Lawmakers created Vermont’s first-ever state ethics commission in 2017 after the state was hammered by a well-known transparency group for being a national outlier.
But the commission has no investigative or enforcement powers. It also basically has nothing to enforce since there is no statutory code of ethics that covers all three branches of government. (An executive order currently covers the executive branch.)
Government transparency groups — and at one point, the body’s own executive director — have argued the commission, as-is, basically serves no oversight purpose. The state should just disband it altogether, one particularly vexed advocate once told VTDigger.
Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, has sponsored legislation in the past attempting to give the commission some teeth. It’s never gone anywhere.
But lawmakers are finally taking up the subject again in S.171, a bill co-sponsored by Pollina and Senate Government Operations Chair Jeanette White, D-Windham. The bill already received four hearings, and White on Wednesday told committee members she hoped the committee could make its final recommendation by next Friday.
Contacted by a curious reporter, Pollina cautioned against getting too excited. The bill seeks to finally create a code of ethics — with the force of law — binding public servants across all three branches. But it makes no major changes to the commission itself.
“I think in order to be real and have any kind of real, valid power, the Ethics Commission has to have enforcement powers. This bill does not give them that,” Pollina said. “I wish we could get to that place at some point in time. We’re taking a step in the right direction, but we’re not nearly there yet.”
— Lola Duffort
IN THE KNOW
Having kids is one of the most expensive things a person can do. See: the extraordinarily high cost of child care. But who has young children?
Almost exclusively low- and middle-income families, Joint Fiscal Office analyst Graham Campbell told the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.
The panel is considering whether to endorse a bill to create a child tax credit for Vermont, which would send eligible families $1,200 per child 6 and under. The proposal is pricey: One estimate pegs the cost at about $58 million a year.
Lawmakers could cut out families making more than $200,000 a year. (Right now, the threshold is set at $400,000.) But that would only take about 1,000 kids out of the program — and therefore save the state little, Graham said.
What about making only children 5 and under eligible, asked Rep. Patrick Brennan, R-Colchester. That could save between $8 million and $9 million a year, Graham replied.
— Lola Duffort
The Senate Reapportionment Committee at its Wednesday morning hearing did not take any votes but verbally and informally seemed to be in agreement that the Senate would likely maintain its multimember districts in 2022’s new maps.
A subject of hot debate over on the House side, the bipartisan senators were congenial about the whole affair Wednesday. Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, quipped that it was the “rare moment” that he agreed with Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor.
“The Senate is different than the House in that our view should, in fact, be broader,” Brock said. “That’s why things like county boundaries, common interest, geographical boundaries and so on make more sense.”
What could be up for debate is the number of senators allowed in one district, though. Brock pondered: Is three or four senators per district too many? The committee plans to continue its discussion and begin taking a look at potential maps Friday.
— Sarah Mearhoff
The Senate Judiciary on Wednesday continued its long series of hearing testimony on S. 254, a bill that would end qualified immunity for police officers in Vermont. Qualified immunity is a widespread legal doctrine established by U.S. Supreme Court precedent that protects public servants from facing litigation for violating citizens’ civil rights while on the job.
Mia Schultz, who is the president of the Rutland Area Branch of the NAACP, told lawmakers Wednesday that qualified immunity is another way by which people of color are denied justice when they experience police brutality.
“Black and brown people cannot even get even a resemblance of justice unless it’s recorded,” she said, referencing cellphone video evidence of police misconduct often recorded by bystanders, like in the case of Minnesota’s George Floyd.
With only a few other states having passed similar laws, Schultz said S.254 is a chance to send a message to the rest of the country
“This is the way and the pathway to show the rest of the United States that Vermont, one of the whitest states in America, passed this legislation because they knew it was rooted in a form of discrimination and does not uphold humanity,” she said.
— Sarah Mearhoff
“The clean heat standard, CHS, is the most consequential government regulation for the distribution of heating fuels ever contemplated in Vermont.”
That’s the message Matt Cota, executive director of Vermont Fuel, a nonprofit organization serving heating fuel and service businesses, gave to the House Committee on Energy and Technology on Wednesday.
