Cue the Jeopardy music. Over the course of numerous hours Friday afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee inched its way toward a vote on its version of the state’s $8-point-something billion Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
Yes, $8-point-something billion — an imprecise final number. By the time the committee took its vote around dinnertime, even Joint Fiscal Office staffers were unable to provide the budget’s exact final number. But the rough policy contours were there, and staffers said all would be clear on Monday.
“Isn’t this a wonderful way to spend a Friday afternoon?” the committee’s chair, Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, asked her committee mates at about 4 p.m. By then, it had been roughly three hours since the committee was scheduled to start, two hours since it actually started, and one hour since this reporter’s rear grew numb from sitting on a wooden bench on the side of the room.
Finally, at 5:45 p.m., it happened: The committee voted unanimously to approve the budget, setting it up for a floor debate and vote next week.
With the committee’s blessing, the budget heads to the full Senate for a vote likely next week. From there, the so-called Big Bill will head into a conference committee with the House to rectify the two chambers’ differences.
Throughout the afternoon, Joint Fiscal Office staffers flitted in and out of the room, shuffling around spreadsheets and last-minute bill language rewrites. The 11th-hour rush was due, at least in part, to the committee’s attempt to factor in some of the House Ways & Means Committee’s several big-ticket tax proposals, which were passed after the House had already written its version of the budget.
“I feel like we’re building the plane and flying it at the same time here,” Kitchel quipped in between bill sections.
“As long as it’s not a Boeing,” Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, replied.
On sporadic breaks, senators left to scavenge the Statehouse for snacks long after the cafeteria had closed. (If only that sweet new Statehouse cafeteria liquor license had already taken effect, right?) This reporter was thrilled to find a protein bar squished at the bottom of her bag.
Always three steps ahead of her peers, Kitchel seemingly anticipated the late hours. Before the committee got to work, she ate homemade soup out of a plastic takeout container that she proudly declared was years old. Now that’s fiscal responsibility!
Speaking of: This year’s budget process has been shaped by Vermont’s return to a pre-pandemic budgeting reality, with the state no longer flush with federal emergency cash. Add on top of that a catastrophic summertime flood from which to recover, and one hell of a statewide property tax puzzle to solve.
And if you thought this year was hard, just you wait, Kitchel cautioned her colleagues one day prior. Next year will be even tighter, she warned.
“It’s not nirvana,” Kitchel said on Thursday. “It is going to be one of the most difficult budgetary environments that we are encountering.”
But for now, let’s focus on this year. If passed in its anticipated floor vote next week, this year’s Big Bill would then, of course, head to Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s desk for his signature or veto.
— Sarah Mearhoff
In the know
Lawmakers in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee are working on a joint resolution declaring Vermont’s rising opioid overdose deaths a public health emergency.
The resolution, J.R.S.44, originated with Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, who brought it to the committee earlier this month.
“I was asked by a constituent who has lost multiple loved ones due to the opioid epidemic to do this, and to make a statement,” Vyhovsky told the committee on April 5.
In its current draft, presented to the committee Friday, the resolution highlights the “increasingly severe crisis that has killed far too many Vermonters.”
The increase in deaths “is occurring despite the existence of extensive State and federally funded treatment services; and these services are clearly insufficient for reaching all individuals experiencing a substance use disorder,” the resolution reads.
If passed by both the House and Senate, the resolution would be presented to Gov. Phil Scott and Vermont Health Commissioner Mark Levine. The document carries no legal weight, however, and would require no action on the part of the administration.
But, as Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, said earlier this month, “Resolutions may not have the power of law, but they certainly have the power of expression.”
— Peter D’Auria
On the move
The House on Friday passed S.187, which allows students to self-apply sunscreen at school without a health care provider note. The bill now goes to Gov. Phil Scott. The chamber also advanced S.109, a bill that would launch the process necessary to allow doula services to be covered by the Medicaid health insurance program. The measure is expected to be approved next week.
— VTD Editors
Visit our 2024 Bill tracker for the latest updates on major legislation we are following.
On hill
Vermont’s sole delegate to the U.S. House plans to split her votes Saturday when a series of long-debated foreign aid bills are expected to reach the floor of the closely divided chamber.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said in a written statement Friday that she would back legislation providing roughly $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine as it seeks to fend off Russia’s invasion. She also plans to support a separate, $8 billion measure aiming to support Taiwan and counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.
But Balint said she would oppose a third bill providing roughly $26 billion in military aid to Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the war that has devastated the Gaza Strip over the past six months.
— Paul Heintz
Mystery guest
Corrections section
A quote by Rep. Chea Waters Evans was misrendered and Monica Ogelby’s last name was misspelled in last night’s newsletter. Rep. Anne Donahue’s first name was also misspelled in the caption.
What we’re reading
After a flood and a pandemic, Montpelier businesses continue to struggle, The Montpelier Bridge
Suspect in arson at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office indicted, ordered detained pending trial, VTDigger
Democrats say they have a winning hand on abortion, but outside groups won’t let them play it, NOTUS
