BACK TO WORK
This week marked the resumption of the legislative session after a one week break. Since crossover for policy bills was the Friday before break the returning legislators faced long floor sessions as each chamber considered and acted on the large number of policy bills that met the crossover deadline. Those bills run the gamut and cover subjects ranging from the use of drones near correctional facilities to changes to the state’s franchise law for the distribution of beer. The activity on each chamber’s floor then began driving the activity in the committees, as they all began to size up the bills that came to them from the other chamber and think about which ones they want to work on when.
Throughout the week the House Appropriations Committee was hard at work putting the final touches on the FY2019 budget, which will be voted on by the full House next week. They also reviewed all policy bills that involved the appropriation of state dollars before those bills were sent to the floor.
The Appropriations Committee also approved the tax bill, H.911, which passed by the Ways and Means Committee earlier in the week. H.911 makes changes to the state’s tax code to compensate for the impacts of the federal tax changes made late last year. It also imposes an income tax surcharge that changes the way the state’s education system is financed. The bill will be on the House floor next week and is already the subject of a number of proposed floor amendments.
The House Judiciary Committee spent most of the week taking testimony on S.55, a bill that closes the so-called “gun show loophole” by requiring background checks for private sales of firearms. This week unofficially marks the start of the second half of the session. |
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TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES
The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee started taking testimony this week on a bill that would create statewide regulations for Transportation Network Companies (TNC). Most people know TNCs as Lyft or Uber. Both companies have been operating in Vermont for the past few years but under a patchwork of municipal regulations. As these regulations can be different in Burlington, Barre, Newport, Rutland and Bennington they create a difficult regulatory environment to operate in. The bill will bring the entire state under one set of regulations while ensuring municipalities can still establish operating standards such as drop-off and pick-up locations.
The bill, H.725, will ensure regulatory certainty for TNCs operating in Vermont which would in turn support statewide expansion of Lyft's services. This would be a major benefit to the state given the challenges that exist in finding reliable and affordable transportation in the rural parts of the state. |
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GUNS
The House Judiciary Committee spent the majority of this week reviewing S.55, specifically a series of amendments that include a ban on assault-style guns as well as high-capacity magazines. Another amendment would require a 10-day waiting period after a background check for the transfer of a gun and a safe-storage requirement for guns. |
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T-BILL
The House Transportation and House Appropriations Committees advanced the Transportation Bill, H.917. The bill funds the state’s transportation projects and makes other changes to Vermont’s transportation laws. Sections 19 and 20 relate to the regulation by the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of electric vehicle charging stations and the retail sale of electricity to plug-in electric vehicles. The bill will be up for action on the House floor on Tuesday, March 20. |
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BUDGET
The House Appropriations Committee finished the budget on Friday. They will officially vote on Monday after the budget is proofread over the weekend. The big shakeup as the Committee was finalizing its work came in the form of an announcement by Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan that the state would receive a $28 million dollar settlement from tobacco litigation. At a press joint press conference held by the Attorney General, Governor Scott, and legislative leaders, it was announced that the money would be split into two pots of money - $14 million to be invested in the opioid crisis, and $14 million in other one-time investments. On Friday afternoon the Appropriations Committee proposed to invest $10 million to fund the teacher’s retirement pension, which would end up saving the state $29 million. Under the proposal an additional $2 million would be put into statutory reserve funds while $500,000 would go to a revolving loan fund that is used for energy efficiency investments in state buildings. Finally, the Appropriations Committee elected to invest $1 million in the Vermont State Colleges and $500,000 in the University of Vermont. |
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CHEMICAL REGULATION
The House and Senate grappled with two bills that would regulate permitted discharges and the sale and disposal of household cleaning projects. S.197, which has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, would make companies liable for damages and the cost of health monitoring in claims brought for permitted chemical releases, even if the releases meet federal and state health criteria. The bill ran into some trouble when it reached the Senate floor because the liability requirements are very broad. After unofficial consideration in the Senate Finance committee, the bill is up for consideration on the Senate floor again next week. H.560, a bill that requires manufacturers of household cleaning products to pay for their disposal has passed the House Fish, Wildlife and Natural Resources committee and is being considered in the House Ways and Means committee. It is unclear whether the bill will be referred to the House Appropriations committee when it returns to the floor next week. |
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FROM THE LEONINE BLOG
To date, 32 states and the District of Columbia have expanded their Medicaid programs as authorized under the Affordable Care Act. The remaining 18 which have not – mostly red states – are finding it increasingly difficult politically to continue to hold off on expanding the program. This delay however, comes with a cost; in the years since the expansion began, states have been required to pick up an increasing percentage of the total cost. The federal government covered 100 percent of the costs through 2016, which decreased to 95 percent in 2017 and 94 percent in 2018. This number will continue to decrease to 93 percent in 2019, before bottoming out at 90 percent in 2020 and beyond. |
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