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Amid growing concerns about coronavirus, lawmakers in the Vermont Statehouse worked Thursday on emergency response legislation to remediate impacts the disease could have on Vermont while crafting plans to protect legislators from exposure and allowing them to finish work on key bills.
Throughout Thursday, House committee chairs stressed their plans to address COVID-19 are a work in progress.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Kitty Toll, D-Danville, has been tasked to investigate how to possibly fund the potentially costly state response to a coronavirus outbreak in Vermont.
The plan being floated in her committee Thursday was to hold approximately $18 million-$20 million in one-time money in fiscal year 2021 until Oct. 1 to fund a state response to COVID-19.
In this scenario, the state’s emergency board, the body that sets official revenue forecasts, or another administrative group would decide how that money would be spent.
However, the lack of understanding around how the virus may disrupt businesses and communities across the state has added a layer of uncertainty for how lawmakers should progress in an emergency legislative plan.
“We don’t know a lot about what’s happening, but it doesn’t look good,” Steve Klein, the Legislature’s chief fiscal officer, told the House tax panel Thursday afternoon.
Klein said the financial impacts of the coronavirus on Vermont will not be known until May when the revenue figures for March become available. This, Klein said, makes it difficult to project what a stimulus package should look like.
But, Klein did warn it could be a dire situation.
“The potential impacts are just massive,” he said, comparing the potential loss of revenue to the 2008 recession.
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, said one possibility to alleviate the strain on residents would be to adjust the state’s tax filing deadline, but that Vermont will have to follow the federal government’s lead.
Ancel said short of that, her committee will have to wait and see what happens to the economy before it can legislate any financial bailouts, which could include rent forgiveness or support for small businesses.
“It’s too soon to really think about what those might be,” Ancel said. “At this stage, we just don’t know how hard and when the state is going to be hit.”
House Committee on Health Care Chair Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, said he was working immediately on proposals to address home health and financial issues related to health care costs.
“We’re being asked to make this a priority, so I’m meeting with people this afternoon,” Lippert said.
The House committees on Human Services and on General, Housing and Military Affairs also worked throughout the afternoon to come up with recommendations to fold into legislation that could be passed Friday.
In the House Education Committee, lawmakers mulled how to assist schools deliver essential services in the event of closure — most notably, access to food.
Committee Chair Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, questioned Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principals Association, whether K-12 schools would close their doors.
“I think the guidance from the Department of Health right now is it’s OK to have large gatherings, which I would consider schools as – as long as you’re making sure kids are staying home if they’re sick,” Nichols said. “But I have no idea whether this is going to be something that spreads like crazy or not.”
[Get live updates on COVID-19 in Vermont at vtdigger.org/coronavirus.]
Thursday began with House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, holding a meeting with committee chairs to begin outlining possible legislative solutions to the pandemic.
Johnson suggested that committee heads prioritize work on coronavirus measures over other bills that would have had to move out of committee by Friday to meet the crossover deadline — the date by which legislation must move forward in order to reach the other chamber.
“I’m encouraging the chairs to talk with their committees and Legislative Council,” Johnson said. “You have blanket authority to get bills drafted. Let us know what you might be working on and get back to us today or tomorrow morning.”
She added that she will work to accommodate committees who miss the crossover deadline on other pieces of legislation.
“Concentrate on the things Vermonters are most concerned about,” she said.
Thursday evening, House and Senate leadership met as part of the Joint Rules Committee to debate plans for an emergency adjournment but with the caveat that lawmakers could be called back to pass the budget and other “must-pass” legislation.
“Legislators would be told ‘do not plan on coming back for one week,’” said Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Burlington.
“Unless something changes,” Johnson quickly added.
Johnson and Ashe also met with Republican Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday.
The press was not allowed access, but Ashe told VTDigger that they discussed what circumstances would lead the chambers to vote to adjourn and to brief him on the feeling in both legislative bodies.
“We said these are unusual times and we’re trying to figure out the circumstances that would lead us to vote to close and the amount of sort of anxiety that’s filling the building,” Ashe said.
“We also communicated that we wouldn’t want to do it without alerting the governor and vice versa,” he added.
Grace Elletson, Lola Duffort, and John Walters contributed reporting.