Legislative Update
February 8, 2014
Rep. Anne Donahue
This Thursday, February 13,
there will be a public hearing on what may become one of the most contentious
bills this session: how we respond to the federal mandate that we do more to
clean up Lake Champlain.
H. 586 (“Improving the
Quality of State Waters”) is under committee review in the House, and focuses
on registering farms and strictly controlling manure runoff practices. It proposes
to raise money through a fee placed on property taxes, graded based upon how
much of your property is developed.
Both the Fish, Wildlife and
Natural Resources Committee and the Agriculture Committee are taking testimony,
and any tax or fee proposal will have to go to the Ways and Means Committee,
all before coming to the House floor and then on to the Senate.
The hearing will be in the
House Chamber from 7 to 9 p.m.
Looking at a bill on line
used to be the only way the public could access pending legislation, and that
isn’t always very helpful, since a bill goes through many changes on its way
through the process. We have taken some big leaps into the age of technology,
however, and anyone who wants to dig for detail can now get a great deal of it
by looking on any committee’s web page.
Documents that are posted include
updated bill drafts, related reports, and witness testimony. Both of the
committees above have this kind of information available on their committee web
pages about H.586. Documents can be sorted by bill number, subject, date, or
witness name. (The starting point is always www.leg.state.vt.us, then go to the Standing Committee pages.)
I must confess to being
pleasantly surprised by how quickly I have adapted to having all of this on an
iPad for the first time this year. This past Friday, leaving my small committee
room table, I was suddenly struck by the difference. No more towering piles of
paper waiting to be sorted!
Human Services Committee
The policy bill my committee
is reviewing is a further step in providing cigarette smoke-free air for the
public and at worksites. The bill, H.217, covers a wide range of proposals, and
I think some are better than others. It includes 50 foot zones around state
buildings, adds “partially enclosed” areas in the restrictions for places of
public access, expands to cover all hotel rooms, adds child care center
grounds, and includes designated smoke-free areas in state parks and lands.
I support smoke-free entrance
areas as a right of public entry to our state buildings, and a poll from the
Department of Health found that public opinion is in sync on this: 72 percent
of Vermonters (including smokers) agree; 21 percent are opposed. Even 54
percent of smokers favored a ban for such entrance areas.
A bill I introduced addressing
the new Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital under construction in Berlin is now
being considered as part of the larger smoking bill.
As awareness of health risks
have become more prominent, every single hospital in Vermont has adopted a
“smoke-free campus.” It may not be fully enforceable, but it is a public health
policy statement of importance.
I think it would be an
embarrassment to the state, and a poor example, if our new state-of-the-art
hospital broke ranks, and allowed health care staff and visitors to be smoking
on the grounds. (Patients are already barred from smoking.)
Unfortunately, this comes up
against a bargaining right of the Vermont State Employees Association. In
initial testimony this past week, a union representative said the VSEA would
likely oppose a smoke-free campus policy for the new hospital.
The hospital itself is on
schedule with construction, but I have serious worries about whether staffing
and operations planning will be able to keep pace to begin admitting patients
by July 1. This is critical to address the crisis in emergency rooms, where
patients are waiting for days for a bed.
Last week, I discovered that
the hospital will open without a fully functioning electronic health record.
After many months pursing a vendor who could not produce what was needed, the
administration is only now drafting the documents to seek bids for the project.
It is a discouraging prospect, and worse yet, no money has been built into the
budget for a now higher-than-expected cost projection.
Budget Targets
We have relied for years on
patching money into the budget for extra spending with one-time revenue
sources, leaving ourselves without the money to maintain that spending the
following year. That means we start each year with a deficit facing us just to
stay even.
The governor has called upon
school boards to hold spending to a three percent increase at the most, and the
Green Mountain Care Board required hospitals to hold budget growth to three
percent this year. We should hold ourselves to the same standard. The
governor’s proposal is almost double that, and relies on a $14 million tax
increase on our health insurance payments.
Keeping a tight budget is not
an easy prospect, but it is the job we are here to do on behalf of our
taxpayers. My committee has begun its review of the human services sections.
Flood Insurance
The House has passed a
resolution I introduced urging Congress to delay implementation of a flood
insurance law passed two years ago. The bill itself was sound in principle: it
sought to make federal flood insurance self-sustaining (instead of taxpayer
supported) by increasing rates to market values. It also required an economic
impact study to protect against unanticipated consequences.
The study never happened, the
bill is going into effect, and Vermonters are being hit with some unexpected
and inequitable consequences. Part of this is caused by federal flood zone
remapping. People who bought homes that were not in a flood zone (with a purchase
price reflecting that) are now suddenly in a flood zone, and placed under
mandates to purchase expensive insurance. The property is suddenly worth less
as a result.
Congress is now considering a
delay until the review actually occurs.
I have never thought we
should put time into “feel good” resolutions that ask our Congressional
delegation to do something. But by chance two weeks ago, Peter Welch was in the
state house on a visit, and I mentioned the possible resolution.
“Oh, please do it,” he said.
“We need it” – apparently to help gain support of other colleagues. So I hope
the effort pays off.
Our Teacher of the Year
There was a stirring moment
on the House floor when Luke Foley, teacher at the STAR program at Northfield
Middle/High School and Vermont’s Teacher of the Year, was introduced and
received a standing ovation. He was there for a reading of a resolution
honoring his achievement.
I was able to also proudly
introduce the students who accompanied him.
Congratulations!
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You can reach me to discuss this update, or any other subjects
of concern, by calling me at home (485-6431) or by message at the legislature
(828-2228), or by my home (counterp@tds.net) or legislative
(adonahue@leg.state.vt.us) email. I welcome your input. This and past updates
can be found at http://representativeannedonahue.blogspot.com.
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