and Senate committees.
Smith clarified previous statements, saying the hearings were always going to happen, and what he told the press early last week was that he does not believe the Legislature has the resources to pursue public financing without the Shumlin administration’s support and research capacity, he said Monday.
Smith has not had direct contact with demonstrators from the Vermont Workers’ Center, he said, but is aware of their demand.
