Change Is In The Air…
…And it’s not because it’s Spring.
Following the Governor’s inauguration address at the beginning of this session, we are beginning to see some details of his administration’s proposals. We heard Zoe Saunders, Secretary of the Agency of Education, present the planned changes to the Education system in VT which you can watch HERE or read more about these changes HERE.
I am a member of the House Education Funding Working Group and Addison County Senator, Steve Heffernan, is on the Senate Education Committee. I can assure you that many invested parties are looking at this plan from every possible angle with the common goal in mind of improving education quality for the students and reducing education costs to Vermont taxpayers. There is general agreement that we are in a unique position to be able to achieve both of those objectives.
The Budget Address from Governor Scott will be given next week in the Vermont House Chamber and live streamed HERE at 1pm, Tuesday, January 28. The Governor’s administration is working collaboratively with the Legislature to draft bills to implement the Governor’s objectives. These bills will need House or Senate sponsorship to be introduced into the legislative process for modification, debate, and amendment as necessary.
During the past 2 weeks Legislators have had opportunity to draft bills on topics of particular interest to each of us. The end of January is the deadline for individual bill request submittals. With draft bills in hand, members engage one another seeking co-sponsorship on their bills and ultimately have them “introduced” on the House floor where the speaker assigns them to the Committee of jurisdiction for that topic. Committees are now beginning to discuss those assigned bills. If interested you can view our Environment Committee hearings HERE.
Of particular interest to me and my campaign promises are the following bills:
H.16 - Repeal of the Clean Heat Standard
H.43 - Exempting military retirement income from VT state tax
H.54 - Prohibiting the use of cell phones by students during the school day in class
H.60 - Prohibiting discrimination based on immunization status
H.61 - Bodily autonomy regarding healthcare decisions including vaccines
H.62 - Repeal the Global Warming Solutions Act by reducing requirements to goals
H.70 - Inclusion of “current use” lands in the 30x30 and 50x50 conservation goals
H.74 - Phase out of state taxation on Social Security benefits
H.76 - Exempt State tax for National Guard active duty subsistence and quarters allowance
More bills are coming every day, so if you don’t see something you were looking for in the list, stay tuned. You can view the complete list of bills introduced to the House HERE and in the Senate HERE.
Two Committees that already have consequential decisions on their plates are the Appropriations Committee and Government Operations Committee. Appropriations is weighing the necessary and requested mid-year budget adjustments. Fortunately, the adjustments appear to be manageable. For the many of you who have contacted me regarding childcare expenses relative to Act 76, there is no need to worry! The Governor’s official budget adjustment letter makes clear the CCFAP remains funded and future funding is unaffected. The final decision rests with the Appropriations committee and then to a vote in the full House.
The Government Operations committee, chaired by Representative Matt Birong, is adjudicating the election mishap in House district Bennington-1 where a Democrat was elected by a slim margin of only 23 votes, yet 56 voters received the wrong ballot and thus didn't have the opportunity to vote in this race. The committee received the report from the Attorney General’s office at the start of our session but thus far has not taken action on it. Meanwhile, the Democratic member was sworn-in and remains seated in the House. I’m concerned that it’s been two and a half months since the election and still 56 voters have not been able to cast a ballot for their state representative. Time is running out to provide proper notice for town meeting and the committee needs to take action soon.
On a final note I’ll share that the Freshman class of 51 members, which represents a full third of the House with 29 Republicans and 23 Democrats, is showing a wonderful sense of unity and determination for change to improve Vermont for Vermonters. The incumbent members and even House staff are recognizing our exuberance and enthusiasm saying things like “there’s something different about this class that we haven’t seen before.” Please continue to hold us all in your prayers that we will remain united in spirit and objective and respect for one another.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions,
Representative Rob North, Addison-3 (Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, Waltham)
