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VCDR 2021 Weekly Summary of Legislative Activities, Committee Agendas and Calendar of Events

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Happy New Year!

January 19 – January 21

Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights

Legislative Update

The Legislature reconvened on Wednesday January 6th. This is a new biennium with newly elected Representatives and Senators along with those returning to the legislature, new leadership in the House and Senate and a new Lt Governor.  See articles below

The Legislature will continue to meet remotely, as they have since March of 2020; at least until they re-evaluate this March. Although there certainly have been some technology issues and other with meeting remotely, for the most part all legislative meetings can be accessed remotely. This included the respective caucus, floor sessions of the House and Senate, legislative committees and other special committees. See links below

The Legislature expects to meet on a fairly regular schedule (Tuesdays through Friday) to do the session’s work. See Legislative pages below

The work to combat the ongoing Coronavirus health and economic crisis continues to be on the front burner for the Scott Administration and the Legislature, as it was last year. House and Senate Leadership have promised to tackle other key issues as well.

The ongoing crisis a has only heightened the precarious situations many Vermonters face: low income children accessing the internet for remote learning; food insecurity and isolation for the elderly and those with disabilities; loss of income and/or those needing to work for low wages on the front lines with few safety measures; housing; healthcare and other.

Much work remains to help stabilize low income families in the short term and include all Vermonters in the recovery efforts.

The legislature addressed many of these issues during the extended session last year with the help of substantial federal funds and existing state revenues, and the focus this session will again be COVID recovery efforts. There is some additional federal funds passed in H.R. 133 already authorized in December (see link below) but the needs certainly exceed the federal assistance provided and there is an expected State budget gap of be $180 million. The Legislature will be working on the Budget Adjustment bill theses first few weeks.

Newly elected president Joe Biden is putting forth another stimulus bill

The package includes more than $400 billion to combat the pandemic directly, including money to accelerate vaccine deployment and to safely reopen most schools within 100 days. Another $350 billion would help state and local government’s bridge budget shortfalls, while the plan would also include $1,400 direct payments to individuals, more generous unemployment benefits, federally mandated paid leave for workers and large subsidies for child care costs.

It remains to be seen what kind of cooperation there will be in the Congress to pass this additional stimulus package. The Governor is expected to give his Budget Address on January 26, 2021 @ 1:00PM. (Tentative)

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***LAST WEEK***

Governor Scott State of the State:

The Governor gave his State of the State address on Jan 7th  which focused largely on the pandemic and what his administration plans to do to recover. Some of his policy proposals included modernizing Act 250, investing in home revitalization and child care, retaining and recruiting working families, giving licensed preschools property tax exemptions, and reviewing health insurance premiums.

Full text of the Governor’s speech here: https://vtdigger.org/2021/01/07/full-text-gov-phil-scotts-2021-inaugural-address/

VCDR testified along with other advocates and providers in “front” of the House Health Care, House Human Services and Senate Health and Welfare Committees. The Committees were seeking information on the uses of Coronavirus Relief Funds, what was the impact, and how were the needs of your organizations met? Were there any unmet needs or gaps in funding?

You can find some of the testimony on the Committees Website.

Senate Health and Welfare: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2022/27/Date/1-14-2021#documents-section

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***LEGISLATIVE PAGES***

Legislature Website: https://legislature.vermont.gov/

Complete Schedule of Legislative Committee Agendas:

https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/weeklyAgendas/2022

House and Senate Committee Pages: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2022/9/Date/1-15-2021#documents-section

All committees can be viewed through you tube LIVE STREAM. You can find the link on the committee’s page or the agenda.

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***SELECTED TESTIMONY***

Appropriations – Budget Adjustment

ADAM GRESHIN, COMMISSIONER, DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Human Services

SARAH LAUNDERVILLE – January 14                                                                 Vermont Center for Independent Living Second Quarter Report
2022/WorkGroups/House Human Services/COVID19 Response/DAIL/Disabilities Vermont Center for Independent Living Survey Results
2022/WorkGroups/House Human Services/COVID19 Response/DAIL/Disabilities Vermont Center for Independent Living Testimony
2022/WorkGroups/House Human Services/COVID19 Response/DAIL/Disabilities

JULIE TESSLER – January 14 Vermont Care Partners Written Testimony
2022/WorkGroups/House Human Services/COVID19 Response/DAIL/Designated Agencies

SARAH CLARK

SEAN BROWN – January 19

JANET HUNT

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***JOINT FISCAL INFORMATION***

Joint Fiscal Page: https://ljfo.vermont.gov/

Stimulus Package
2nd Federal Stimulus Package – Estimates to Vermont – Updated January 15, 2021

All Coronavirus Relief Fund Appropriations by Category

Published on Dec 21, 2020 by Stephanie Barrett, Associate Fiscal Officer, Joint Fiscal Office

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***COMMITTEE HIGHLIGHTS***

House and Senate Committee Pages: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2022/9/Date/1-15-2021#documents-section

Below please find highlight of House and Senate Committees this week. You can go to any committee page to find documents, bills, and testimony by date, witness, bill numbers and key word searches.

House Committees

The House Committee on Appropriations will take up the budget adjustment bill all week, taking up Human Services on Wednesday and Thursday.

House Institutions and Corrections will take review correction inmate statistics on Wednesday and take up the Report of the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems Advisory Panel on Thursday.

On Thursday the House Committee on Education will review  Act 173 Policy Brief Special Education and on Friday will receive an update on Education’s response to COVID-19.

The House Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs will take up the “Basic Needs” and two bills, H.28 and H.41 entitled:                         H.28 – An act relating to the basic needs budget and H. 41 – An act relating to family leave and insurance protections for organ donors on Thursday.

On Wednesday House Health Care in a joint meeting with House Human Services and Senate Health and Welfare will discuss the COVID-19 response and receive an Overview of New Federal Funding and Guidelines.

The House Human Services Committee will hear from the Department for Children and Families on Tuesday and again on Thursday taking up the Covid-19 response and Child Care.

Senate Committees

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hear from the Secretary of Human Services on Wednesday and from the Department of Children and Families on Thursday

The Senate Committee on Education will take up Introductions and discussion of COVID-related Education needs from the Chair of the State Board of Education

The Senate Committee on Government Operations will hear the report of the Racial Equity Plan on Wednesday.

The Senate Committee on Health and Welfare will hold a Joint meeting with House Committees on Human Services and on Health Care on the COVID-19 response on Wednesday morning.

The Senate Committee on Institutions will hear from the Department of Mental Health on Tuesday.

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VT Care Partners Legislative Update: https://vermontcarepartners.org/legislative-view/

Legislative Update for January 19, 2021 – New Biennium; Pressures and Challenges of 2022 the Budget – Expect a State of Flux; House Appropriations Receives Overview of AHS CRF Expenditures; House and Senate Committees on Health and Human Services Learn about CRF; House Human Services Hears Introductory Remarks by AHS Secretary Mike Smith; Human Service Committee Review of Potential Legislation; Senate Judiciary Committee Plan to Return to Insanity and Competency Issues

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