Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rep. Randall Szott, D-Barnard, a member of the House Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs. He is a former merchant mariner, library director and chef now serving his first term in the legislature.
I imagine the name Bob Clark is so generic that it doesn’t resonate with the average VTDigger reader much. If I mentioned that he was a film director, I’d bet many of you would still not call his work to mind. However, I’m willing to bet that a large majority have actually seen a movie of his, especially if you watch television around the holidays. He directed “A Christmas Story” and I suspect that the legislators supporting H.107 (the paid leave bill currently under consideration in Vermont) would consider that title a somewhat appropriate theme in describing their intentions when voting for the bill — in their mind, it is a gift of sorts.
When I think of a Bob Clark film title to describe my feelings towards this bill I have to think back nearly 40 years ago. I couldn’t sleep and in the wee hours of the night I turned on the black and white television in my family’s kitchen to discover a horrifying scene. It was my first experience with zombie movies. The film’s title was “Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things” and that is pretty sensible advice if you think about it. It is solid advice for adults as well.
The thing about zombies is that they look like normal people from a distance. As you look closer though you see that they are mere human shells, much like this bill is a shell of a paid leave bill that works for all of us, not just a select few. H.107 as it exists today is a zombie paid leave bill and if you follow the bill’s tortuous path from introduction to its Committee of Conference report you will see its humanity slowly being sucked out of it — step by undead step. I invoke its transformation to counter the empty accusation that those of us that oppose the bill aren’t willing to compromise. The bill left my committee vastly different than it entered. It was changed even more in Ways and Means. I voted for it on the House floor despite my many objections. Then, it went off to the Senate where it was eviscerated, its heart and soul having been fully removed.
I’ve heard all the “something is better than nothing” messaging. Passing such a feeble plan will damage its viability and that will entail poor public support. In this case, nothing is better than a destructive something. I’ve also heard the “we can fix it later” canard. It has been a quarter of a century and we are still waiting for meaningful improvement to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. I’ve heard some invoke the “will of the people” to justify this bill, but I’ve heard loud and clear that Vermonters elected a supermajority to pass bold, substantial policy. As Elizabeth Warren says, “We need to dream big and fight hard” and we ought not be a party that “nibbles around the edges” of change. It is ironic that Vermont’s most prominent political figure is Bernie Sanders and the Vermont Legislature acts like Joe Biden.
When I am being told to support this bill and take a victory lap waving the flag of compromise, I think of a woman named Carrie who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016 and was out of work for six weeks. She had no disability insurance. It was a terrible struggle and she sobbed so much at a public hearing that she was embarrassed at herself. If anyone should be embarrassed it is those that say people like her ought to wait for the Legislature to find the will to fight for her. I won’t be bullied to leave her behind under threat of being labeled a zealot. I’ll side with Carrie and other vulnerable Vermonters over political veteran scolds any day.
Vermonters deserve better than bills driven by headlines and manipulative behind the scenes tactics. They deserve equity centered policy that places Vermont at the leading edge of public debate. Instead, we seem hellbent to implement a risky program that will offer the worst benefits in the country. Every other state offers guaranteed personal medical leave, not the crumbs of an unsustainable opt-in program. In fact even the Republican governor of Tennessee has ordered a more robust paid leave program for his executive branch staff — 12 weeks for bonding, caregiving and for personal medical leave at 100% wage replacement. Within his purview, the Republican governor of Tennessee is outdoing the Democratic and Progressive controlled supermajority of the Vermont General Assembly on the paid family leave program under their purview. That is appalling.
It isn’t just me or a handful of legislators that don’t support H.107. There is a coalition of groups that have been working on paid family leave for years that agree this bill is not worthy of support:
ACLU – Vermont
American Federation of Teachers – Vermont
Hunger Free Vermont
Justice For All
Main Street Alliance of Vermont
Parent Child Center Network
Rights and Democracy
The Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights – VCIL
Vermont AFL-CIO
Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance
Vermont Foodbank
Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
Voices for Vermont’s Children
I will vote no on this bill. We shouldn’t play with dead things. We should not pass a zombie bill, giving life to an empty shell. We need a paid leave policy that hasn’t lost its heart and soul.