Similar to Vermont’s renewable energy standard, the clean heat standard would require and incentivize heat wholesalers and distributors to switch their supplies to heat sources that produce fewer carbon emissions than traditional sources. Heat from fossil fuels accounts for around 34% of Vermont’s climate pollution, according to the Energy Action Network.
The committee took testimony from representatives of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG), Vermont Gas and Vermont Fuel. One conflict that appeared to emerge: the role of electricity in heating. Cota emphasized that installing electric heat options couldn’t completely replace combustion-style heating unless a building is newly constructed and multiple pumps are installed.
“That’s just not happening,” he said.
Ben Edgerly Walsh, climate and energy program director at VPIRG, said electric options are the best long-term option for Vermonters.
“Electric heating options — cold climate heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps — really are central, have to be central, to the long-term trajectory that we are putting ourselves on as a state,” he said.
— Emma Cotton
ON THE MOVE
The Senate passed a bill by voice vote Wednesday to create a registry of home contractors who take on projects that cost $3,500 or more.
Supporters have described the bill, H.157, as a consumer protection measure, so homeowners can check to see if a contractor is registered and in good standing. This bill would allow homeowners to file a complaint with the Office of Professional Regulation and allow that office to revoke or restrict a contractor’s registration.
Sen. Randy Brock, R-Franklin, was the lone vote against the bill in committee. On the virtual Senate floor Wednesday, he said he believed the bill was unnecessary and harmful to small businesses.
Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, asked for her colleagues’ support of the bill, saying that Vermont is one of just eight states that does not regulate home contractors. She described the registry system as “the lightest touch possible.”
This bill was a long time coming. The Vermont Home Builders and Remodelers Association has been working sporadically for more than 15 years to establish a state registry. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2019 that later died.
Home-improvement services are one of the top reasons for complaints to the consumer protection division of the attorney general’s office, according to a Wednesday press release from Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham. Between 2012 and 2017 the attorney general’s office received 587 complaints about home improvement projects, claiming losses totaling more than $3.1 million.
— Riley Robinson
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
What did we tell you about Endorsement Week?
Today’s it’s U.S. Rep. Peter Welch’s turn. The Vermont Democrat is vying for U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s seat come November, and on Wednesday, his campaign announced the support of more than 700 “citizen endorsers.”
The supporters include teachers, farmers, nurses, small business owners, mechanics and more. According to his campaign, the list is composed of Vermonters from 114 towns and all 14 counties.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Responding to reports that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is retiring, Vermont’s three Democratic candidates for the U.S. House are calling for change as the liberal justice departs.
President Joe Biden during his campaign promised that, should a vacancy arise on the bench while he is president, he will nominate a Black woman for the role. No Black women have served on the nation’s highest court.
State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, did not forget his pledge, tweeting Wednesday afternoon that, “It’s past time for a Black woman to have a seat on the Supreme Court.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, tweeted that it’s “time for (Biden) to deliver” on his promise. She also implored Congress to expand the Supreme Court bench.
“Even after Biden appoints a new SCOTUS justice, the court will be 6-3 conservative,” she tweeted. “This in a country where the GOP has won the popular vote only once since 1988, where a GOP Congress blocks nominees from duly elected Democrats. To restore democracy, Biden must #ExpandTheCourt.”
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray celebrated Breyer’s career and called on Biden and the Senate to confirm a similarly liberal-minded justice to the bench.
“Looking to a future where fundamental rights are under attack — from voting rights to reproductive rights — we must advance justices who will uphold the constitution and protect human rights, and who understand, as Justice Breyer does, the world is watching and America must lead,” she tweeted.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
The cafeteria plans to serve up chicken and dumplings on Thursday.
WHAT’S ON TAP
Thursday, Jan. 27
9:15 a.m. — House Human Services to discuss and vote on Prop 5
9:15 a.m. — House General — Rev. Mark Hughes testifies on H.387, which would create a task force to study and develop possible reparations for slavery
3:30 p.m. — Senate Finance hears from the Joint Finance Office on Vermont’s long-term revenues and expenditures
WHAT WE’RE READING
In cross-border school district, protections for transgender students face a legal threat (VTDigger)
Vermont cheesemaker survives pandemic by furloughing goats, selling closer to home (VTDigger)
Go inside this Island Pond elementary school as it tries to stay on top of COVID protocols (VPR)
