Oh, Vermont — with your green hills and silver waters. They’re what make you beautiful and what make drawing up your legislative district lines kind of a drag.
As senators walked through their new district maps before casting their vote Friday, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, raised the question: Where will the people of Somerset vote?
“This has been a problem. Somerset can’t get to Dover because there’s a mountain,” Sears pointed out to his colleagues.
“Under the current system,” he said, “they go to Dover, which as you can see is right next to Somerset. The problem is, you can’t get there without going around, going through Wilmington and then back up to Dover.”
Vermont’s rural nature also has resulted in a redistricting crisis for Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Orange: His newly redrawn district now contains towns that have traffic lights.
“This puts a chill down my spine, Madam President,” he said to his colleagues’ laughter. “I’ve never represented a traffic light before, and I find it rather intimidating.”
Redistricting this go-around has been a tighter squeeze than usual, thanks to a tardy U.S. census and Secretary of State Jim Condos’ April 1 deadline to extract the maps from legislators.
In the House, the debate largely revolved around whether to maintain Vermont’s multimember district model or adopt single-member districts. In the Senate, members had to redistribute representation between 30 senators in proportion to dramatic population shifts in the past decade.
Traffic lights and all, the Senate voted unanimously to approve their updated maps, which will be in place for the next decade if signed into law. H.722 now heads back to the House for concurrence before it hits Gov. Phil Scott’s desk. From there, it’s off to Condos.
You can read a more ~serious~ account of Friday’s redistricting vote here.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
The Vermont Senate made history Friday with a 27-0 vote to confirm Nancy Waples to the state Supreme Court, seating the first woman of color on the state’s highest bench.
Gov. Phil Scott nominated Waples to the seat last month, promoting the 61-year-old Hinesburg resident from her role as a superior court judge, which she held since 2015. She will fill the seat of former Justice Beth Robinson, who vacated the five-member bench to accept President Joe Biden’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Senators are trying to figure a way to get Gov. Phil Scott to agree to a statewide registry of home contractors as part of a bill to encourage the creation of more housing, S.226.
Scott vetoed a registry in February but has indicated he might agree to it if contractors have to register only for contracts of more than $10,000. The current bill has a $5,000 threshold.
Senate Minority Leader Randy Brock, R-Franklin, told the Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs Friday that he has been talking to Scott about reaching a compromise.
“The governor (is) adamant that the $10,000 is a floor,” Brock said.
But Sen. Michael Sirotkin, D-Chittenden, chair of the committee, said he opposes raising the threshold unless the bill includes a way — such as arbitration or another process — to protect homeowners who sign smaller contracts.
— Fred Thys
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan filed a civil lawsuit against Missouri-based company Karabell Industries and its owner, Eli Karabell, for harassing state lawmakers with telemarketing calls and emails, according to a press release.
The attorney general’s office alleges that Karabell demanded payments of $18,500 per hour and $48 billion, emailed contract proposals, and called lawmakers late at night to pitch them on “government consulting services.”
Donovan filed the lawsuit in Washington Superior Court on Friday.
The attorney general’s office sent Karabell a cease-and-desist letter Feb. 9, but prosecutors allege Karabell continued to contact state lawmakers, according to the release.
— Riley Robinson
ON THE MOVE
On an initial voice vote Friday, lawmakers in the state Senate unanimously supported a bill, S.148, that would establish an environmental justice policy. If it passes, Vermont will join the vast majority of states in the country that already have such a law.
The bill seeks to respond to studies and testimony showing that Vermonters experience environmental burdens in different ways.
Some Vermonters — including those who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, have low incomes or are not fluent in English — are generally harmed more than others by environmental dangers such as pollution and extreme weather.
Those same Vermonters are less likely than others to have access to environmental benefits such as affordable energy, fresh food and green space.
— Emma Cotton
The Legislature may see fewer charter change bills in the future if they continue to approve S.181, which got an initial OK from the Senate on Friday.
