Hunkering down

By Rep. Jim Harrison

This past Friday, April 10, Governor Scott extended Vermont’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order until May 15. The extension was not a surprise given that he had been messaging for a week that an extension was likely. And when asked about returning activity to “normal,” he indicated it would be gradual, “a quarter turn of the faucet at a time.”

In addition to extending the State of Emergency, this latest order addresses some technical changes and clarifications.

For example, it directs the Department of Motor Vehicles to extend motor vehicle inspections due in April for up to 60 days. It also authorizes lodging operators to accept reservations for stays and events occurring on June 15 or later.

What all this means in the short term for the Legislature is unknown. Although most legislative committees have been meeting via Zoom, the House Appropriations Committee is in somewhat of a holding pattern. They had spent most of the first part of the session building a state budget for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2020. But now with little idea of what the revenue will be and a huge hole in the current year budget, the committee needs to start over from scratch.

The current plan starting to emerge would be to craft some sort of budget adjustment for the current year (July 2019 – June 2020); put together a three month budget for the next year and then tackle the rest of the budget in August or September when a better picture might be known. While it is obvious state revenues are going to be significantly short, it is unclear as to how much financial help will be available from Washington. The aid to the states thus far appropriated in the COVID related measures cannot be used to fill existing budget holes. Everything could be subject to budget adjustments, even normal state employee pay raises negotiated in a different environment or popular land preservation initiatives.

Meanwhile, the Legislature is adapting to its new way of doing things remotely. The 30-member Senate held its first full remote session online to pass several COVID related measures. These included bills on judicial hearings, extending licensing of EMS providers, allowing ambulance services to borrow from county reserves and a moratorium on evictions. All passed unanimously. However, the session took three to four times as long as it normally might have.

This suggests it may be next to impossible to advance legislation remotely if there is any controversy or various floor amendments to consider and debate, especially in the 150-member House.

Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, who was stripped of her committee assignment when she made an unpopular quorum call a couple of weeks ago, is now facing a challenge within her own party for re-election. Browning, a former college economics professor, has always had an independent perspective on issues and was often at odds with her party leadership. She had also announced earlier this spring, that if re-elected, she would be a candidate for House Speaker.

Education fund

The education and revenue committees are also getting briefed on the state’s education fund. Will help come from the federal government? As one of the Legislature’s fiscal analysts pointed out last week, the education fund is virtually insolvent due to lack of revenues coming in from sales and rooms and meals taxes. School boards have the ability to spend less than what was approved by voters on Town Meeting Day, but it may not be easy or possible in all cases.

Unemployment claims

Labor Commissioner Michael Harrington, whose agency is facing an unprecedented number of filings, announced the hiring of an outside contractor to assist with the processing of unemployment claims. Additionally, the department will institute an alphabetical system to help alleviate wait times. With a huge jump in unemployment to over 20% in just a few weeks, there have been significant wait times and delays trying to get through. Full details for filing, including the new suggested alphabetical system, can be found at: labor.vermont.gov.

The Labor Department has also posted recordings of webinars for the self-employed and individuals. See wwbit.ly/VTLabor-Youtube
Call 2-1-1 for additional information on Covid-19 and assistance options or visit: healthvermont.gov/covid19.

Jim Harrison is state representative for Bridgewater, Chittenden, Killington and Mendon.  He can be reached by  email updates (to sign up visit eepurl.com/gbxzuz) on Facebook  (facebook.com/harrisonforvermont) or by email at JHarrison@leg.state.vt.us.