A final compromise on education reform proved elusive late Friday, and at about 11 p.m., the Senate adjourned, followed by the House at about 11:30 p.m. As late as 10 p.m., legislative leaders were still hopeful that the six conferees (three House and three Senate members) could reach a deal sometime before midnight that would have paved the way to session adjournment sometime in the early morning hours.
When that wasn’t apparent, House Speaker Krowinski announced that the full House would reconvene on June 16, which was the date previously scheduled on the calendar for a potential session to address any bills that the governor had vetoed. The plan is now for the education conferees to continue meeting over the next few weeks to hammer out an agreement that can also satisfy Governor Scott. Stay tuned.
The closing days of the legislative session are often referred to as the “hurry up and wait” period. The full House and Senate meet multiple times each day in their respective chambers in the final week, waiting for various committees to consider changes that the other chamber may have made to their bills. Scheduled times to meet may get changed multiple times. Friday night in the House was a good example of how reconvening at 5:30 p.m. became 7:30 p.m., which then became 8:15 p.m., and so on. If you are not on one of the committees working on a few of the remaining bills to be passed before adjournment, downtime is often spent cleaning out your session files in your committee room, taking a walk, or catching up with colleagues.
On Friday alone, 10 bills received final passage from the Legislature, with several others waiting for one more vote. One of these is S.51, which includes several targeted tax breaks, including an income tax exemption on military pensions for families with total incomes of up to $125,000 and a partial exemption for those with incomes of up to $175,000. The House approved it late Friday, and the Senate is expected to pass the measure as soon as it reconvenes.
Issues of interest last week:
A significant housing initiative with a financing tool to help with the necessary infrastructure for new developments passed by both chambers and is expected to be signed into law by the governor.
New healthcare bills approved include S.126, which gives the Green Mountain Care Board additional authority to control hospital budgets and pricing, and H.266, which puts a cap on how much hospitals can charge for prescriptions beginning next January. H.266 is expected to help Blue Cross lower its proposed rate request.
Legislation that contained several miscellaneous changes to Vermont’s cannabis statutes was approved, but not before a provision that would have allowed new permits for cannabis “farmers markets” was removed from the bill.
The House and Senate agreed to expand the list of prohibited products containing PFAS, a potential cancer-causing chemical.
S.69, better known as the “Kids Code” bill, was approved. It is intended to force social media businesses to adjust their design codes for those under 18.
Jim Harrison is the state representative for the Rutland-11 district: Chittenden, Killington, Mendon and Pittsfield. He can be reached at: [email protected] or 802-236-3001.