The bill would grant municipalities more regulatory autonomy without having to first seek approval from the state.
While presenting the bill on the floor, Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, described some sections as “wishlist items” for towns. Indeed, the bill enumerates some pretty niche powers, including the power to remove abandoned boats from public waterways.
It would also allow towns to reduce speed limits below 25 mph, which drew opposition from Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington.
“My concern is it may set up speed traps in some communities that want to make money,” Sears said.
— Riley Robinson
It is now the Senate’s turn to say how it would like Vermont to spend upward of $8 billion next year. After receiving preliminary approval on Thursday, H.740, aka the Big Bill, was sent along to the upper chamber Friday by a vote to 135 to 4.
— Lola Duffort
The Vermont House also passed a massive transportation spending package Friday, advancing legislation that invests $866 million in Vermont’s bridges, roads, public transit, and significantly expands electric vehicle incentives and infrastructure.
The bulk of the state’s transportation funding for next year will travel via H.736, the annual transportation bill, but the omnibus state appropriations bill — H.740 — also carries some key transportation funding. Both received the approval of House lawmakers Friday and now head to the Senate.
Like the rest of the state budget, appropriations for transportation this year are significantly boosted by the federal government’s historic investment in the state. Vermont is receiving more than $2 billion from the infrastructure deal passed by Congress in November.
— Lola Duffort
ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
Gov. Phil Scott on Friday signed into law S.4, a long-debated bill that strengthens firearm background checks and bans guns from hospitals.
Just last month, Scott vetoed S.30, a nearly identical bill that would have closed the so-called Charleston Loophole. That loophole, known in legal terms as a “default proceed,” allows buyers to purchase a gun without passing a background check if that check takes longer than three days.
The new law gives the federal government seven business days to complete a background check before a gun sale can legally proceed in Vermont.
— Ethan Weinstein
Gov. Phill Scott signed into law one of several measures that prepares Vermont for the sale of recreational cannabis in October, H.701. The bill sets out the licensing fees for all cannabis establishments.
“It really favors outdoor cultivation and small operators,” James Pepper, chair of the Cannabis Control Board, told VTDigger earlier this year.
Pepper said outdoor cannabis cultivators told the board several times that they want some indoor growing capacity to keep seedlings, clones and mother plants under artificial light, and to move growing inside for winter. This law allows them to do that.
The law also sets three tiers of manufacturers. One tier can use any extraction method, including combustible solvents, to make vape cartridges, oils and tinctures.
The second tier is geared toward commercial kitchens for edibles not allowed to use any combustibles to make brownies, gummies and cookies.
The third tier is a cottage tier for the home-based manufacturer. It’s for businesses that sell less than $10,000 a year and want to use a home kitchen to make pre-rolled joints or small batches of edibles.
The bill is key to standing up the retail cannabis market because licenses cannot be issued without it. Medical dispensaries can start selling recreational cannabis May 1, with purely recreational retail stores opening Oct. 1.
— Fred Thys
IN CONGRESS
Vermont’s federal delegation did not hold back in their condemnation of Senate Republicans Friday, blasting what they called “racist” and “misogynistic” conduct toward Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Vermont’s delegates to Washington also expressed concern about reports that Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pushed former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election while Trump was still in the White House.
“It’s truly appalling behavior by her,” Welch told VTDigger in an interview following an unrelated press conference with the three legislators. “It really raises questions about how much (Justice Thomas) knew about that activity, and raises questions about his ability to be a fair, impartial justice.”
— Jack Lyons
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
On Monday, chef Bryant Palmer is serving up beef stew. Tuesday, on the other hand, is still up in the air.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Unparalleled advocate for Vermonters with disabilities Deborah Lisi-Baker dies (VTDigger)
‘Stealth omicron’ on the rise in New England (NPR)
As a new Holocaust exhibit opens in Burlington, the war in Ukraine looms large (Seven Days)
