Legislative Update
Rep. Anne Donahue
April 21, 2017
Into the final two weeks: from fun, to mundane, to
the “big ones.”
On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of joining with
Governor Phil Scott and Rep. Patti Lewis in welcoming the Norwich Cadet hockey
team, winners of the national Division III championship, to the statehouse.
The Governor read a proclamation congratulating the
team, and Patti and I presented copies of the House resolution and a special
resolution honoring Coach Mike McShane for his accomplishments, including this
season’s 700th win.
The players, in turn, presented Scott with a team
shirt with his name on it – which he promptly put on.
***
Bathrooms
Don’t panic based on rumor. Vermont is not (yet)
plunging into the battle over multiple-stall gender-neutral bathrooms. What we
passed last week simply says you can’t label (or restrict) a single,
locked-room bathroom for any one gender.
This is probably a victory for women – who often
have to wait in line while a men’s room sits empty – and a loss for men – who
might now have to wait for an open bathroom.
But if anyone wants to see an impressive way to
solve the multi-stall issue architecturally, they need go no farther than the
Capital City Grange hall in Berlin.
***
News
Media Shield Law
As a lifelong journalist and the daughter of a
lifelong journalist, I probably surprised many with my opposition to the news
media shield law that passed 140-2 on the House floor.
I suppose my vote was partly in honor of my father,
who imbued in me the principles of freedom of the press. As he said, any time
the government imposes a definition on who is a journalist and what content
constitutes journalism, we are imposing government control on the press. A
shield law that protects journalists from subpoenas carves out such
definitions.
Interestingly, the head of Vermont Press Association
contacted me to say he agreed with my position as representing “constitutional
purity,” but wanted me to change my vote to provide practical protections. On
this issue, I chose constitutional purity.
***
Samples
of “Small Stuff”
We get complaints about being in session too long
and mucking around too much passing more and more laws. There were several
examples last week of some of the work that really does need doing, even if it
doesn’t make the headlines.
Supervising a practice driver while drunk. We all
agree that driving under the influence should be illegal, but there was an
oversight in the law. Nothing said drunk driving includes being the adult with
a license who is supervising a 15-year-old who is practicing driving on a
learner’s permit.
Yikes. That needed fixing.
Notary publics. We have a nice, comfy style for
authentication of signatures by a notary public. It’s easy to become a notary
and a stamp isn’t needed.
We’re in a new era with electronic capabilities, and
we also need to be in sync with other states if we want our documents to count
elsewhere. I’m not thrilled with the extent of the new regulations, but I need
to accept the due diligence of the committee that worked on the bill, and an
upgrade was definitely needed.
Sometimes the longest debates on the House floor
involve “small stuff.” Last week it was over the “check engine” lights on cars,
and the impact of mandatory inspection failure solely because of a potentially
faulty indicator light. This is in particular given the new electronic
automated vehicle inspection system instituted this spring by the Department of
Motor Vehicles.
It’s always refreshing when there is a vigorous but
completely non-partisan debate. There was passion over the possible impacts on
air quality contrasted against the costs, particularly for persons with low
income, for repairs to these expensive electronic systems.
The Transportation Committee supported a proposal to
defer the standards for a year to allow a fuller review of the repair options,
and despite the opposition, the amendment eventually passed on a 127-11 vote.
***
Back
from the Senate
My Health Care Committee’s bill to allow minors to
seek out counselling without consent from parents if they are struggling with
sexual identity questions has come back from the Senate with a big change. The
bill now allows minors to consent to counselling, regardless of the reason.
It’s a big expansion, but it has some logic. If the
reason a minor is afraid to have a parent consent is because of abuse at home,
instead of sexual identity, shouldn’t they also have that access? Are they not
just as much at risk of greater harm – including self-harm – if they can’t get
help?
When I was preparing to present our narrower bill in
the House, I discovered that 34 other states hold that broader position. Our
committee will need to assess how we respond.
***
Family
Leave
The family leave act bill may be coming to the floor
this week, and it’s one I have very mixed feeling about. Please send input!
I think it’s something we really need and ought to
have: the ability to get paid time from work for a new child or family member
with a serious illness, paid for by a state-run insurance program.
The problem with an optional program is there likely
wouldn’t be enough takers. But do we need the government to step in and take
the money from everyone’s paycheck to achieve it?
It is only a small amount of money – about .14
percent of salary, up to $150,000 -- and has a big payoff for our neighbors in
need. I’m certainly influenced by seeing my brother’s ability to take long
weekends to be with my Mom here in Vermont while she was in hospice care,
thanks to having this program in New Jersey.
***
School
Districts
It’s been said many times that a law can be simple,
or it can be fair, but it cannot be both. As soon as you start carving out
situations to be fair in all circumstances, you get complex very quickly.
The bill coming to the floor this week adds another
layer of complexity to the allowable school districts governance structures
under Act 46, the law from two years ago that aims to improve education and
maybe save some costs by requiring mergers into larger, combined, districts.
So what is a Three-by-One Side-by-Side Structure?
It’s a new option for mergers, allowed under some situations, and with all
sorts of defining characteristics. I read the bill carefully, and I sure can’t
figure it out! I’ll be listening closely to the explanation when it is
presented on the floor.
***
Budgets
The capital construction bill, the transportation
bill, and the state budget are the three “must pass” bills before the session
ends, and are due back from the Senate next week. Because of the Governor’s
veto threat, I don’t anticipate the Senate proposing new taxes to float a
higher budget.
New financial estimates have come in, however, that
project higher revenue next year from our existing tax base. It remains to be
seen whether the Senate will want to capture that for added spending, or put
more aside for much-feared federal budget cuts.
We’ve all been told to save the last week in October
for a possible special session of the legislature to reassess our budget status
if there are major changes from Washington. The target is to finish the current
session a week early so that if we have to come back, it will not be at an
added burden to the state budget.
***
Thank
you for the honor of representing you. Please contact me with your questions
and your opinions. You can reach me by message at home at 485-6431, at the
statehouse at 828-2228, or at this email at counterp@tds.net
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