[T]here are just three weeks left in the schedule for the 2016 legislative session, but the timing of adjournment depends largely on when the money bills move.
The annual behemoths — the budget and tax bills — are churning through two Senate committees.
Those pieces of legislation need to move early this week if lawmakers are going to adjourn by the end of the first week in May.
Senate Appropriations could pass a budget out as early as Tuesday. On Monday, the committee worked through a list of requests for budget additions that amount to a total of $11.5 million.
There will be resolution of one major budgetary question mark this week. The Vermont Labor Relations Board is due to release a decision on the next contract for state workers. The board must accept either the state’s or the Vermont State Employees’ Association’s offer as-is.
The committee can’t make final budget decisions until members know how much money they have to work with. That won’t be clear until the committee across the hall, Senate Finance, finalizes decisions on a revenue package.
It’s safe to assume, though, that the $11.5 million wish list is over budget.
The balls are still up in the air as to the composition of the Senate Finance Committee’s revenue package. It’s unclear whether the Senate will preserve the assessment on employers that don’t provide health insurance, a key and controversial part of the House tax package.
Most morning committees in the Senate finished work last week on policy bills, and the agenda on the floor will be a busy one over the next few days.
One to watch: The long-awaited ethics commission bill will surface for the first time on the Senate floor Tuesday.
In the House, committees continue to push to get through several significant Senate bills that crossed over earlier in the session.
The marijuana bill morphed into a new iteration on Friday, when the House Ways and Means Committee passed an amendment that legalizes and licenses growth of two plants at home. The bill still needs to go through House Appropriations, where it faces a tough slog. It will be clear by the end of the week whether it will live to the House floor or die on the table.
It’s possible that if the marijuana bill, S.241, makes it to the House floor, someone will offer the Senate version’s regulatory structure as an amendment. The vote on that could be a good barometer for how the House would receive a version of the bill hashed out in a conference committee.
Meanwhile, several other initiatives continue to gestate in committees. Work continues on the energy siting bill. The House Judiciary Committee is still working on the privacy bill, a piece of legislation that would change policy around license plate reader data, law enforcement access to cellphone data, and more.
Another bill, which would create a new tier of licenses for midlevel dental providers, is due to progress through the House this week. That could kick up some dust.
With the clock ticking, the House may consider working on Mondays in an effort to meet the goal for adjournment.
