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It’s T-minus seven days until lawmakers hope to utter those fateful words “sine die.” You know what that means: marathon hearings in the budget conference committee.
The exception was Friday, a quiet day in Montpelier, when the Joint Fiscal committee took an afternoon off. They must be feeling confident they’ll wrap up their work by next week, no?
Gov. Phil Scott has been dangling a potential budget veto. This week, Kristin Clouser, Scott’s secretary of administration, penned a letter to the budget conferees spelling out the do’s and don’ts to win over the governor’s signature.
So, where do the major pieces of the budget stand?
The House and Senate this week offered their final and unanimous blessing to lawmakers’ long-awaited pension deal, which, if signed into law, would cut an estimated $2 billion from the state’s unfunded retirement liabilities. S.286 as passed does not include Scott’s wishlist item, a 401(k)-style option for new employees.
The Senate also unanimously passed a newer, trimmer version of the tax bill, H.510, costing about $36 million. It’s smaller than the $50 million tax cut Scott proposed in January, and it doesn’t include two of his major priorities: the Earned Income Tax Credit and a full income tax exemption on military pensions. (In S.53, another tax bill the House and Senate are still negotiating, lawmakers have agreed to a partial exemption.)
That could prove to be a sticking point; Clouser wrote Tuesday that the governor “will not support tax relief that doesn’t alleviate the tax burden for these two populations.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers are still hashing out how to spend a $95 million education fund surplus: Will it be universal meals, tax rebates or remediating toxic chemicals in classrooms? As with the federal government’s generous Covid relief for Vermont, large pots of money are not bottomless.
This is also that time of year when legislators pull out one of their strongest weapons: the illusory strike-all amendment. This week, the House Commerce Committee gutted S.11, a bill originally written to target robocalls. Now, it’s a vehicle to fast-track economic and workforce development measures — and potentially win over Scott’s favor.
Among Scott’s economic development must-haves are a $50 million capital investment grant program, only $10.2 million of which has the House committee’s approval. The program has gotten no love from the Senate.
Even in the House’s not-robocall-bill, that $10.2 million is pulled from another one of Scott’s priorities: worker relocation grants, which Rep. Michael Marcotte, R-Coventry, told VTDigger this week are not “a good return on the investment.” Burn.
Can they get it all done in a week? I’ll believe it when I see it.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
Hundreds of Vermont students marched from Montpelier High School to the Statehouse Friday to demand more government action against climate change. Groups of students from various towns — from Bristol to Plainfield to Vergennes — bused in to join the rally.
Friday’s event marked the return of the annual Rally for the Planet, which has been canceled for the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was organized by the Vermont Youth Lobby, a grassroots organization that encourages young Vermonters to demand “climate, jobs, justice” from their legislators.
“One of my big goals was to really just provide a space for young people to gather together,” said Iris Hsiang, a senior at Essex High School who helped organize the event. “Because they haven’t been able to do that, and talk about climate, and be able to connect on climate.”
About a half-dozen student speakers delivered remarks from the Statehouse steps.
“Seeing you all here today, freezing your asses off, makes me think one thing: Change is possible,” said Jasmine Gruen, a junior at U-32.
— Riley Robinson
ON THE MOVE
The Vermont House approved the latest version of the state’s annual transportation budget on Friday, shelving for now a debate about whether legislators should exempt electric aircraft maker Beta Technologies from local parking restrictions in South Burlington.
On a voice vote, House lawmakers sent H.736 — a segment of the state’s overall budget allocating millions of dollars to transportation projects, and one of the must-pass bills of each legislative session — back to the Senate. Representatives declined to pass a handful of initiatives senators added to the bill last week, including a provision meant to aid Beta Technologies in its ongoing zoning dispute with South Burlington officials.
The Senate will now have the chance to revisit the Beta parking issue after South Burlington leaders have tried to satisfy the company’s wants through a local zoning change.
The House also dialed back the Senate’s proposal for a $150,000 study evaluating whether the city of Burlington should continue to own and operate Burlington International Airport, downgrading the study to a working group that would examine already-published research on the question.
— Jack Lyons
The clean heat standard has officially passed through both of the Statehouse’s chambers, and because it includes a “check back” amendment, it’s possible it could win a signature from Gov. Phil Scott.
On Friday morning, the Senate voted in favor of H.715, which poses sweeping changes to the state’s thermal sector. It’s recognized widely as the session’s most significant bill related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Senators rejected a last-minute amendment offered by Sens. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D- Chittenden, and Anthony Pollina, D-Washington, which would have added a cap on incentives for liquid biofuels, which have been criticized for their impact on the environment. Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, said it was too late for the committee to consider the amendment’s impacts on the rest of the bill.
The legislation, as written, does provide opportunities for the Public Utility Commission and several new committees to consider the impacts of biofuels and how they would be credited, Bray said on the floor.
— Emma Cotton
IN CONGRESS
As the Vermont Air National Guard began a deployment to Europe to reinforce NATO territory on Thursday, U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., sent his well-wishes.
“The nation has called on you in a time of need to provide our NATO allies with reassurance that the United States will stand side-by-side with them to prevent threats to their homes,” he said in a written statement Thursday. “You were called because you can be counted on to provide the highest level of professionalism and service.”
He concluded, “Be safe, look after each other, and keep making us proud.”
Gov. Phil Scott and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also spoke at the deployment ceremony Thursday evening.
— Sarah Mearhoff
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Democrats sure don’t seem eager to give Gov. Phil Scott a run for his money if the Republican decides to go for a fourth term. But Brenda Siegel looks like she’s ready to step up to the plate. The southern Vermont activist has been openly mulling another gubernatorial run for some time now, and on Friday, she took to Twitter to tease an upcoming announcement.
“Brenda is going to share some big news soon!! Are you Ready?” wrote Siegel, who ran in the Democratic primary for governor in 2018, and in the LG primary in 2020.
— Lola Duffort
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in his bid for the U.S. Senate has won over the endorsement of Giffords PAC, an anti-gun violence political action committee founded by former-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona.
Giffords, who survived a gunshot to the head in 2011, said in a Friday news release that Welch “has been a leader in the fight to end gun violence.”
“At a time when our country continues to endure spiking rates of violence from coast to coast, we must elect leaders committed to ending America’s epidemic of gun violence,” she said. “Peter will be that leader.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
COVID CORNER
Seven of Vermont’s 14 counties now have “high” Covid-19 community levels, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Four others fell into the “medium” category, while the other three counties were “low,” the CDC reported.
The community rankings are based on three metrics: recent Covid case counts, new hospital admissions for Covid and the community’s overall hospital capacity.
Cases have risen about 47% in the past two weeks, and hospital admissions have risen to about 12 per day from a low of about five per day, according to CDC data. The CDC did not release data on Vermont’s hospital capacity.
The CDC recommends that people in high-level counties take broad public actions to reduce transmission, such as wearing a mask in indoor public spaces. In medium-level counties, high-risk people should consider taking additional precautions.
— Erin Petenko
WHAT WE’RE READING
Paxlovid shortage frustrates Vermonters seeking Covid treatment (VTDigger)
Ariel Quiros, the ‘wheeler dealer’ in Vermont’s EB-5 scandal, sentenced to 5 years in prison (VTDigger)
Cottages Industry: The Housing Crisis Complicates Hiring, Forcing Employers to Become Realtors and Builders (Seven Days)
Small cannabis grower reflects on licensing delays, jumping into Vt.’s fledgling recreational market (VPR)
A rural Vermont utility crew confronts a surprise outage, and a changing climate (VPR)