By Michael Bielawski

Friday is the Crossover deadline for bills dealing only with policy. These bills must be voted out of their original committee of jurisdiction by March 15. House bills that include money appropriations have until March 22.

Committees this week will look at how to find funding for urgent school building upgrades, addressing concerns about small class sizes, a new emergency health care bureaucracy, and more. Agendas published weekly on the Legislature’s website are subject to change.

School infrastructure repairs – 24-0671 (Tuesday, House Committee on Education) 

This is for “the development of an updated State aid to school construction program.” Jordan Kirk, the Chief Financial Officer for the School Building Authority of West Virginia will speak along with three other education professionals from the state. There will also be two speakers from Vermont’s Agency of Education.

The bill will require new funding sources be explored at a time when Vermonters are already facing a 20% property tax increase. It requires that, “the Joint Fiscal Office to model stable perpetual revenue sources to fund a statewide school construction aid program; and pause PCB testing.”

According to the School Construction Aid Taskforce Report which came out Feb. 1, “The findings underscored urgent needs, with an estimated annual spending requirement of $300 million over 20 years to address facility deficiencies and create 21st-century learning environments.”

School bullying – H. 523 (Thursday, House Committee on Education) Sponsored by Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone, D/P-Burlington, and others.

Big Hartman who is Executive Director & General Counsel for the Vermont Human Rights Commission will speak. The bill is fewer than two pages and does not include details on specific types of bullying that might be addressed.

It states is “to increase staffing and funding for the Agency of Education to hear and investigate complaints of harassment, hazing, and bullying, as well as to coordinate mandatory anti-harassment, hazing, and bullying training on a regional level through Vermont public and independent schools.”

Class Size Policy (Thursday, Education Committee)

Class size has been a controversial issue for Vermont, with reportedly the smallest sizes in the nation. Josh Souliere, director of the Education Quality Division for the Agency of Education, will speak as well as Anne Bordonaro who is Interim Deputy Secretary for the Agency of Education.

According to a recent report on VDC, “Last week legislators heard that Vermont’s (smallest in the country) class sizes may actually be harming students. The Agency of Education has offered to start working on minimum class size standards to both protect students’ classroom experience and gain efficiencies.”

Flood history disclosures H. 639 (Tuesday, House Committee on General and Housing) Sponsored by Rep. Thomas Stevens, R-Waterbury, and others.

It states, “This bill proposes to require a seller of a real property to disclose to a buyer information regarding whether the property is located in a flood hazard area or fluvial erosion hazard area or was previously subject to flooding.”

Vermont is currently coming off some of its worst flooding in nearly a century, with extensive damage to buildings, roads, bridges, and more occuring in July of 2023.

An emergency health care bureaucracy? – H. 622 (Tuesday, House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs) Sponsored by Rep. Katherine Sims, D-Craftsbury, and others.

Will Moran who is Director for Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Injury Prevention for the Vermont Department of Health will speak and others are invited.

According to its text, “The bill would create the Emergency Medical Services Task Force to oversee and manage all phases of the development, design, and implementation of a statewide emergency medical services system in Vermont. The bill would also appropriate funds to provide training for emergency medical services personnel.”

Professional licensure for illegal immigrants? – H. 606 (Thursday, House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs) Sponsored by Rep. Esme Cole, D-Hartford, and others.

There will be a mark-up and vote with Legislative Counsel Tim Devlin. The bill states, “The purpose of this act is to amend the laws of Vermont to allow any individual who meets the standards required by the State to obtain a professional or occupational license, regardless of that individual’s immigration status.“

Changing sheriff’s compensation – H. 585 (Wednesday, House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs) Sponsored by Rep. Michael Mrowicki, D-Putney, and others.

Sheriff Mark Anderson who is President of the Vermont Sheriffs’ Association will speak among others.

This bill deals with “amending the pension system” for sheriffs and some deputy sheriffs. It states “This bill proposes to offer sheriffs and qualified deputy sheriffs an opportunity to join Group G of the Vermont State Employees’ Retirement System.

Some details about what Group G includes “members make annual pre-tax contributions into a trust fund at a rate that differs based on how much they are paid (ranging anywhere from 11.33% of pay for the lowest paid members to 13.83% of pay for the highest paid members once phased increases are fully implemented in FY2027).”

Last year this same group of lawmakers passed a bill that reduced pay for sherrifs.

Banning flavored tobacco and e-liquids? – S. 18 (Wednesday, House Sexual Harassment Prevention Panel) Sponsored by Sen. Virginia “Ginny” Lyons, D-Chittenden, and others.

Michael Wales, Ph.D. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences for Dartmouth College, will speak along with three of his colleagues.

This bill would ban flavored tobacco products and e-liquids. It would also “would also direct the Office of the Attorney General to report on the extent to which Vermont may legally restrict advertising and regulate labels for e-cigarettes and other vaping-related products.”

It’s been previously reported that banning such products would mean taking a hit on tax revenues. A fiscal note with the bill estimates a potential revenue loss of $7.3 million to $14.7 million just for its first year.

Anti-solicitation of children – H. 173 (Thursday, House Committee on Judiciary) Sponsored by Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, and others.

This is “to prohibiting manipulating a child for the purpose of sexual contact.” It states, “No person shall knowingly solicit, lure, manipulate, or entice, or to attempt to solicit, lure, manipulate, or entice, a child under the age of 16 years of age or another person believed by the person to be a child under the age of 16, years of age to engage in a sexual act.”

Small also sponsored in 2022 H. 659. According to a VDC report, the bill was “to allow a minor who identifies as transgender to consent to receiving hormone blockers and other nonsurgical, gender-affirming care and treatment without requiring parental consent.”

Bringing in new workers – H. 10 (Wednesday, House Committee on Ways and Means) Sponsored by Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, and Rep. Michael Marcotte, R-Coventry.

This bill would modify the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive (VEGI) Program by creating a Vermont Economic Progress Council to allocate grants in times of slow economic growth.

It states, “The purpose of the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Program is to generate net new revenue to the State by encouraging rewarding a business to add for adding new payroll, create new jobs, and make new capital investments it otherwise would not have undertaken without the incentive and sharing a portion of the revenue with the business.”

In 2018 there was a controversial program approved to pay people up to $10,000 to move to Vermont.