Recent Senate Activity Described

The Vermont General Assembly convened for the sixth week of the 2025 Legislative session, January 11 to 14.

For the Senate, the majority of days during the legislative session follow the same schedule: one committee meets in the morning, then Senators move to the floor, then afternoon committees meet.

Tuesday Feb. 11, S.30, an act relating to updating and reorganizing the health insurance statutes in 8 V.S.A. chapter 107, was read a third time and passed by the Senate

Thursday Feb. 13, I gave an introductory presentation on my bill, S.45 to the Senate Committee on Judiciary. The committee views it favorably and they will be taking testimony on it in the coming week, including Josh Poulin of Poulin Grain who will be testifying in person. I expect that it will pass out of committee favorable without amendments.

[Editor’s note: S.45 proposes to amend the protection against nuisance suits for agricultural activities under the Vermont right-to-farm law by providing that an agricultural activity shall not be a nuisance . . . when the activity complies with generally accepted agricultural practices.]

Friday Feb. 14, we voted to unanimously confirm the governor’s appointment of Kerrick L. Johnson of Middlesex as Commissioner of the Department of Public Service to a term of January 6, 2025, to January 31, 2025.

We honored the seven legislative pages that have completed their time in the statehouse and presented them with letters of appreciation.

The Health and Welfare (H&W) Committee meets in the morning and Tuesday, Feb. 11, heard testimony from legislative council on the committee bill that our committee will be discussing and ultimately introducing in the Senate. It is broad and covers multiple areas of healthcare. It will heavily impact our hospitals and our insurers.

We then heard testimony from the Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association. Wednesday, Feb. 12, H&W received an introductory presentation from Senator Lyons on her bill, S.27, with a walk-through of the bill from legislative council and the state treasurer.

[Editor’s note: S.27 proposes to direct the state treasurer to contract with an entity to acquire and abolish certain medical debts for Vermonters with incomes at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level or who owe medical debt equal to five percent or more of their household income. The bill would also prohibit credit reporting agencies from reporting or maintaining information on Vermonters’ medical debt and would prohibit health care providers from reporting medical debt to credit reporting agencies.]

We then heard testimony from the Vermont Program for Quality in Healthcare, Vermont Farm to School, about Early Childhood Day and the Vermont Association of Chain Drug Stores.

Thursday, Feb. 13, H&W heard testimony on S.18 from the American Association of Birth Centers, Certified Nurse Midwives, the Vermont Medical Society, the Department of Health Access and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The testimony was mostly positive but there are concerns that this legislation will hurt hospitals, as even two births that are routed away from a hospital result in a 10% reduction of the monthly average births.

[Editor’s note: S.18 proposes to establish a licensing structure for freestanding birth centers. It would also require prenatal, maternity, postpartum and newborn coverage under health insurance plans and Medicaid to include birth center services.]

While the committee heard testimony from the state auditor’s office, I was summoned to the Senate Committee on Judiciary to give an introductory presentation on my bill, S.45. When I returned, the committee was taking a short break.

We then heard testimony on S.28 from the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Vermont Medical Society, and Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. The testimony was about neutral. I have raised numerous concerns about this bill and the various organizations that are testifying are reflecting those concerns.

We then discussed the additional funding provided in the Budget Adjustment Act to the General Assistance and Housing Program.

Friday, Feb. 14, H&W received a presentation from Representative Alyssa Black on her bill, H.31. We received a walk-through of the bill from legislative council and then heard testimony from Blue Cross Blue Shield, MVP Healthcare, the Vermont Medical Society, and the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. The testimony on the bill was entirely positive. We then voted on the bill, and it passed out of our committee 5-0-0 favorable with no amendments.

[Editor’s note: H.31 proposes to specify that otherwise applicable health insurance claim edit standards do not apply when a health care service is delivered outside Vermont, unless otherwise agreed to by the health insurer and the out-of-state provider. It would also modify the definition of a primary care provider for purposes of determining which health care providers’ orders are exempt from prior authorization requirements.]

We then heard testimony on S.18 from Dr. Timothy Fisher of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

We then received an introductory presentation from Sen. Rebecca White on her bill, S.33, with a walk-through from legislative council.

[Editor’s note: S.33 proposes to establish a two-year pilot for one or more community nurse programs serving aging Vermonters.]

We then received an introductory presentation from Sen. Ruth Hardy on her bill, S.42, with a walk-through from legislative council.

[Editor’s note: S.42 proposes to implement the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s Restaurant Meals Program in Vermont.

Before adjourning, we heard testimony from the Developmental Disabilities Housing Initiative.

IT & Institutions (I&I) meets in the afternoon and heard testimony from the State Historic Preservation Officer with updates on the Bennington Battle Monument, Tuesday, Feb. 11,

I&I met Wednesday Feb. 12, hearing testimony from the Agency of Digital Services on their 2025 report. We then heard testimony from the Vermont Council on the Arts with an overview of the art in state buildings.

Thursday Feb. 13, I&I heard testimony from the Department of Motor Vehicles regarding their new software program. We then heard testimony from the commissioner of the Department of Housing and Community Development on the Housing Projects included in the Capital Bill.

Friday Feb. 14, We heard testimony from the Vermont Land Trust, the Windham/Windsor Housing Trust and Rural Edge. We then had a committee discussion on the Budget Adjustment Act and the section on the Department of Corrections that pertains to our committee jurisdiction.

Sen. Douglass, represents Orleans County, serving as clerk on both the Health & Welfare (H&W) and IT & Institutions (I&I) committees.