About a month ago, the Senate voted to water down a bill aimed at making state contracts more transparent, opting instead to study what lawmakers had initially proposed. Now, though, some parts of that original legislation are back in play in the House.
The bill, S.96 — a priority for members of the Senate Government Operations Committee — would have required the disclosure of more details about state contracts and grants for services with private entities worth $25,000 or more. Those details include how a contractor’s pay would compare to state employees’ pay for the same work.
Over the past couple of weeks, the House Government Operations Committee returned this and some other key proposals back to the bill. Late Monday morning, the House committee passed out S.96 on a party line vote, 8-3.
Proponents of the bill have argued that this information isn’t reliably available today, adding it would ensure that the state is only hiring out a job because a private contractor has innovative ideas, and not because the contractor would save the state money at workers’ expense.
House Gov Ops did, still, funnel some of its Senate counterparts’ proposals into a study. That includes a measure to double the cost savings — from 10% to 20% — that a private contract would have to demonstrate over hiring public employees for a given contract.
The report would also examine whether grants to private entities should be subject to similar reporting requirements — something that had also been proposed by the Senate committee.
“I was somewhat surprised … about the lack of insight we’ve got into how we’re spending public dollars for contracts and grants across state government,” said House Gov Ops Chair Rep. Mike McCarthy, D-St. Albans, during Monday’s committee hearing. “We can at least, I think, make some progress on the contractor piece.”
McCarthy said he hopes other House committees can take a look at S.96 in the coming days, and any changes would ultimately head back to the Senate. But time is of the essence — and the two chambers have been at loggerheads on key issues throughout the session.
Meanwhile, S.96 wasn’t the only labor-related proposal on lawmakers’ minds Monday. On the floor, the full House granted preliminary approval to S.102, a bill that seeks to make it easier for certain workers to organize unions, among other measures.
In that case, the House actually nixed a measure that the Senate passed: allowing agricultural workers to collectively bargain. That bill is now slated for final House approval tomorrow.
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
Gov. Phil Scott on Monday appointed Abbey Duke, a Democrat, to fill the legislative seat vacated by former state Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who was sworn in as Burlington’s mayor last month.
Duke is the founder and CEO of Sugarsnap, a South Burlington-based catering company, and the chair of Burlington’s Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Commission. Vermont’s Democratic and Progressive parties had each sent the governor a list of three candidates to replace Mulvaney-Stanak, who served as a Progressive/Democrat in the House.
The governor’s choice for the Chittenden-17 district seat prompted an immediate outcry from Progressives. In an interview, Josh Wronski, the executive director of the Vermont Progressive Party, called Scott’s appointment of a Democrat “really disappointing” and said it went against years of precedent.
— Corey McDonald
On the move
In a bid to protect Vermonters from scammers, legislators recently passed what could become the state’s first-ever law regulating cryptocurrency kiosks, which allow people to quickly buy virtual currencies with cash or debit cards.
Among the provisions included in H.659 are a daily transaction limit, a fee cap on exchanges and a one-year moratorium on the installation of any new machines in the state, which would take effect at the end of June.
Although Gov. Scott had not seen the bill’s final language yet, his spokesperson Jason Maulucci said “the Department of Financial Regulation has been comfortable” with its provisions.
— Juan Vega de Soto
In a 94-38 vote during an unusual Monday session, the House passed S.259, a bill that would create a climate “superfund.” If it becomes law, the bill would fine the world’s largest oil companies to pay into a fund, which would help Vermont prepare for and recover from events caused by climate change, such as last summer’s floods. Lawmakers in the Senate voted in favor of the bill earlier this session.
— Emma Cotton
Governor Scott signed several bills into law today, including S.109, which sets in motion a process for offering Medicaid coverage for doula services during pregnancy and birth, and S.187, which would remove regulatory barriers to allow students to apply sunscreen at school with parental permission but without a doctor’s note.
— VTD Editors
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On the campaign trail
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Monday that he will seek a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate this November. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, was first elected to the post in 2006 and has served in Congress for more than three decades.
Citing his seniority in the U.S. Senate, the Burlington independent said in a press release and recorded statement on Monday that, if he were reelected, he would continue to be “in a strong position to provide the kind of help that Vermonters need in these difficult times.” Serving in the Senate, he said, “has been the honor of my life.”
In an interview with VTDigger Monday afternoon, Sanders said he chose to run again because, “In my view, this moment in American history is one of the most dangerous that we have seen for a very, very long time.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
Rep. Tristan Toleno, D-Brattleboro, has chosen not to seek reelection.
The former assistant majority leader of the House and former chef has served in the Legislature for a dozen years. He’s currently a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
“As a 52-year-old who has been in food service and the Legislature for a long time, it doesn’t provide much general financial or retirement security,” Toleno told VTDigger. “I need to make a different choice.”
— Kevin O’Connor
As Toleno prepares to exit the House, another member from Brattleboro is set to face a primary challenge.
Amanda Ellis-Thurber, part of the third generation of family to raise dairy cows and organic crops at Brattleboro’s Lilac Ridge Farm, has filed to run against Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, in the Democratic primary.
The challenge comes near the end of a roller coaster of a legislative session for Kornheiser, who as chair of the House Ways and Means Committee has been working to address rapidly rising property taxes.
Ellis-Thurber is new to politics, but not to public service. The 52-year-old was a presidential appointment during the Obama administration to Vermont’s 10-member USDA Farm Service Agency board.
“Folks, friends and neighbors in our district have been telling me they’re really nervous about the provocative legislation that’s been going on in Montpelier, most especially the double-digit property tax increases,” Ellis-Thurber told VTDigger in an interview.
At a local legislative forum over the weekend, Kornheiser said that fighting economic inequality remained her top priority.
“We need to make sure we can keep this a state that can really work for everyone and not just for the select few,” she told attendees at Brattleboro’s Brooks Memorial Library.
— Kevin O’Connor
Corrections section
The Wookiee Chewbacca is both indelible and inimitable, but Rep. Brian Cina, P/D-Burlington, said the latter, not the former, followed, ironically enough, by a pretty darn good imitation. We regret the error in Friday’s newsletter.
What we’re reading
At UVM, a fraught school year ends in protest over destruction in Gaza, VTDigger
Plan for home-based cannabis business in Rutland leads to fight among neighbors, VTDigger
Covid wrecked Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. Lawmakers want to put it back together, Vermont Public
