Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
What’s that sound? Why, it’s the rhythmic whir of the rumor mill, steadily churning under the Golden Dome.
Tis the season for unhinged gossip to waft about the marble halls like dandelion seeds in the springtime breeze. Something about the sudden burst of mid-May sunshine — a sharp reminder that life, indeed, does exist outside of this building — makes the Statehouse rats feverish, gossipy, perhaps even delusional.
Take, for example, the galaxy brain theory passed around Tuesday afternoon: The House and Senate remained so far apart on a funding source for child care spending, several conspiratorially minded lawmakers told me, that they would simply handshake on a loose outline of a bill then hammer out the details during June’s veto session.
When I asked staffers about the grand scheme, they tilted their heads and pointed to the other chamber, saying it must have originated there. A classic he-said-she-said.
A mere two hours later, the sunlight hit differently in the building, illuminating the fact that the idea was actually quite ludicrous. Like folklore, its origins were unknown. Lobbyists shook their heads, calling the fable the “1 p.m. version.” It was now 3 p.m. — an entirely new era. We were different people back then. It was another time. Keep up!
As for when the chaos will end, it depends on who you ask. Leadership is sticking to the script, insisting that, really, seriously, Friday is the last day. I’ve heard predictions that lawmakers will ride the adrenaline rush through the night, into the wee hours of Saturday morning. No no, others said, lawmakers wouldn’t miss the opportunity to be wined and dined by the Vermont Democratic Party at Friday night’s illustrious awards banquet. They’ll gavel back in Saturday. Wait, but they won’t want to work through the weekend; they’ll come back Monday. Hell, I heard one masochist put their money on next Wednesday. (Who hurt you?)
You may be wondering, “Sarah, if this intel is so shaky, why are you reporting it?” Well, dear Final Reader, for better or worse, I am a writer. My job is to capture the essence of the building. The essence this week just so happens to be chaotic.
— Sarah Mearhoff
IN THE KNOW
House and Senate budget negotiators have informally signed off on a deal that would push out an extra $12.5 million to local service providers as Vermont prepares to end a pandemic-era program keeping the majority of the state’s unhoused population sheltered in motels.
The one-time sum does not satisfy advocates, who have been arguing forcefully that absent robust alternatives in place, the state has no choice but to extend its motel program. And it may not mollify a group of Democrats and Progressives in the House who are threatening to sustain Gov. Phil Scott’s predicted veto of the state budget if additional funding is not identified.
— Lola Duffort
ON THE MOVE
The Vermont House has granted preliminary approval to a resolution that would set up a committee tasked with investigating whether Franklin County’s top law enforcement officials should be impeached — a major step forward in a process with little precedent.
House leaders announced last week that they intend to pursue impeachment of John Lavoie, the county’s state’s attorney, and John Grismore, its sheriff. No House members voiced opposition to the resolution, H.R.11, before the body advanced it Wednesday evening.
— Shaun Robinson
The Vermont House advanced a bill intended to expand protections against discrimination and harassment in workplaces.
Legislators gave initial approval to the bill, S.103, which would ban pay discrimination on the basis of race, sexual orientation and gender identity, among others, and make it easier for workers to seek relief for harassment.
The bill passed the Senate in late March. But over the past few weeks in the House, it has bounced between committees as lawmakers butted heads over its provisions.
The legislation now awaits a third reading in the House, after which it must be reconciled with the Senate version before heading to the governor’s desk.
— Peter D’Auria
The Senate moved ahead with an overhaul of the state’s beverage redemption law — “the bottle bill” — by a vote of 19-11 Wednesday.
“It keeps more containers out of our landfills and out of our roadsides,” Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, told colleagues as she presented H.158 in debate.
Under the half-century-old law, deposits paid for returned containers are intended to encourage consumers to recycle them at redemption centers. The legislation would newly include water bottles, energy drinks and other popular beverages, and find new ways to pay for recycling.
— Fred Thys
After undergoing nearly 20 drafts, Vermont’s sheriff reform bill cleared its final legislative hurdle Wednesday and is headed to the governor’s desk.
S.17 has tripled in length since it was introduced in January, reflecting lawmakers’ desire to institute more accountability and transparency in sheriffs’ departments, which have faced multiple scandals within the past year.
One of the bill’s most disputed elements has been the 5% fee sheriffs can pocket for overseeing their departments’ business contracts. Last week, the House version allowed the sheriffs to keep using the money to increase their state salaries, as long as they followed a forthcoming model policy.
