The final days of the legislative session feel sort of like the final days of a busy school year. The desks get messier, covered in papers flagged with sticky notes. There’s cramming. Retiring senators scratch their names into their desks before heading out.
Key bills took some parliamentary twists and turns during lengthy floor sessions Thursday. And instead of following if the amendment to the amendment was germane, I decided to query lawmakers, in no particular order, on what they’re most looking forward to after the fall of the gavel.
“Slowing down my heart rate,” said Rep. Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, who recently announced she won’t be returning to the Statehouse next year.
Sen. Corey Parent, R-Franklin, said he’s looking forward to “hanging out with the kids.” Rep. Dane Whitman, D-Bennington, is planning on getting a dog, since he won’t have to be at the Statehouse four days a week.
Rep. Brian Smith, R-Derby, plans to keep it low-key, “sitting on my porch,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see a deer, hear some birds.”
Carolyn Wesley, chief of staff to Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, said parts of the Statehouse have great acoustics, which makes it a perfect spot to practice singing when the halls are quiet in the summertime.
Rep. Kirk White, D/P-Bethel, said he’s looking forward to “some long walks and some long naps.” Amen to that.
White also hosts the annual Firefly Arts Collective on his property in Bethel in July. I hear it’s kind of like the New England Burning Man, where more than a thousand people camp out and make art for several days. White affectionately describes it as “a bunch of hippies in my woods.”
It seems many politicos like to garden in their spare time, and so I share this tip from Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, P/D-Burlington: The wicket spokes inside political lawn signs apparently make great trellises for cucumbers and other leggy plants.
Several lawmakers reminded me that we’re entering a particularly busy election year, so they won’t exactly catch a break upon sine die. Incumbents are rustling up signatures to get on the ballot, and some plan to start door-knocking in the next few days.
“We don’t just walk out of here and go to bed,” said Rep. Stephanie Jerome, D-Brandon.
And neither does your Final Reading crew! While this newsletter will go on hiatus until the Legislature returns, we’ll be busy covering campaigns and elections, and posting updates on VTDigger’s political blog here.
See you in January.
— Riley Robinson
IN THE KNOW
That’s all, folks: The Vermont Legislature has closed out its 2022 session, a five-month-long stretch marked by crests and falls in Covid case counts, promises to address the state’s longstanding crises, a significant number of gubernatorial vetoes and, ultimately, the passage of an $8.3 billion state budget.
Adjournment followed a string of last-minute deals. Among them:
- S.226, the second of two major bills aimed at making housing in Vermont more affordable and available. The bill reintroduces several provisions dealing with permitting that the House had taken out, sending them to another bill that Gov. Phil Scott has since promised to veto. The bill also would establish a statewide registry of home improvement contractors. Scott has previously vetoed a similar measure, but legislators have scaled back the program in the hopes of winning the governor’s approval.
- Through H.737, a final agreement on how to use a $95 million surplus in the state’s education fund. The surplus is set to pay for school meals, retirement benefits for public employees and career and technical education. It also includes a one-time expenditure of $22 million to clean up polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in school buildings and another $20 million to buy down school taxes.
- H.510, a $40 million tax cut package that would include a new refundable child tax credit for Vermont. The final compromise between the two chambers would send Vermonters $1,000 per child 5 or under. Households making $125,000 or less would be eligible for the full credit; families claiming the credit would lose $20 per $1,000 over the income threshold. It would impact an estimated 33,000 children in the state.
- S.234, a bill that would change Act 250, Vermont’s sweeping land use law. While both chambers passed the bill, Gov. Phil Scott has all but promised to veto it. The bill took a spin through a merry-go-round of parliamentary procedure Thursday, including the introduction and withdrawal of a last-minute amendment from Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington. “I’m going to withdraw the motion to amend because it doesn’t matter,” Sears said. “The governor’s gonna veto the bill anyway.”
— Sarah Mearhoff, Fred Thys, Peter D’Auria, Lola Duffort and Emma Cotton
After a decade at the helm of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, is not running for reelection this year.
Ancel’s departure has been rumored for months, although the lawmaker has — until now — repeatedly said that she was still making up her mind. “I had decided not to decide (about reelection) until we had come to an agreement on the child tax credit bill. And we came to that agreement last night and that was just something I really wanted to accomplish,” Ancel told VTDigger Thursday morning. “And I thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna go.’”
— Lola Duffort
(NOT) ON THE MOVE
Legislation that would expand Vermont’s bottle bill failed to make it to the House before adjournment after passing the Senate on Wednesday morning.
The bill, H.175, would have expanded the types of beverages covered by the law, to include water bottles, hard cider and sports drinks. Currently, the law covers only 46% of beverages sold in the state.
Conor Kennedy, chief of staff to House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, told VTDigger on Wednesday he was not sure the bottle bill would “get here in time.”
— Emma Cotton
ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
Gov. Phil Scott addressed both chambers of the Legislature after they passed the budget Thursday.
“One takeaway from the last two years … is that in some ways it’s actually harder when you have more money than when you don’t have enough,” Scott said in his prepared remarks. “But to be clear, I’d still rather have surpluses than deficits!”
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Just kidding! No lunch menu here. Just a big thank you to Chef Bryant Palmer and the rest of the team in the caf for putting up with our shenanigans for the past five months.
WHAT WE’RE READING
In Canaan, 3 books with LGBTQ+ themes at center of controversy (VTDigger)
Jeff Munger, a force behind Vermont transportation initiatives, dies at 79 (VTDigger)
Vermont Lawmakers Pass Cannabis Bill That Keeps THC Limits In Place (Seven Days)
