By Guy Page
The House today approved H.883, the $8.8 billion 2024-25 state budget. But first, it declined to include in that budget $25.75 million already approved in three House bills.
The bills provide more state’s attorney and court staff, expand Medicaid services, and fund long-term housing solutions.
In offering her ‘transparency’ amendment to H.883 on the House floor this morning, Donahue did not specifically object to the $25.75 million in spending – just its lack of inclusion in the proposed budget.
“It’s the transparency to the public that is most important here,” Donahue said.
“I don’t think we should be voting on a budget that pretends a certain amount of spending,” Donahue said. “Transparency to our constituents is one of our most important obligations.”
“I do not disagree that transparency is the utmost,” Appropriations Chair Diane Lanpher (D-Vergennes) said. The budget now being sent to the Senate is “just setting out the first steps and ideas,” she said. When the budget comes back from the Senate in May, “it will look very different.” Approps voted on a straw vote of 11-1-0 to not approve the amendment.
Donahue responded that the process isn’t transparent for the public. “The public is being told we are voting on an $8.8 billion budget….We have not done this before and I don’t think we should start doing it now.”
Rep. Scott Beck (R-St. Johnsbury) agreed. He added that 24 hours ago Approps refused to add an appropriation for ‘process’ reasons. “The inconsistencies continue,” Beck said.
The rejection of the amendment generally followed party-lines. With a few exceptions on both sides, Republicans voted yes, and Democrats and Progressives voted no. The vote was 41-93. The budget then passed on a voice vote.
“I vote yes for our constituents and for transparency in our House budget,” Rep. Lynn Dickinson (R-St. Albans Town) said following the roll call vote.
Mulvaney-Stanak resigns from Legislature – saying she is proud to be the first woman and “out LGBTQ plus person to serve in this role,” Burlington Mayor-Elect Emma Mulvaney-Stanak announced today she has retired from the Vermont State House.
Legislature seeking new User Support Specialist – The Office of Legislative IT seeks to hire a User Support Specialist for the rest of the 2024 legislative session. The role is responsible for providing support to our clients over the phone, via email and chat, and/or in-person.
The previous support specialist, Shadi Battah, is the husband of 2022 Barre House candidate Melissa Battah. According to his LinkedIn account, he began work at the State House in 2019. He earned $44,675.93 according to public records. This is 31.9 percent lower than the average pay for state employees and 35.6 percent lower than the national average for government employees.
Sgt. at Arms Agatha Kessler and Director of Legislative IT Kevin Moore both refused to provide details about Battah’s departure, saying it is a private personnel matter.
Last Vietnam veteran in Vermont House remembers – Rep. Chip Troiano, D-Stannard, is the only remaining Vietnam combat veteran now serving in the House. He took a moment this Friday morning to speak on the floor of the House about the intense training and far more intense “it was kill or be killed” combat experience he experienced as a U.S. Army infantryman. He recalled that he suffered 12 years of post-traumatic stress – no love, no hate, no feeling at all. In closing, he asked for and received a moment of silence for his 58,000 “brothers and sisters who didn’t return.”
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Categories: Legislation, State Government
The House majority has decided that transparency is akin to looking thru mud.
ms. emily long’s diatribe about affordability is merely words on paper, paper you could use to clean the mud off… phil scott’s budget was $8,600,000,000.00
The house approved number is $8,800,000,000.00, 200 MILLION more, and climbing (there’s $25,750,000.00 floating around somewhere, because- transparency) Yet senate elitists haven’t had there fingers in the fiscal pie yet.
These spendthrifts are headed for a 9 BILLION dollar state budget.
The proposed “millionaire” tax will need to start at $100,000.00 before baruth, kitchel, lyons and sears finish adding in their donor’s requirements for 2025.
8.8 billion and 643,000 people. That’s excessive government on full display.
This math shows you which side of the decimal point their programmed algorithms target into actual real lives and pockets. To calculate the tax cost per person, you would divide the total cost of $8.8 billion by the number of people. In this case, $8.8 divided by 643,000 people is approximately $0.00001367 per person.
Thank you, Anne Donahue, for speaking up and being the voice of honesty, transparency, and reason.
This is what I’ve been saying ” They Just Don’t Care “, all they know is that you are only the taxpayer………… your financial concerns are not relevant to their agendas !!
Wake up people, you vote them in, and you can vote them out and that’s all they’ll understand, save your family and the state, tell your representative how you feel and
your plans.
i have just budgeted for a 20 percent increase in my property taxes//// are you able to do the same/// i will not purchase any thing this summer///
Thank you for your service Rep. Troiano, in Vietnam, and in Montpelier .
Transparency? What does that mean?
Just read the State Auditor’s recent final report on the Jay Peak EB-5 fraud – the biggest government fraud scheme in Vermont’s history.
https://vtdigger.org/2024/03/29/auditors-report-details-lack-of-state-oversight-in-vermonts-eb-5-fraud/
No one in government, elected or appointed, is accountable. At worst, State officials are deemed to be incompetent. Or the authorizing agencies were confused, or their responsibilities were vaguely established. It’s the Keystone Cops redux.
The last line in the VT Digger report says it all – again.
“The state’s insurance carrier decided not to provide coverage for the settlement, leaving taxpayers footing the bill.”
So even the insurance premiums these idiots forked over were lost. But at least they were ‘transparent’.
The corporation continues to do it’s due diligence as ordered by their Master. The real numbers don’t lie. The real household budgets don’t lie. Yet daily, we are told whoppers of extraordinary lies from their mouths. They are sticking to those lies because they are ordered (and compensated) to do so. The fallacy of voting our way out of this Matrix web of deceit and thievery is the biggest lie of all. If one cannot see that fact by now, I feel sorry for them.
While we continue being dragged through this Theater of the Absurd, every person should reflect on the amount of labor they perform to hand over 1/3 of their time and compensation to a government that weaponizes it against us. Is it worth your labor chasing a carrot that only exists on paper in a fancy folder full of graphs and projections? For those who are retired or on SSI/DSS, military pensions, or any form of assistance, how is your pittance working out for you these days? How about business owners? How is your business working out these days? Are you making enough profit to hand over more of it to the corporation that controls your business?
At this point, whatever goes on under the Golden Thunder Dome is them whistling past the grave yard while the final nails are driven into the coffin of the State once known as the Republic of Vermont. They know exactly what they are doing, they are getting away with it, and the People are too stupified and bamboozled to comprehend the calamities about to unfold. The Truth will be hitting broadside soon enough – the point of no return is reached.
running out of s. s. checks/// one more being used to pay 20 percent increase for property taxes/// two more were used for increase in our private health care yearly payment///
Libby must be one of the high school grads not proficient in math. She divides 8.8 by the population of Vt- conveniently forgetting the billion part.