Ah yes, sweet springtime. The sun is up later, the birds are chirping and the mud is up to your knees.
Or, if you’re in Montpelier, perhaps you’re slinging it.
There are mere weeks to go before the Legislature adjourns sine die, and lawmakers are in budget crunch time. The Senate could pass its version as soon as this week, sending the $8 billion proposal into conference committee with the House to hammer out the details. Once legislators are all on the same page, Republican Gov. Phil Scott has the final say.
And he’s made it very clear that he isn’t afraid to strike it down with his veto pen should Democratic leaders slip in poison pills.
“I think I’ve shown I’m perfectly willing to veto legislation, including budgets and things that might sound good on paper, but when you dig deeper, cause more harm than good,” Scott said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference in Montpelier. “And I certainly won’t hesitate to do it again if I think it’s necessary.”
Scott said Tuesday that he meets regularly with legislative leadership to hammer out disagreements on the state pension system, housing investments, workforce development and universal school lunches. He described their working relationships as “civil.”
But after an interview with NBC5 that aired over the weekend, Scott fired a shot heard ‘round the state.
Off camera, Scott reportedly said that, if he decides not to seek reelection, Vermont state government could slip into one-party rule. “There needs to be an adult in the room,” he said.
Asked to elaborate Tuesday, Scott said that the state has seen an influx of federal cash this year, resulting in a “feeding frenzy” in the Statehouse. But even a large pot of cash has a bottom.
“A governor, on an engine, is like a rev limiter,” he said. “We have to make sure the engine doesn’t over rev and self-destruct. And that’s what the governor has to do here, as well, is make sure that we’re doing the right things to make sure that we don’t do harm to our state.”
(Listen, if he didn’t appreciate his nickname Gov. Dad, I don’t think he’d be using car metaphors at news conferences.)
Scott said the “adult” comment wasn’t meant to be disrespectful or derogatory, and if it was interpreted that way, he apologizes.
“It’s just that we have a difference in philosophical political slant, but it’s never personal,” he said. “I like the speaker. I like the pro tem. I like a lot of the legislators. … We have great conversations. It doesn’t mean we have to agree. That’s what a democracy is about, right, having civil disagreement, respectful disagreements, and I’ve always had those.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
For over two years, if not longer, experts have called for changes in Vermont’s school funding formula.
The current system, experts say, effectively relies on incorrect math — with the end result being that some school districts have access to more money than others.
Now, in a bid to fix the formula, lawmakers are deciding between two competing versions of the same bill — both of which would result in a significant overhaul of the way Vermont funds its schools.
— Peter D’Auria
Some in the Vermont Republican Party are taking a page out of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ playbook.
Last week, state GOP chair Paul Dame wrote to party members in his newsletter about H.659, a bill that that would allow transgender and non-binary minors to receive certain types of gender-affirming care without parental consent. “Progressive Democrats Try to Strip Parental Consent,” he titled the email, in which he asked party members to “PLEASE donate immediately to help Republicans STOP THIS MADNESS!”
On Monday, Burlington GOP Chair Christopher-Aaron Felker doubled down, tweeting out individual pictures of the bill’s sponsors alongside a single descriptor: “groomer.”
Felker, who has been dogged by accusations of transphobia in past runs for office, also retweeted a link to a video, titled “The Groomer Boom,” made by right-wing YouTuber Joshua Slocum. In it, the online personality called on his audience to “bombard” the phone lines of H.659’s sponsors, including Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker. Slocum also dismissed statistics showing that LGBTQ+ youth suffer from disproportionate rates of depression and suicide, arguing that being trans was itself a mental illness, and likely the result of trauma and abuse.
“What we’re seeing from the statewide party of the Vermont GOP is these consistent attacks and rhetoric that has just been used against LGBTQ people for my entire upbringing,” Small said.
— Lola Duffort
One of Vermont’s two state police dispatch centers had to enact parts of its emergency contingency plan this weekend after several employees contracted Covid, according to Lance Burnham, Emergency Communications Commander for Vermont State Police. This was the first time state dispatchers had ever needed to use the contingency plan, Burnham told Vermont’s Enhanced 911 Board at a meeting Tuesday morning.
“We could not keep up with the volume of work that was happening,” Burnham said to the board.
The Williston Public Safety Answering Point is one of two state police call centers, which receives 911 calls and dispatches more than 100 local police, fire and EMS departments, according to Burnham.
The contingency plan was in effect from Friday afternoon until about 7 a.m. Tuesday, Burnham said.
Life-threatening incidents and other emergencies were handled as normal, Burnham said in an interview, but state police asked local agencies and troopers to keep a cellphone on to take non-emergent calls that state police would’ve otherwise managed.
The Williston call center was already short-staffed, with eight vacancies out of their 37 positions, Burnham said.
— Riley Robinson
One last reminder! The four Democratic candidates vying for Vermont’s lone U.S. House seat will face off Wednesday night. They are Vermont Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, former congressional staffer Sianay Chase Clifford, Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and state Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale.
It’s the first event of the Digger Debate Series. This debate will be held online, but we hope to host future debates in-person, public health conditions permitting.
That’s 6 p.m, April 13. Find it here.
— Riley Robinson
ON THE MOVE
Lost in a swirl of bill numbers? We’ve launched our 2022 bill tracker.
This page will be updated daily with major developments in more than 65 key bills spanning both years of the biennium.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
With state Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, vacating her seat to make a run for Congress, Windham County will have an open state Senate race this November for the first time since 2014.
The Windham district’s other senator is 19-year incumbent Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, who hails from Putney. White told VTDigger this week she has not yet decided whether she will seek reelection in November.
Three candidates have launched bids for Balint’s spot so far: Democrats Wichie Artu and Nader Hashim, and independent Tim Wessel. All three should be familiar faces to voters in southern Vermont, either through their community organizing or experience in state and local office.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN CONGRESS
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., was in eastern Europe on Tuesday to get a closer look at Russia’s war on Ukraine.
At a news conference from Warsaw, Welch and fellow members of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee described the situation from Poland, which has accepted roughly 2.7 million Ukrainian refugees since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Ukrainian invasion in February.
The American lawmakers also traveled to Latvia, Welch’s office said.
On Monday, the congressmen met with four Ukrainian legislators who traveled from Poland and described the scene back in Ukraine.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Chef Bryant promises some “wicked good stuff” on tomorrow’s menu.
“We’re kicking it up a notch” with pork chops and pineapple salsa for the special, he said. “Summery. That’s the feel we’re going for.”
The sandwich special will be a roast beef panini, and on the grill, a cheeseburger “made with love” and applewood smoked bacon. Diners will be able to choose their cheese, but the chefs recommend a classic Cabot cheddar.
Have you ever wondered what a 40-pound block of Cabot cheddar looks like? Now you don’t have to.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT’S ON DECK
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
9 a.m. — House Human Services and Senate Health & Welfare will hold a joint hearing on Vermont’s child care and early childhood education systems.
9 a.m. — House Government Operations to mark up and vote on S.286, which would a pension deal between the state and the largest public-sector unions.
3 p.m. — S.74, a bill to modify Vermont’s medical aid in dying law, goes to the House floor on second reading.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Vermont’s transgender youth find a community on sports teams (VTDigger)
Amid mud season, a once-mired family farm discovers a viable road forward (VTDigger)
Lake Monsters to Debut New ‘Box Suites’ — for $1,600 a Night (Seven Days)
