Weekly Overview
House and Senate committees scrambled to finalize work on policy bills this week as the Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Institutions committees moved closer to wrapping up the state spending bills. With the gun safety debate in the rearview mirror many expected the level of intensity to diminish in the statehouse. This was not the case when Governor Phil Scott vetoed S.103, a chemical regulation bill, setting up the first override standoff of 2018. The Senate moved quickly and was able to override the veto with a Democratic supermajority. This sets up a vote in the House, where they do not appear to have the votes to override Governor Scott’s veto. The vote in the House is scheduled for next Wednesday.
The veto of S.103 will likely be followed by additional vetoes of legislation that the Republican governor and Democratic leaders have been fighting about all session. These bills include raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, the regulation of data brokers, efficiency standards, bills relating to regulation of manufacturing, the education finance proposal that adds the income tax as a funding source, increasing the Universal Service Fund fee, a bill to study taxing carbon, fees on short-term rentals, net neutrality, a forced arbitration bill and a number of other contentious pieces of legislation.
This week marks the beginning of the standoff that many have been expecting and which will frame the end of the 2018 session. A key question will be whether the legislature can pass a budget bill that the governor supports. The legislature tends to adjourn on the early side during election years, so politicians can begin campaigning. This will be challenging if there are multiple veto standoffs. To make things even more interesting, rumors began swirling this week that an unnamed Democrat may be entering the gubernatorial race soon.
Stay tuned. |
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INDIVIDUAL MANDATE
The Senate significantly watered down H.696 which, as passed by the House, imposed a mandate that every Vermonter have health coverage for themselves and their dependents, but did not impose a penalty. In passing this bill the House was reacting to the elimination of the individual mandate at the federal level. However, the Senate eliminated the House’s individual mandate provision due to the lack of a penalty, leaving only a provision calling for a study. The ball is now back in the House’s court - it has to decide whether to accept the Senate’s action or to seek a conference committee and see if the Senate can be convinced to accept an individual mandate. |
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NET NEUTRALITY
On Thursday afternoon the House voted to approve S.289, the net neutrality bill. While the Senate-passed version included a requirement that companies providing broadband service to state government be net neutral, the House eliminated this requirement and instead directs the Attorney General’s Office to review the federally required disclosures broadband providers make concerning how they operate their networks and then indicate on its website whether those providers comply with the principles of net neutrality. In addition, the House version of the bill calls for a study of net neutrality. The bill was approved by a voice vote with virtually no debate. It now heads back to the Senate, for their consideration of the House’s work. |
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APPLICANT SALARY HISTORY
On Tuesday the Senate gave its approval to H.294, which would prohibit employers from asking applicants about their salary history. Proponents argue that the bill is one strategy to address the discrepancy between salaries paid to women vs. men. Governor Scott has said that he strongly supports the legislation. |
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S.103 - CHEMICAL REGULATION
Governor Scott issued his first veto of 2018 this week when he returned S.103 to the Senate without his signature. The bill would create an interagency committee to oversee the use, storage and transport of chemicals as well as grant sweeping powers to the Department of Health to regulate and ban chemicals in children's products. Scott objected to the bill because the interagency committee already exists via a 2017 executive order and because the expansion of DOH powers would remove the consideration of important scientific criteria from the regulatory process. Scott said in his veto letter that the bill would create additional uncertainty for business without increasing safeguards for children. The Senate took action on Thursday and was successful in overriding the governor's veto. Democrats have a supermajority in the Senate and the override vote was 22-8. The House could consider the veto as early as next week. Early indications are that House Republicans will support the governor, which would mean they would sustain the veto by blocking the two-thirds majority needed to override. |
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DEBT COLLECTION
The House gave final approval to H.482, which changes the court process for collecting credit card debt and makes the ability to collect such debt more difficult. The passage of H.482 by the House is well beyond the crossover deadline for House bills to be considered by the Senate. As a result, the bill has been referred to the Senate Rules Committee and can only be considered by the Senate if that committee agrees to release it. |
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DMV MISCELLANEOUS BILL
This week the House Transportation and House Ways and Means Committees advanced S.272, the DMV Miscellaneous Bill. The bill makes changes to Vermont’s motor vehicle safety inspection program and the treatment of recreational vehicle warranties under Vermont’s lemon law, among other things. The bill will be up for action on the House floor early next week. The text of the bill can be found on the House Calendar for Tuesday, 4/24, starting on page 1683. |
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TRANSPORTATION BILL
The Senate Transportation Committee advanced H.917, the Transportation Bill, this week. The bill adopts the Transportation Agency’s FY2019 budget, plus has miscellaneous transportation provisions including provisions related to electric vehicle charging stations and abandoned vessels. The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee. Here is the Senate Transportation Committee’s strike-all version of the bill. |
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