Bill with minor consent for STD vax not expected to pass, Democratic senator says
By Guy Page
Two powerful Vermont state senators had a heated exchange today over S.151, a bill of miscellaneous health care regulations that also includes lowering the age of consent to 12 for STD vaccination.
During the testy back-and-forth in Senate Health and Welfare, Sen. Ruth Hardy (D-Addison, also Chair of Senate Government Operations Committee) makes clear her opinion that she doesn’t back the bill, no-one else besides Chair Ginny Lyons on the committee backs the bill, and that Lyons (D-Chittenden) is wasting their time.
The exchange appears below:
Hardy: Madame Chair, what are you doing? Why are you amending a bill that none of us support? Just so the stakeholders and the people in the room who are not sitting at this table are negotiating the language?
Lyons: Do you have a comment, Senator, about the bill?
Hardy: I’m making a comment.
Lyons: Is there a section you would like deleted?
Hardy: I would like all the sections deleted. I do not support the bill. We don’t have the votes – the committee –
Lyons: [indistinguishable]
Hardy: I would like you to make clear your intentions
Lyons: My intention is to go through the bill and understand
Hardy: but why are you continuing to make changes to a bill that is not going to pass?
Lyons: Because I can.
Hardy: So, you’re just doing this as, like what, a power move? I do not understand this.
Lyons: Senator, we’re trying to understand the issues here. Thank you.
Hardy: We have other work that could be done.
Lyons: Thank you for your comments.
The contention seemed to focus on a section in which the Director of Health Care Reform for the Agency of Human Services provides input to Green Mountain Care Board to inform the Board’s work. Hardy and Sen. Gulick do not like this section and want the GMCB to not be under any direction from the Agency of Human Services.
During the committee discussion, no one addresses the elephant in the room, which is that Sec 4 minor 12+ consent to STI prevention violates federal law, opponents have repeatedly told the committee. A letter from the law firm of Siri Glimstad in DC says a lawsuit is imminent if S151 passes. Gulick and Lyons are on record for keeping Section 4 in.
Lyons, if she chooses to seek reelection this year, faces a Democratic primary challenge from Dr. Louis Meyers, a physician with concerns about State of Vermont health care oversight. (Announcement of his candidacy to be published shortly in VDC.)