The Legislature has wrapped up its penultimate week (hopefully), but some committees are continuing to address the logistics of next session.
The House Discrimination Prevention Panel recently signed off on a discrimination policy governing the lower chamber, but it’s unclear how many members are aware of the document. It was created as part of a push to create a more professional workplace in the Statehouse. The Legislature also recently hired Arlene Tarantino Donovan as its first director of human resources.
Rep. Mari Cordes, D-Lincoln, who chairs the discrimination prevention panel, told committee members Friday that the plan should be to share the new policy with House members this summer and then hold group presentations at the beginning of next session.
Under the newly adopted policy, discrimination is described as “the unfair or unequal treatment of an individual” based on “race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, place of birth, age, crime victim status, or physical or mental condition.”
It also lists examples of workplace harassment. These include offensive jokes, physical assaults or threats, derogatory or provocative remarks and insulting or putting down an individual.
The brainstorming session on how to promulgate the document came after a number of lawmakers were captured on YouTube this session making offensive statements.
Multiple House members have used the wrong pronouns when referring to Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, the first openly transgender person to serve in the Vermont Legislature, while others have made comments tinged with racism and bigotry.
Cordes and her panel have already entered executive session to discuss one possible case of discrimination. There is a strict code of confidentiality that governs these cases, making it difficult to know the details.
On Friday morning, the Joint Legislative Management Committee also made a motion to speak privately about a “personnel matter.”
That executive session lasted for around an hour, eating up all the allotted time during which the panel had planned to discuss brick and mortar changes to the Statehouse.
When lawmakers returned to public view, Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, explained the long absence by saying: “As sometimes happens when issues are complicated, it took longer than anticipated.”
Suffice it to say, if lawmakers, the press, lobbyists and the public do indeed return to the Statehouse in 2022, there may be a very different workplace culture than in previous years.
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