[A] coalition of House lawmakers threatened to delay the end of the session if the leadership won’t allow them to debate a plan that would give the administration of Gov. Phil Scott the authority to negotiate teacher health care contracts.
House Minority Leader Don Turner, R-Milton, said Tuesday that Republicans will refuse to suspend the rules if House Speaker Mitzi Johnson doesn’t agree to allow debate on the school tax bill. Republicans say Johnson wants to send the legislation to a conference committee, effectively killing a vote on an amendment that would move teacher health care benefit negotiations to the state level.
Lawmakers in the minority party routinely suspend the rules in order to move legislation forward quickly, especially at the end of the session. If the rules aren’t suspended, action on a bill is delayed.
Johnson asked Turner to suspend the rules and postpone action on H.509 until Wednesday.
Turner agreed to the postponement and said he wouldn’t block rule suspensions, but the Republican caucus and a coalition of independent and blue dog Democrats balked.
In response, Johnson and Turner agreed to delay action on the bill for one more day.
Teachers unions and the state’s 60 supervisory unions are currently in negotiations over health care benefits. It is the first time in memory that the bargaining is happening simultaneously. The estimated savings generated by the switch is roughly $26 million. Scott wants to use the money to reduce the statewide property tax rate. A coalition of Republican, Democratic and independent House members have attached an amendment to H.509, the school tax bill, that would put Scott’s plan in place.
The Vermont NEA adamantly opposes a statewide teachers health care contract.
Democratic lawmakers, who don’t like the amendment because it interferes with collective bargaining, have threatened to send the tax bill directly to a conference committee where there would be no opportunity to add any new provisions.
Turner indicated there may be another way to get savings out of the health care transition, and he assured House members he conveyed to the Speaker how important that is to Republicans.
“We will not leave here, I told them, until we capture this money,” Turner said. “Taxpayers deserve it, and we are going to do everything we need to do.”
Some lawmakers were not comfortable with Turner’s plan.
“I want them to confirm they are promising we will have the debate on the floor without doing an end around,” said Rep. Kurt Wright, R-Burlington.
Turner said Democrats, including the House Speaker, are engaged in behind the scenes negotiations on the health care savings. Yesterday, Sen. Jane Kitchel, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said she is open to considering how savings could be garnered from teachers health care, although she wouldn’t commit to the governor’s way of doing it.
House Republicans are not a part of those negotiations. But Turner said as long as Democratic lawmakers can reach an agreement he’ll be satisfied.
“If they can achieve helping our local school boards and saving $26 million we will be happy if we never get to debate,” Turner said.
H.509 should hit the floor Wednesday morning, just three days before the Legislature is set to adjourn.
Supporters of the amendment need 76 votes to defeat a proposal to send the bill directly to conference committee. The amendment has 19 sponsors: eight Democrats, seven Republicans and five independents.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, said the proposal isn’t just about saving $26 million, it’s also about relieving school boards of a challenging task.
School boards are looking at different ways to cover out-of-pocket expenses, such as health savings accounts, according to Geo Hoeningford, a member of the Royalton school board and president of the board of the Vermont School Boards Association.
Hoeningford, who is advocating for the change, recently said, “Every option includes multiple issues for the parties to consider and negotiate.”
Seven local school districts have settled, but more than 20 supervisory unions are at impasse in contract negotiations with teachers.
The seven contracts that have been agreed to show an assortment of arrangements. The premium shares range from a 86 percent/14 percent split to an 80/20 split. Out-of-pocket expenses are being treated differently, too. Some school districts are picking up 100 percent of the expenses and putting the money in a health savings account that allows the employee to keep any unused funds. Salary increases range from 1.7 percent to 4.3 percent with the average landing in the 3 percent range.
