I don’t know about you, but I was raised on a strict TV diet of PBS Kids (no “Suite Life of Zack & Brody,” or whatever his name was, for me). One of my favorite shows was “Arthur,” and one of the show’s most iconic numbers was ringing in my head in the Senate chamber Tuesday:
Having fun isn’t hard / When you’ve got a library card!
Senators were taking up S.220, a bill aimed at increasing protections for Vermont librarians and their patrons. The bill won preliminary approval on a voice vote, over some opposition.
Lawmakers said the bill stemmed from a 2023 report on the state of Vermont’s libraries, which found that while book bans — widely reported in other states — are rare here, library staff still feel “soft censorship.” In short, the report states, that means worrying over the need to defend against potential challenges to “well-written, relevant materials” on their shelves.
“Libraries are under attack,” said Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, one of the bill’s sponsors, on the floor Tuesday. “I am thrilled that we, here in Vermont, are standing up against that trend.”
S.220 would require public libraries to establish procedures for reviewing potential objections to their books and other materials. Senators also agreed to an amendment on the floor Tuesday — offered by Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, among others — that would require the same of school boards and independent schools for their own collections.
The amendment would require such policies, for schools, to prevent books from being removed due to the identities of characters or an author, as well as sexual health content and, broadly, concerns stemming from “personal morality, political views, or religious views,” among others.
S.220 would also protect patrons ages 12 and up from having their library records disclosed to parents or guardians against their will. Currently, those protections only apply to those 16 and older.
Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, said this measure would give more teens privacy to access trusted books and resources on their own, perhaps as opposed to seeking information online.
“Growing up as a gay kid, I would go to the library and search out books, trying to figure things out. And we want kids to be able to go in the same way — in a way that they can sort of feel safe and explore and support who they are,” Campion said in an interview Tuesday.
The bill would also extend certain penalties for criminal threatening — which currently apply only to libraries established by a municipality — to all public libraries.
The 2023 report asserts that library staff in public buildings owned by nonprofits “perform the same work and function as their counterparts in municipal libraries and should be afforded the same protections under law.”
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
When Vermont lawmakers last tinkered with education funding earlier this session, the president of the Senate called for “groundbreaking” new ways to contain costs.
Thus far, such radical reimaginings are yet to materialize. But they may be coming.
Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, chair of the House’s tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, said that lawmakers this week are likely to discuss possible changes to the state’s education funding formula. But those conversations, she said, are likely to start broad.
“I don’t have a secret plan that I’m waiting to unveil,” she said.
Nevertheless, ideas are floating around, both in the building and across the country.
— Ethan Weinstein
On the move
With the annual state budget expected to hit the House floor later this week, tensions are running high in the Statehouse as the philosophical differences between Vermont’s legislative and executive branches appear increasingly prominent.
A key legislative panel, the House Appropriations Committee, on Monday evening voted 8-4 to advance its version of the state’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget, H.883. On Tuesday afternoon, the House Ways and Means Committee greenlit the bill by a 9-2 vote, sending the $8.58 billion budget to the House floor.
It’s a grand total that, the House Appropriations committee members noted, differs from Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s $8.56 billion budget, presented to legislators in January, by two-tenths of a percent.
“So it’s really, very tiny,” House Appropriations Chair Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, told VTDigger Tuesday afternoon. “Very tiny as to what we actually have a difference with the governor on in the total amount.”
However, the debate over the upcoming year’s budget’s priorities has been largely overshadowed by several new taxes proposed last week by the House’s Ways and Means Committee, which would pay for increased state investments in housing, an expansion of Medicaid eligibility and increased staffing in the state judicial system.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Fourteen states have implemented Medicaid coverage for doula care and many others have efforts underway, according to the National Health Law Program’s doula Medicaid bill tracker.
Advocates have been pushing the state to provide Medicaid coverage for doula services for years. Prior efforts to provide the benefit in 2014 and 2019 failed.
A bill making its way through the Vermont Legislature this year made another attempt at doing so. In its original form, S.109 would have required Medicaid to pay for doula services, but the legislation has since turned into a study. It has passed the Senate and is currently being reviewed by the House health care committee.
Doulas are non-clinical professionals trained to support pregnant people and their families before, during and after a birth. Doulas are not currently licensed or regulated in Vermont. The revised bill tasks the Office of Professional Regulation with exploring the process for professional certification or licensure, a federal requirement for Medicaid allocation. The report, due in 2025, could lay the groundwork for state regulation, legislators backing the bill explained.
— Auditi Guha
The House unanimously passed H.622, which aims to reform Vermont’s emergency medical services.
The bill would require the Agency of Human Services to reimburse EMS providers for costs Medicaid currently does not cover. It would appropriate $74,000 to the agency and would increase funds for the EMS “special fund” to $300,000.
To prepare for potential further reform in the future, the bill would also allocate $370,000 to the EMS Advisory Committee, which is tasked with developing a five-year statewide plan.
Many medical professionals have been ringing alarm bells about the system, stating that its current form is unsustainable.
— Babette Stolk
Visit our 2024 Bill tracker for the latest updates on major legislation we are following.
On the hill
Vermont’s congressional delegation was split over a long-delayed, $1.2 trillion spending package signed by President Joe Biden over the weekend to fund many federal agencies and services — and to avert a partial government shutdown.
Explaining their opposition to the package, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., separately cited a measure within it that halts funding for the United Nations agency distributing most of the basic humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. — who voted in favor — also criticized that element of the package in a statement. But he lauded the bill’s “compromise,” saying that he and other Democrats secured “solid wins for families across America, while avoiding far-right Republicans’ attempts to cut spending.
Biden’s signature comes two weeks after lawmakers approved an initial set of 2024 federal spending bills totalling $460 billion. In that first package, which all three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation supported, the trio also drew down $75 million in congressionally directed spending, often known as “earmarks.”
The latest spending package includes about $28 million in additional earmarks to fund 20 other projects, secured by Sanders and Welch, according to press releases from their offices. The previous package funded 63 local projects.
— Shaun Robinson
What we’re reading
A family-run Rutland lunch landmark mourns the loss of its mother and daughter, VTDigger
Attorney General Charity Clark announces reelection bid, VTDigger
