— Rep. Mike Marcotte, R-Newport, brought his proposal to do away with penalty weeks — a time period people who have previously defrauded the benefit system have to wait before getting any checks — during the Covid-19 pandemic to the Senate Econ committee. Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, strongly opposed Marcotte’s idea.
“To reward people who have defrauded the system by giving them money — including that additional $600 in federal money — when we have people who are Vermonters in many cases can’t collect themselves, I think is fundamentally wrong,” Brock said. “And I will not support a letter like this.”
Marcotte proposed sending a letter to the Department of Labor requesting the penalty weeks policy be waived. The Senate committee did not make a final decision on the idea. – Grace Elletson
— Matthew Raymond, an investigator with the Attorney General’s Office, told House Judiciary lawmakers that his division desperately needs more personnel to investigate child porn and child sexual abuse, allegations of which have increased dramatically in Vermont during the pandemic.
Raymond said his office received 20 tips each in January and February of child sex abuse online. That doubled in March when the office received 46 tips. In April, the office received 53 tips.
“The number one need is the investigator, just to help unbury us from these complaints,” Raymond said. “We now have a backlog that we’re trying to wade through and each one of those cases could be a child victim that needs to be rescued that we just can’t get to until we have the time to investigate it.”
Lawmakers discussed whether the state’s Covid-19 hiring freeze could impact Raymond’s office from hiring on more investigators. They also discussed whether federal CARES Act money could fund new positions. – Grace Elletson
— House Judiciary also heard an update about Vermont’s current suicide rates. Alison Krompf, with the Department of Mental Health, told lawmakers there is some good news: Vermont’s suicide rates have not been climbing during the pandemic.
However, she said calls to the state’s crisis lines have been rising. In March, the lines received 87 calls and 61 texts. In April, the crisis lines received 126 calls and 86 texts. And while there may be a concern that the need is rising for these services, Krompf said the fact that people are reaching out for help, instead of staying isolated, is reassuring. – Grace Elletson
“It’s a false suppression,” Krompf said, referring to low data. “It doesn’t mean that the need isn’t there. It means people aren’t getting help.” – Grace Elletson
— Xusana Davis, the state’s racial equity director, also provided House Judiciary an update about the state’s efforts to translate Covid-19 information so that it’s accessible to non-English speakers.
A task force that oversaw these translations said mid-May that it had run out of funding to continue the work, raising concerns that immigrant communities may be at risk of misinformation and further vulnerability to the virus.
Davis told committee members that the Scott administration has continued to fund this translation work. She said the state hopes to have a more uniform Covid-19 information translation policy set in the coming months. – Grace Elletson
— One industry is seeing particularly steep losses as the coronavirus pandemic heads into the summer season: the wedding industry. House Commerce took testimony from companies that provide services for weddings.
Luke Knapp, owner of Undercover Tents, a company that provides tents for weddings, said he would likely need to be subsidized 12 months of expenses through the state’s economic recovery package. That would total about $100,000 if he were to survive through the next year because the demand for his business has almost completely dried up.
“Because people don’t want to put their grandparents on a plane and fly them across the country to bring them to a destination wedding,” Knapp said. “We are in no way going back to work until May and that’s if everything goes well. – Grace Elletson
— Senate Gov Ops has taken up a House bill, H.619, that would allow those running for office to deduct child care costs from their campaign funding.
Cary Brown, executive director of the Vermont Commission on Women, said the bill would not only benefit women candidates who historically have had to bear the brunt of child-rearing responsibilities.
“That is one of the teeny little tiny steps we can take to shift the culture a little bit,” Brown said, referring to the adoption of the bill. “So the expectation is that parents are equally taking care of children and it’s not falling disproportionately on women.”
After a minor adjustment in the wording of the bill, Committee Chair Jeanette White, D-Windham, signaled that it would be voted out of committee soon. – Grace Elletson
— Will Senning, director of Elections and Campaign Finance with the Secretary of State’s Office, also testified on H.619 to give broader context about the state’s campaign finance rules. He told lawmakers he found the topic refreshing.
“And can I just say to you guys,” Senning said. “It’s really refreshing to be in here talking about something other than mail-in ballots.” – Grace Elletson