News from Montpelier 2021 Session week 4

Floor sessions continue to be mostly taken up with the introduction and commitment of bills to the appropriate committee for consideration. After Tuesday’s Floor the House adjourned until the Joint Assembly to hear Governor Scott’s FY22 budget address. The recommended budget allocates $6.83 billion over a wide area of needs in our state. Some of the revenue to support the expenditures is onetime money and the Governor was clear he has used these dollars for onetime expenses and is adamant that they should not be used to fund any new or ongoing need. Public is invited to give input by attending Joint videoconference public hearings through the links in the following Press Release: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2022/WorkGroups/House%20Appropriations/Highlights/Joint%20Public%20Hearings%20-%20FY%202022%20State%20Budget.pdf
As well as introducing bills on Thursday and Friday floor action included the appointment of members to the committees on Administrative Rules, Judicial Appointment Retention, the Judicial Nominating Board and H.138 the FY21 Budget Adjustment Act was taken up, considered and passed after approval of an amendment. https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2022/H.138 A few changes were made from the Governor’s version where House Appropriations saw adjustments that went beyond the intent of this annual moving of dollars, to introducing new expenditures. Those can be addressed as work gets started on the FY22 Budget.
Throughout the week the committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs took more testimony on H.81 and H.63. The decision was made to use H.81 as the base bill for moving forward but H.63 remains active in committee and the final committee recommendation will be an amalgam of the two. Friday the committee heard introductions of two bills by the lead sponsors, met with one of the staff attorneys who will interact with the committee on legislation around liqueur and lottery and had an opportunity to have questions answered by a member of the Legislative IT staff on the electronic tools being used this session. At noon members were invited to attend the fourth and final Tax Workshop offered by staff from the Joint Fiscal Office on Vermont’s Education Finance System.
On Wednesday, which was recognized by H.C.R.7 as Homelessness Awareness Day in Vermont the committee held a joint hearing with the committee on Human Services to listen to testimony from members of action groups who provide assistance and service to the community and from an individual with lived experience. The committees had the opportunity to join the virtual vigil held by the Coalition to End Homelessness at noon and a housing solutions webinar after the Floor hosted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. There is much being done to provide housing for our un-housed neighbors but still more to do and the Governor’s FY22 Budget recommendations offer opportunity to make inroads on that unmet need.
Representative Barbara S Murphy bmurphy@leg.state.vt.us 802-849-6545