IN APRIL 2’S FINAL READING:
— Senate Agriculture’s committee meeting was cut short after an unknown person entered the Zoom video call and displayed pornographic videos and shouted racial slurs. The first sign of trouble began with a sudden outburst of “p—- ass” and a racial slur before a video from the site Pornhub began to play.
“Something is going screwy,” said Committee Chair Bobby Starr, D-Essex/Orleans. “We gotta stop, stop,” said Vice Chair Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden. “We gotta abort the meeting.” An unknown individual then took down the video, adding, “No, don’t turn us off. Stay on, stay on.”
“Really? I don’t think we want this on YouTube,” Pearson responded as a live video of a man groping his genitals began. Kevin Moore Jr., the Vermont Legislature’s director of information technology, said protections were in place to keep this infiltration from happening but that they “clearly failed.”
“We’re working on root cause at this time,” he said. “I suspect confidential meeting information was shared, but this is not yet confirmed.” – Kit Norton
— Senate Economic Development is hoping to vote out a bill, 20-0939, tomorrow that would institute a moratorium on rental evictions during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, said the bill could be voted on Tuesday when the Senate reconvenes to pass a remote voting measure.
“We’re poised to take action faster than they are,” Clarkson said, referring to the House chamber, where the eviction moratorium bill first originated. The House has yet to vote on any provision to allow full-chamber remote voting. – Grace Elletson
— Senate Government Operations lawmakers expressed concern that there may not be enough state police on the job during the COVID-19 crisis if officers retire this year.
Committee Chair Sen. Jeanette White said forces should think of ways to “keep and entice as many people to stay on as possible.” She said she’s worried that if police were to retire during the pandemic, it would be hard to train officers to replace them.
But lawmakers stopped their discussion on the matter after Vermont State Police Col. Matthew Birmingham reassured lawmakers that the police aren’t “up against any crisis in terms of staffing.” Birmingham noted that there are 15 recruits in training right now. – Xander Landen
— Lindsay Kurrle, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, briefed Senate Econ lawmakers about her agency’s new webpage that provides COVID-19 economic relief resources for small business owners.
The site attempts to centralize all financial resources for small business owners. Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, said there’s been confusion about what’s out there for economic help specifically for small businesses. “What we want to be careful about is creating overload and confusion,” Kurrle said.
The agency webpage directs businesses to information about whether they qualify for the Paycheck Protection Program, Emergency Economic Injury Grants or the Small Business Debt Relief Program. – Grace Elletson
— Max Barrows, outreach director with Green Mountain Self Advocates, urged lawmakers in House Human Services to ensure that those with disabilities are given equal medical treatment if they become sick from COVID-19.
Barrows’ concern that those with disabilities may face discrimination with COVID-19 treatment stems from recent news that some states issued disaster preparedness plans which said that those will intellectual disabilities “may be poor candidates for ventilator support.”
“We want the state to clearly say that decisions about who gets help should not be based on age or disability status,” Barrows said. “That is discrimination.” – Grace Elletson
— House Education and Ways and Means committees held a joint hearing Thursday to get an update on the funding crunch expected in the state’s education fund. State officials are already predicting a $35 million to $45 million shortfall in non-property tax revenues to the fund as businesses shutter and consumers rein in discretionary spending.
Brad James, finance manager for the Agency of Education, noted that one of the biggest unknowns was what would happen if municipalities grant widespread property tax abatements to people who lose income in the pandemic’s economic fallout.
“This is the one that keeps me up at night,” said Ways and Means Chair Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais. “We can set all the tax rates we want, but if people can’t pay it, they can’t pay it.” – Lola Duffort