But until the policy is expected to take effect in early 2024, the Senate Government Operations Committee — in the final round of amendments — reintroduced requirements for how sheriffs can use that money. For instance, the fee could augment sheriffs’ pay by not more than 50% of their annual salaries, if they’ve been in office for at least two years.
“I know that there’s still folks that aren’t happy with that, but I think that we need to move forward,” said Sen. Robert Norris, R-Franklin, a former sheriff himself and a member of the Senate Government Operations Committee. Norris, who initially voted against the bill, told his committee on Monday, “I can go along with this amendment.”
Soon, we’ll know what Gov. Scott thinks of the proposed reforms.
— Tiffany Tan
Three environmental bills also won final approval in the Senate on Wednesday morning.
Senators approved H.31, which sets up an aquatic nuisance study committee to assess health and environmental risks from using pesticides, other chemical controls and biological controls, and weigh them against the usefulness of the treatment.
While the bill originated in the House, the Senate adjusted the membership of the committee, dropping two legislators from the group and adding scientists from the University of Vermont.
Senators also passed H.67, a bill that requires the manufacturers of household products that contain hazardous substances to create and manage a stewardship organization to collect the products at no charge to the public.
And the upper chamber passed H.126, a bill that establishes a goal of conserving 30% of the state’s total land area by 2030 and 50% of its land area by 2050. The bill outlines three categories of conservation: one that leaves some land area of the state entirely alone, one that is mostly left alone but managed through long-term, sustainable practices, and one that includes forestry and agriculture that “does not degrade ecosystem function.”
The bill would require the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to create an inventory of existing land conservation in the state and submit it to the Legislature by July 1, 2024.
It aligns with the Biden administration’s so-called “30 by 30” campaign to conserve the same amount of land across the country.
— Emma Cotton
Four election-related changes to the Burlington city charter passed a second reading in the Vermont Senate on Wednesday, paving the way for final passage and then heading to Gov. Scott’s desk.
Burlington voters passed the charter changes by wide margins on Town Meeting Day this year. Those changes would allow noncitizen voting in city elections, expand ranked-choice voting to more city offices, including mayoral races, create a new map for election ward boundaries and give some flexibility to where polling places are located.
— Patrick Crowley
ON THE FIFTH FLOOR
Against a national backdrop of ever-tightening restrictions on abortions and gender-affirming care, Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday signed two high-profile “omnibus” bills that seek to expand protections for and access to reproductive care in Vermont.
“Today, we reaffirm once again that Vermont stands on the side of privacy, personal autonomy and reproductive liberty, and that providers are free to practice without fear,” the Republican governor said in a press release announcing his signatures Wednesday.
— Sarah Mearhoff
ON THE HILL
Another day, another chance to grill the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies about their role in ever-rising health care costs. That’s a perk of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ position as chair of the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee.
Today, the leaders of Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk and Sanfi were in the hot seat, along with pharmacy benefit management firms CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRX.
All three pharmaceutical companies recently agreed to cut their insulin prices over the next year: Eli Lilly, from $275 to $83 per vial, with a generic to be available at $25; Novo Nordisk from $289 to $72 and Sanofi from $282 to $64, according to a press release from the Senate committee.
But Sanders, in his opening remarks, noted a vial of insulin costs less than $10 to manufacture, and that Americans are dying and becoming gravely ill because they cannot afford the medicine they need.
“We must make sure that these price reductions go into effect so that every American with diabetes gets the insulin they need at an affordable price,” Sanders said, then answered his own question of why other life-saving drugs are also sold in the U.S. at prices four to six times what they can be purchased for in other countries.
Last year, drug companies hired 1,700 lobbyists, three for every member of Congress, he said. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that could well explain why we pay the highest prices for prescription drugs in the world and why today drug companies can set the price of new drugs at any level they wish.”
— Kristen Fountain
WHAT WE’RE READING
VTDigger ends weekly Covid updates as levels remain ‘low’ (VTDigger)
Striker will never know he wasn’t Best in Show (The New York Times)
(Editor’s note: Fellow Samoyed Laika remains #1 in Final Readers’ hearts.)
As refugee families settle across Vermont, schools become gateway to a new life (Vermont Public)
A promising but controversial new depression treatment is now more accessible in Vermont (Seven Days)
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated in which month S.17 was introduced.