Step aside, policy nerds: This is now a basketball newsletter.
Emboldened by my top-10 ranking — at least for now — in the Statehouse’s March Madness NCAA Championship bracket pool, I’ll be shifting from covering the ins and outs of Vermont politics to the happenings on and off the court, finally getting a chance to show the world my exhaustive, intricate knowledge of ball.
Until the end of the NCAA tournament next week, for instance, expect treatises on such topics as the late-stage heroics of University of Florida men’s senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., the University of Texas at Austin women’s team’s defensive prowess, or even Louisiana State University women’s coach Kim Mulkey’s verbal snap at a student journalist after a loss.
These are all stories I have been following closely and can speak to with unparalleled clarity. I certainly did not Google “basketball news” to find them, because I read basketball news all the time. Case in point: my perfect prediction for which men’s teams would make this year’s Final Four, a group that only someone with their finger truly on the pulse could have foreseen.
Disappointed by the change in topic of your favorite Statehouse newsletter? Sorry. You could file a complaint with my boss, VTDigger’s acting editor-in-chief Neal Goswami, but know this: since Neal finds himself in 103rd place in the men’s pool, his input doesn’t hold much sway here.
To be sure, I am not Montpelier’s top basketball prognosticator. Heading into the Final Four, the top-ranked bracket in the men’s pool belongs to Holly Taylor of the State Curator’s Office, while the current No. 1 women’s tournament bracket was crafted by Rep. Herb Olson, D-Starksboro.
In the much-discussed group rankings, which are only calculated for the men’s pool, a team of former members of the Legislature is currently on top. The press team, of which myself, Neal, and two others are a part, sits only slightly lower, in 13th place. Hard to say that’s my fault.
Will I walk home with the top prize? Probably not. But anytime basketball is the topic — which, for the rest of this newsletter’s existence, it will be — you can be sure I’ll have plenty to say.
— Shaun Robinson
April Fools
Obviously, we are not changing the topic of Final Reading to basketball. Besides, Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, who oversees the NCAA tournament pools in the Statehouse each year, already has the “basketball email” market pretty well cornered.
In other pranking news, legislators and some of their staff came into the Statehouse Tuesday to find miniature toy farm animals perched at their desks, courtesy of a mystery benefactor within their ranks. House and Senate members, for instance, got tiny cows. Meanwhile, the Capitol Police were given pigs — though I’m told the latter were in on the joke.
Back to your regularly-scheduled programming below.
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
Heated sentiments surrounding a contentious Senate energy bill caused it to be put on ice Tuesday morning. S.65 sought to shift Efficiency Vermont’s mandate to focus on reducing climate pollution. The utility’s current charge is lowering electric demand, and that it will stay — at least for now.
The Senate sent S.65 back to the Natural Resources Committee by unanimous voice vote, making any further movement unlikely this year. “It’s not that this is dead,” said Sen. Anne Watson, D/P-Washington, who sponsored the bill, and is the chair of that committee. “The spirit of it will live on in different forms. It deals with big ideas, and big ideas take time.”
The bill also included a provision that Senate Republicans saw as a win: a repeal of the clean heat standard. As it stands, the only law relating to the controversial carbon emission reduction plan was a requirement that the state’s Public Utility Commission develop and report on a plan for putting such a policy in action. As the report was made in January, repealing the law would mean very little would change for Vermonters.
— Olivia Gieger
Migrant Justice, an advocacy organization for migrant workers, rallied at the Statehouse Tuesday in support of H.169, a bill that would prohibit landlords from requesting a Social Security number on an apartment application. The legislation would also add immigration status to the list of discrimination prohibitions in Vermont’s public accommodation and unfair housing regulations.
“What happens when you aren’t able to find housing? You have to return to employment where housing is provided. So we continue to work on the farms and live in housing that is substandard and undignified,” Olga Cruz, a member of Migrant Justice, said at the press conference. Her speech, delivered in Spanish, was translated.
Speakers described the challenge of finding a place to live without a Social Security number despite receiving job offers in industries like construction and hospitality.
The House Committee on General and Housing heard testimony Tuesday on H.169, which has more than 40 legislative sponsors. It did not meet the Legislature’s crossover deadline for passage this year but still could in theory be added as an amendment to other housing legislation.
— Ethan Weinstein
On the move
Gov. Phil Scott yesterday signed H.2, a bill that —among other things — delays the final implementation of Vermont’s Raise the Age initiative for two years, just hours before it would have gone into effect.
“While I continue to believe repealing ‘Raise the Age’ for 19-year-old criminal offenders altogether is the best approach, I do appreciate the Legislature’s willingness to at least delay it for another two years,” Scott wrote in a statement. “In the meantime, we will continue to make our case for a full repeal, so we don’t proceed down this path again in two years.”
— Ethan Weinstein
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