[W]ith the policy bill crossover date behind them, lawmakers in the House have another busy week ahead, as committees face the crossover deadline for money bills on Friday. House members will be pushing to wrap up tax and fee provisions, the budget, and education, transportation and capital legislation.
All eyes are on House Ways and Means as it prepares to take up a clean water bill Tuesday. Lawmakers will discuss several funding options for H.35, including a gas tax, an increase to the rooms and meals tax, a fee on the sale of fertilizer or a fee on the sale of grain and feed.
Ways and Means will also likely take up a health care package that uses controversial new funding sources, including a modified version of Gov. Peter Shumlin’s proposed payroll tax and a 2-cent per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
Upstairs, the members of House Appropriations are hard at work this week to pull together the FY 2016 budget proposal. Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, proposed a framework Friday for how the committee could fill a budget gap that widened from $94 million when the governor proposed his budget by another $18. 6 million because of a subsequent revenue downgrade. House Appropriations is aiming to get the budget onto the floor next week.
Concerns over many of the cuts outlined in the bill continue to mount. Tuesday evening, the House and Senate Government Operations Committees will hold a public hearing in the House chamber about the governor’s proposal to consolidate public safety answering points in an effort to save money.
In the Senate, a bill to restrict the business practices of rent-to-own companies will be up for a preliminary vote Tuesday.
Also this week, legislation that would require lobbyists to disclose their spending on advertising during the legislative session will hit the Senate floor. If the bill passes, ads that cost more than $1,000 will require a disclosure statement, and lobbyists will have to report the ads to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Last week, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee passed a provision that would strengthen a statute that gives the Vermont Department of Health the authority to regulate toxic chemicals in children’s products. Stakeholders opposing the measure said they did not have an opportunity to testify on the initiative. On Wednesday morning, the committee will hold a hearing on the issue.
The bill that the Senate Judiciary Committee produced at the eleventh hour Friday, just before crossover deadline, has a number. S.141 is headed straight to the Senate floor.
Also this week, senators will vote on a legislation that would allow police to sell property seized from people convicted of animal fighting. The money would be used to pay for the investigation and prosecution of cases.
