Special Covid-19 budget session edition compiled by Kit Norton and Xander Landen.
IN FRIDAY’S FINAL READING…
— Senate Natural Resources seems poised to move forward with a smaller, much more modest Act 250 reform measure during this special budget session before taking on more controversial aspects of the land use law in January.
The committee seemed content Friday to pass a simple nine page proposal that includes best management practices for trails and outdoor recreation as well as starting to address forest fragmentation and breaking up natural habitat.
“There is a very hard stop threes weeks from today and it may well occur before that so if we are to move an Act 250 bill it needs to be out of this committee and really through the Senate by no later the end of next week,” Committee Chair Chris Bray, D-Addison, said Friday morning to explain his reasoning behind pushing ahead with the more modest bill. – KN
— The Scott administration has moved to close the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex, informing state employees at the state’s only juvenile detention facility this week that the program will be shut down in October.
Within a year, the administration hopes to open a new five-bed facility for youth in Vermont, operated by a private organization, Becket, a New Hampshire-based company that already contracts with the state and provides residential treatment for youth.
Committees in the House and Senate this week voted in favor of closing Woodside.
However Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, the chair of Senate Judiciary, said he still wants to see an “actual plan” from the administration with more information about Woodside’s replacement and “how Becket is going to operate.”
The partial state budget bill lawmakers passed in June says that before Woodside can be closed down, the Legislature has to approve a replacement plan.
“I’m ready to say the short-term closure Woodside is realistic and has to be done, but not ready to say that the plan is in place yet to fully move our juvenile justice system in a new direction,” Sears said. – XL
— House lawmakers on Thursday heard from economic policy experts who discussed strategies the state could adopt to weather the economic downturn posed by the Covid-19 crisis.
Kim Reuben, an expert in state finance with the Urban Institute, told the House Appropriations and Ways and Means committees that legislators should consider raising Vermont’s sales taxes, or increasing income taxes on the top earners in the state.
“I think it’s hard to talk about raising your top marginal tax rate on your income tax, but recognizing that the people who are sort of going after pay that aren’t necessarily struggling as much because they’re all working remotely, and they’re not leaving,” Reuben said.
She added that “there’s room for trying to expand” the state’s sales tax, because its sales tax base is “one of the most narrow of the country.” – XL
— House Appropriations is approaching a vote on the FY21 budget.
After a marathon session Friday, the committee is expected to move the budget early next week — setting up a House floor vote soon after. – KN
— With the House close to passing the budget, Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, told Rep. Tim Briglin, D-Thetford, that the committee on energy and technology should get the Global Warming Solutions Act ready to hit the House floor next week.
“There’s interest in moving this bill,” Briglin said Friday, “along a parallel path with the budget.”
The committee discussed the changes made by the Senate to the measure and most of the committee was in agreement with the changes.
The upper chamber had stripped out $586,000 in FY21 and $386,000 in FY22 for fees with consultants and experts that was included in the bill — deciding it was best to have questions of funding go along the normal appropriations process.
Briglin said Friday he was disappointed to see the appropriation leave the bill but that overall he was supportive of the Senate changes.
“I don’t think they changed it radically, I think they are improvements on the margin and my expectation is that this appropriation will be included in the House budget,” he said. – KN
— There is movement in House Judiciary to repeal the justifiable homicide statute, which includes a provision that civil officers, members of the military and “private soldiers” who lawfully are called on to suppress “riot or rebellion” are protected from homicide charges.
Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, introduced a strike all amendment to S.119 — which originally dealt specifically with police use of deadly force — that repeals the justifiable homicide statute while expounding on use of force policy
On Thursday, Wilda White, a lawyer and chair of Vermont Mental Health Crisis Response Commission, told committee members that there are still some changes needed to clarify what police can and cannot do, but that the strike all amendment is headed in the right direction.
White said that she was glad to see Vermont’s justifiable homicide law repealed but that Vermont could follow California’s lead in replacing the old law with an updated one.
The California law stipulates that homicide is justifiable when committed by a law enforcement officer who is in compliance with the use of force policy.
“I think it’s important to be really clear that we do have a justifiable homicide statute and that statute applies when you comply with this use of force statute,” White said. – KN
— The House and Senate have neared a deal on legislation that would create a legal marketplace for marijuana in Vermont.
The major disagreement remaining between the two chambers is how to use the new marketplace to raise revenue for municipalities.
The Senate prefers sending 2% of tax revenue from marijuana sales to towns that host cannabis businesses, while the House favors giving municipalities money from cannabis licensing fees.
Both chambers made major concessions during a meeting Friday.
As part of its negotiations with the Senate, the House immediately retracted a proposal it put on the table Friday that would make it a civil offense to transport containers of alcohol, or marijuana, in the passenger area of a vehicle. – XL
