MONTPELIER — February and March are flying by and legislative activity is picking up speed as bills begin to come out of committee to the House floor for action.
It was great to connect with so many folks in the Lamoille 2 district over town meeting week. Rep. Noyes and I started our town meeting tour in Wolcott, Hyde Park, Johnson and finally Belvidere. We answered questions and provided legislative updates about what is happening in Montpelier, and we learned a lot about what is happening at the town level.
Wolcott is dealing with a large increase in their school budget. Hyde Park passed an article which rectified the Australian ballot issue for local candidates. Johnson is contending with a decreasing state payment for the college buildings, as well as prior flood issues regarding the village. Belvidere’s meeting was unfortunately over by the time we got there, but we had lunch with a few town officials, and residents, and they gave us an overview of their discussion of whether the town should buy back the former elementary school from the Lamoille North Supervisory District. Again, the local press has done a good job covering, and providing the details of all the town meetings in the county.
As a Hyde Park Justice of the Peace, I volunteered to help count the Lamoille North Supervisory Districts school budget ballots. This year all the budgets passed quite easily.
On Thursday, Burlington Airport officials offered legislators a tour of the airport facilities and its surrounding campus. We visited Heritage Aviation and Beta Technologies. Both have very different dynamic business expertise, with very impressive facilities. These two companies, in my opinion, might offer a new dynamic career path for workers looking for a change.
Governor Scott vetoed the budget adjustment bill, which continues to be a major point of friction as parties try to resolve spending differences. The key point of contention is over the Scott’s desire to end the motel voucher program for the homeless and to find a more cost-effective solution and the Democratic leadership’s desire to extend that program through June at a cost of $1.8 million. As of this writing the conflict remains unresolved.
On property tax and education governance reform, the House Education Committee announced that it does not intend to put forward a plan this year and has opted to create another summer study committee. This to me is unacceptable. The voters clearly wanted immediate action on this issue, and we should listen. There is some indication that the Senate Education Committee will have a proposal ready this year, but we will have to wait and see if that materializes. The governor’s proposal seems to be dead, except as a jumping off point for discussion.
Regarding the Clean Heat Standard, bills to repeal Act 18 and its potential surcharge on home heating fuels have been largely stonewalled in committee (my own included). Senator Terry Williams of Rutland used a parliamentary rule to try to relieve his Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources of the repeal bill and bring it to the full senate floor for a vote. That failed on a party line vote of 17-13. Since then, Democratic leadership attached a “soft repeal” of Act 18 to an unpopular bill that would raise electric rates to pay for clean heat programs. As of this writing, the fate of that bill in the senate remains to be seen. I continue to work with my colleagues to find a way to move forward with a “clean” repeal of Act 18.
H.458 was voted out of committee unanimously and sent to the house for action. This bill proposes to revise the reporting requirements required of the Agency of Digital Services (ADS) and to require the Agency to provide publicly available information containing details regarding information technology projects. This bill is important because of the price tag these new computers systems will cost taxpayers is substantial, and ADS needs to makes sure VT tax dollars are spent wisely. H.458 passed the full house, where I voted for it, and is now in the senate.
H.125 was voted out of committee on party line vote. This bill proposes to require the Agency of Natural Resources to gather already existing data and compile it into a report on the economic impacts of the transition to clean energy within the State. In my opinion, this is a “make work” bill for the agencies involved, the end product is of dubious value, and it will add to the already huge administrative costs of implementing climate laws. H.125 passed the house despite my “no” vote, and is now in the senate.
It is an honor to represent the residents of the Lamoille 2 District in the Vermont Legislature. My email is [email protected], and my text number is 802-760-0405.
Richard Bailey represents Lamoille-2, Belvidere, Hyde Park, Johnson and Wolcott.
