"It ain't over til it's over!" - Yogi Berra
The plan was to finish the legislative session by Saturday, May
18th, even working close to midnight again as we did the last couple
of years. Alas, it was not to be. By Friday afternoon there were still about a
dozen Committees of Conference working to resolve differences between the House
and Senate versions of bills, including the budget, transportation and tax
bills. Speaker Mitzi Johnson recessed the House until the following Wednesday
to allow the conference committees to finish their work in the interim.
Dozens of bills completed their ping-pong journeys through
both the House and the Senate this week. Several bills engendered considerable
debate on the House floor before the final vote including bills increasing the
minimum wage (S.23), requiring a 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases
(S.169), and requiring businesses to cover medical monitoring for persons
exposed to releases of toxic chemicals (S.37).
After a brief negotiation with the Senate in a Committee of
Conference, the broadband expansion bill (H.513) received final approval as
well.
This week was also marked by an interruption of the debate
on S.37 by climate crisis protestors.
The House was startled when several protestors in the balcony started
speaking loudly about the failure of the legislature to do more about the
climate crisis, unfurled a banner, and tossed hundreds of index card messages
into the chamber. Speaker Johnson
gaveled the House to Order and asked the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol
police to remove the protestors to restore order. When that didn’t stop the
protestors, she ordered the legislators to leave the floor. All but two members
complied.
While I don’t condone the actions of the protestors, I
understand their frustration. For all the ominous science-based reports on what
we are doing to the global climate, all the peaceful marches and lobbying by
students and activists including the march from Middlebury to Montpelier, the
legislature took only small steps to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The
$1.5M EV incentive program has been cut to $1M. The two-cent increase of the
heating fuel tax to raise $4.6M for weatherization of Vermont’s old housing
stock has been replaced by the Senate with a transfer of one-time money from
Efficiency Vermont surplus funds. In the Senate version, the number of low-income
families benefitting will be the same as the House version for the next fiscal
year, about 1300, but falls back to the current number, about 850, for future
years. Efficiency Vermont will continue to help moderate-income families with
weatherization assistance.
However, if we are going to transition from fossil fuels to
cleaner electricity in both the transportation and heating sectors of our
economy in the next decade, we’ll need to make an investment to accelerate
adoption of those technologies. This can be done in a way that grows jobs,
reduces use of fossil fuels and saves Vermonters money. What we’ve done this
year does not accomplish this in a sustainable way. Our Climate Solutions
Caucus made up of concerned Representatives and Senators will be meeting
between now and January to define a strategy to move forward in 2020. Last year the report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that we have 12 years to reverse the
buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to
prevent a rise of 2 degrees-C (4 degrees-F) in global temperatures. We must act
as soon as possible with our regional partners to do our part for the sake of our
children, grandchildren, and future generations.
