In the Cedar Creek Room down the hall from the House chamber where Gov. Peter Shumlin gave his final State of the State address, Republican leaders railed on Gov. Peter Shumlin for not addressing budget issues.
Rep. Kurt Wright, R-Burlington, said Shumlin said “virtually nothing” in his speech about containing property taxes in Vermont. He disagreed with Shumlin’s proposal to repeal the spending cap contained in the Act 46 education bill because it was “the one thing that offered immediate cost containment.”
“Yes, we have a serious issue with opiates … but we also have a property taxpayer affordability epidemic that legislators have heard as we’ve gone door-to-door to our constituents,” Wright said.
Rep. Paul Dame, R-Essex Junction, said Shumlin’s proposal to fund college savings accounts to newborn children was a “trademark characteristic of his administration,” where the Legislature approved the idea to establish the accounts and decided to find the money later.
“We passed it. Now we gotta fund it,” Dame said. “The Legislature is put in this bind through tough budgets or through the budget adjustment act. … It’s created an excuse to go back to Vermonters and ask for more taxes.”
Wright, who sits on the House Education Committee, said his committee reviewed the proposal for child savings accounts in 2015 and was promised they would not cost any money. At a news conference of the Democratic House Caucus, Rep. David Sharpe, D-Bristol, said the state has some private funding for child savings accounts, but “apparently the governor wants to enhance that.”
House Minority Leader Don Turner, R-Milton said the House Republican Caucus opposes the legalization of marijuana, and he said he does not support using any potential revenue from pot taxes to address what they call an “affordability crisis.”
Turner also said he was disappointed that the State of the State address did not mention Vermont Health Connect.
Democrats react
An hour after Republicans attacked Shumlin’s record, dozens of Democratic representatives also met in the Cedar Creek Room defended their party’s accomplishments in the Legislature.
House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland-Hanzas, D-Bradford, applauded the majority’s achievements on health care, education, a homeowner assistance program and other measures. Committee chairs took turns highlighting initiatives they said they hope to tackle in the coming months.
Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers “can’t talk about affordability in Vermont without having a robust conversation about the variety of critical services that we share with our neighbors to make Vermont and affordable place to live for people.”
One of the most expensive social programs in Vermont is Medicaid, which is expected to cost the state and federal government $1.7 billion in the current fiscal year. Johnson said her committee would not address the issue until they finish the budget adjustment process for the current fiscal year. (The committee is expected to mark up the bill next week and it goes to the floor before the governor’s budget address on Jan. 21.)
Rep. Kiah Morris, D-Bennington, defended Medicaid and called health care an “economic development” issue. Morris said the party would not “turn our backs” on the people it helped gain health insurance through Medicaid, but did not offer on any specific information on how the party might seek to fund the program.
The Democrats largely agreed with the governor’s address. However, Copeland-Hanzas said that there is not a broad consensus within the House Democrats to legalize marijuana.
Rep. David Sharpe, D-Bristol, who chairs the House Education Committee, said that his committee disagrees with the governor’s proposal to repeal the spending caps in Act 46.
He didn’t offer an alternative, but said, “I don’t think repeal is on the table.”
In the upper chamber, Senate Majority Leader Phil Baruth, D-Chittenden, said that because Shumlin has resisted raising new taxes the new programs he has proposed risk “cannibalizing” existing programs.
Baruth said he likes Shumlin’s Step Up initiative, which would aim to make college more accessible for low-income students, but said the state has also adopted four other major education initiatives in recent years, including dual enrollment and universal pre-kindergarten.
“We’ve passed some wonderful things in the last five years,” Baruth said. “I don’t want to see those whither on the vine because we’re adding new programs.”
