Although the 2021 legislative session has yet to conclude, Vermont lawmakers are already thinking about what the 2022 legislative session — and a physical return to the Statehouse in Montpelier — will look like.
For the past year and a half, lawmakers have worked remotely and livestreamed meetings and virtual floor sessions on YouTube.
But as the pandemic turns a corner, the leaders of the House and Senate say they are committed to bringing legislators into the Capitol building in Montpelier next year.
What a return to the Golden Dome will look like is unclear.
A report released last week by Freeman French Freeman, an architectural firm based in Burlington, offers two options for how lawmakers could meet in Montpelier next year.
In one scenario, only legislators and staff would be allowed inside the Statehouse, and committee and floor discussions would only be accessible via livestream. Members of the public and press would be excluded from in-person legislative business.
That proposal has been criticized by the press and advocates for government transparency because it would curtail public access.
“Any proposal or any plan that’s being considered that shuts out the public entirely I think is a plan that should be abandoned and rethought,” said Justin Silverman, the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, an organization that advocates for government transparency and media organizations.
Democratic leaders quickly rejected the idea of meeting in person without giving the press or members of the public some access to the Statehouse.
“We would never come back to the building without having a way for people to be also there in some way, shape or form,” said House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington.
Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint, D-Windham, told senators on Tuesday that she wasn’t in favor of the consultant’s recommendation.
In an interview, she pointed to the state’s constitutional mandate to keep the doors of the Statehouse open.
“At every opportunity, I’m going to remind us of that, that we owe it to the people, and to the press, to know that the work that we’re doing is transparent and open,” Balint said.
Krowinski said it’s premature to speculate about what the 2022 legislative session will look like.
The speaker said the Legislature still needs to get feedback from legislative staffers, members of the press and advocates “on how we can create an environment where everyone can participate in the way that they feel is safe.”
Balint said the Legislature may not have a finalized plan for the 2022 session until around November.
But before lawmakers adjourn this month, she said they need to make decisions about IT upgrades and air quality modifications needed to ensure lawmakers can return to the Statehouse safely. Those changes will be funded in next year’s state budget.
Freeman French Freeman’s report also suggests that legislators make use of rooms in nearby buildings, including 133 and 109 State Street, which currently house other government departments.
These buildings contain larger rooms, which could “allow some in-person public participation” and offer “public viewing rooms where the public can watch live broadcasts of committee meetings” and House and Senate floor action.
The Freeman French Freeman report also recommends an “aggressive timeline” for Statehouse renovations between now and January to convert some larger rooms in the building into committee rooms and tearing down walls to increase space in others.
Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia, the chair of the Senate Committee on Institutions, said that while the Statehouse is in need of renovation, it would be difficult to undertake immediate construction work to accommodate next year’s legislative session.
He said his personal preference for the 2022 legislative session would be to allow limited in-person access to committee rooms.
Benning also suggested that “excess members of the public to be able to watch and participate remotely,” potentially from another room within the Statehouse.
“If my room had a sign on the door, for instance, that said no more than eight people in the room at a time; you’re the ninth person to come, what happens to you?” Benning said.
“Is there someplace else in the building that could be accommodated via Zoom for you to participate in the conversation?” he said.
Senate Institutions will hear this week from stakeholders, including members of the press, about the return to Montpelier.
Legislative staff also weighed in this week. Some raised safety concerns associated with allowing the public access to the building during the pandemic.
Peggy Delaney, the Legislature’s supervisor of committee services, said staff members are worried about the possibility of Covid-19 variants cropping up in the coming months and do not want to have to be responsible for asking members of the public to leave the building.
“I feel very strongly that for next session, if at all possible, that you should focus on just having staff and legislators come to the building and making it safe for everyone,” Delaney said.
Mike Donoghue, the executive director of the Vermont Press Association, said the Legislature needs to allow for some in-person media access, even if Covid-19 restrictions are in place next year.
He pointed to the White House, which still lets in a limited number of reporters into the press room for in-person briefings.
“Not everybody actually gets in there, but there is pooling, and there are other steps that can be taken,” Donoghue said. “But to have a complete shutout of the media while state laws are being drafted does not seem to be very transparent.”
Paul Burns, director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said while he would like to see as much access as possible for members of the public in the Statehouse next year, “really, No. 1 in my mind is access for journalists.”
“Even if limits have to be placed on the number of people in the room, we have to ensure that some members of the media are given access to that,” Burns said.