News from Montpelier 2018 week 18

The farewell ceremony was held Friday for the session’s last group of pages with a speech by the Speaker and the awarding of pins. The page program supports the work of the General Assembly and this last group brought a face from home. It was a joy to share these last weeks with Charlotte Wood and I wish her well as she returns to BFA Fairfax for the rest of the school year.
An inordinate amount of bills were still in process for the final week of session. Floor action on Wednesday was pulled up short by Rep Alice Emmons, the Dean of the House when the report to be voted was not even in a written form that could be assessed. Bills were being called up for action prior to being entered on to the Notice Calendar which disallows the reading of the pertinent language for proposed amendments. The goal is to return Saturday and close the session. This requires a lot of suspending of rules and that at least an electronic copy of bills is made available prior to a requested vote. Many individuals that support the General Assembly worked late Friday night and early Saturday morning to provide the language and supportive reports needed to move the work of the session to the finish line.
The Transportation committee of conference on H.917 was able to come to agreement and both it and the S. 272, the DMV bill conference reports were voted on in order to pass them on to the Governor. Final passage would allow changes to be made that affect the Motor Vehicle inspections. Unfortunately H.586, the bill introduced to allow the Fire and Rescue squads to be exempt from the Rooms and Meals tax whether a fundraising event is held on Squad premises or not has lost its battle for passage. Its language was removed by the Senate from H.922 due to a concern that was raised it would open the door to other service agencies to make the same request and cause an impact to anticipated tax income.
The Big Bill H924 was passed on a roll call vote of 117 to 14 just before midnight Saturday and the session ended with a farewell from Governor Scott.