In an unadvertised hearing Thursday afternoon, the Senate Reapportionment Committee greenlit the updated map of Vermont’s Senate districts, divvying up representation among 30 state senators for the next 10 years.
“Here we are live. OK, let’s calm down here,” Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who chairs the committee, said when the hearing began its live broadcast, fellow committee members in conversation around her. “We’re live. Everybody in the world is watching us. Let’s behave.”
The conclusion of the 26-minute-long hearing was not an official vote to send the map to a floor vote. The Senate still has to wait for the House to send over H.722, which is the official reapportionment bill for both chambers. The House gave their final stamp of approval to their map Thursday.
From there, Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, who is vice chair of the committee, said the Senate will insert their map into H.722. The bill will then go to a vote in the committee and Senate, then back to the House for concurrence and finally to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.
Carolyn Wesley, spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Ballint, D-Windham, estimated that the Senate can complete its work on the bill by late next week. The Secretary of State’s Office has given legislators an April 1 deadline to get the job done — a tight squeeze given the U.S. Census Bureau’s notorious delays in 2020.
Collamore said Thursday afternoon that he thinks this year’s Senate map “fairly represents what happened in terms of population trends” in Vermont in the past decade.
White did not respond to multiple requests for comment Thursday afternoon.
