Visitors to the Statehouse on Thursday were met with an unusual welcoming committee: environmental advocates dressed as giant penises.
“This is what it takes to get people’s attention in today’s world,” said James Ehlers, an activist posted on the sidewalk of State Street, as drivers slowed to get pictures.
Ehlers and his companion, Mike Bald, who was dressed normally, urged lawmakers to strengthen environmental regulations in S.234, a bill to update Vermont land-use laws, and to pass H.626, which would ban seeds treated with pesticides.
Ehlers and Bald singled out perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, a class of chemicals present in various consumer products, as a priority for action. PFAS can persist in soil and water for decades and have been linked to a number of detrimental health effects, including testicular cancer — hence the outfits.
Asked why he wanted to wear a giant phallus costume, Ehlers said, “Oh, I didn’t.”
“But you’re talking to me, right?” he said. “I’ve been sending out press releases for 25 years and putting forward the science, and people just ignore it.”
If conversations overheard in the cafeteria are any metric, many in the Statehouse found the activists hard to ignore on Thursday, although some expressed confusion about what kind of costumes they were actually wearing. One diner said they believed at first that it was someone dressed as the Easter Bunny.
“He was a beauty,” another said.
— Peter D’Auria
ON THE MOVE
The Senate Finance committee has unanimously passed out its version of H.510, the child tax credit bill, in a 7-0 vote, and the measure has received a significant makeover.
When it passed out of the House, H.510 contemplated sending $1,200 per child six or under, and the benefit began phasing out for families making $200,000 a year. The price was $48 million.
The Senate’s version of the child tax credit would cost an estimated $22.5 million. The $1,000 benefit would begin to phase out for families making $55,000 a year, and it would only apply to kids 5 or under. The upper chamber’s version of H.510 also includes other tax cuts: there’s $5 million for a child and dependent care credit, and $2 million to allow Vermonters to deduct interest from their student loans. (Senators have also also carried over a modest expansion to the state’s Social Security income tax exemption, which was in the House bill.)
And while the Senate has not opted to give child care workers a tax credit (as pitched by Gov. Phil Scott), the bill does set aside $3.5 million aside for retention bonuses.
— Lola Duffort
The Vermont Senate on Thursday passed a broad bill to encourage community and workforce development that would appropriate nearly $89 million for a range of initiatives, from paying people to move to Vermont to supporting arts organizations hurt by the pandemic.
The bill, H.159, now heads back to the House to reconcile differences.
The legislation has already been a target of criticism from Gov. Phil Scott, who has raised alarms over the bill’s pared-down funding.
Scott’s spokesperson, Jason Maulucci, said Thursday that it’s “too soon to say whether the Governor will sign the final product,” adding that “the bill currently pales in comparison to the economic development package the Governor proposed, and what he believes is needed.”
— Fred Thys
For the past two weeks, the House Committee on Ways and Means has been chewing over a meaty question: Should state lawmakers attempt to amend Vermont’s school funding formula, or should they create a whole new one?
One option — passed by the Senate a month ago — would essentially update the existing system by creating new values for the formula’s “pupil weights,” a mathematical tool intended to direct money towards the students who need it most.
The other version would create a whole new funding system from scratch. Instead of tweaking the formula, that proposal would simply send districts direct payments for every student who fits into one of those costly-to-educate categories.
On Thursday morning, the committee opted for the former, voting unanimously to approve a version of S.287 that would update — not replace — the formula. The bill now heads to the House Appropriations Committee.
— Peter D’Auria
A proposal to grant the Green Mountain Care Board greater control over hospital budgets has fallen prey to the status quo.
The Senate last month passed a bill, S.285, that would appropriate almost $5 million for the care board to study and implement a model that would grant the board budget-setting authority.
But in the House Committee on Health Care this week, Ena Backus, Gov. Phil Scott’s director of health reform, raised concerns that setting hospital budgets in isolation would damage the state’s signature health reform effort, the all-payer model.
In the process, S.285 morphed into a set of guidelines for advancing the all-payer model. Committee members stripped funding for the care board to pursue its study. The bill now directs Backus and the board to work together on a new proposal that may, but not necessarily, include the budget-setting authority the board wanted. The committee voted 7-2 to advance the bill.
— Liora Engel-Smith
ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
After vetoing similar legislation twice before, Gov. Phil Scott on Thursday signed into law a medical monitoring bill that has for years garnered strong support from state lawmakers.
The law carves out a specific right for people who have been exposed to toxic chemicals to sue responsible companies for the cost of monitoring their health.
Sens. Dick Sears and Brian Campion, both Bennington County Democrats, introduced the legislation, S.113, following widespread contamination of PFAS, a chemical class associated with harmful health impacts, in Bennington. A now-closed factory in North Bennington had emitted the chemicals into the air, eventually contaminating around 8,000 residents’ drinking water.
“I know we’ve had differences on this issue in the past, but this result is a good example of how we can work to address each other’s concerns and get to ‘yes,’” Scott said in a statement. “That’s what good government is about.”
— Emma Cotton
CAMPAIGN SEASON
We’re confused. Did former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan just take a swing at U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. — the man she is likely to face in the Senate race general election — by making a … bald joke? That’s a choice.
— Lola Duffort
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Chef Bryant’s special tomorrow is a grain bowl with wheat berries, avocado and “some fun things like that.”
Diners will also have the option of a roasted vegetable and chèvre wrap and a chicken parmesan sandwich. Soups include clam chowder and an as-yet-undetermined vegetarian soup.
— Peter D’Auria
WHAT WE’RE READING
Betting Big on Weed: Hopeful Vermont Cannabis Players See Green in the Coming Retail Market (Seven Days)
One of Vermont’s independent schools is hiking its tuition. Could that spell trouble for local public schools? (VTDigger)
How two Vermont medical students are helping people in Ukraine (VPR)
