 Okay, we are back here and just so that everybody knows we were not doing committee business, we had to take a leg stretch here and take care of other functions. So, with that we are back now. And I have a couple things that I'm going to say here about the process and then I will kind of open it up to comments. I have asked JFO to do a fiscal note on this because I'm sure appropriations will want it and will I don't know if you've heard from them or not. I suspect they will be contacting you. I heard from this morning and we met with this morning. Okay, great. So I've done that. I think that the speediest way for us to do this because it has to go to appropriations is to do a strike all of s 51 and put it on there. S 51 is a bill that we is in our committee that asks talks about curing balance. So it's appropriate. And I think that that's the best the fastest way to do this other than having it reintroduced and go through all of that. Does everybody agree that that's sorry we're putting this whole bill on s 51. We're going to do a strike all we're going to take s 51. It exists right now into a strike all and put this bill on it. And because I don't have it up in front of me who's bill was a special hooker. It was Cheryl hookers and it dealt with curing balance. So that's right. That's right. Perfect. She'll be thrilled. Okay. Does that make sense. Brian. Thank you. So just procedurally that means this will not be a committee bill. It could be a committee bill, but I didn't know if you were if you wanted it to be. I would prefer it not be. Okay. So I think you've chosen the correct vehicle. That's that's why I did that because. Okay, she's a wise, she's a wise woman. She is indeed. Thank you. So then here, I hope will be our schedule. Going forward is that since we're putting it on s 51. Amron you got that. Okay. So it should, the final version should be able to come back to us maybe on Tuesday. Is that possible. There are a few changes that need to be made. Is it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Clarkson. Sorry. Did did Keshia Rahm ask for a question yet? Yes. I said that I'm going to give everybody a chance to have their to say whatever they want here, but I'm trying to. Figure out so that we're all aware of what the process might be. Okay. Perfect. If it works for well, it works for me. Okay. So on Tuesday, we should have S 51. A new S 51. And it will the. Sponsor will be Senator Hooker. Because that's what who has 51 is the sponsor. And then. We'll vote it out on Tuesday. So it can be on the floor on notice on Wednesday. And it'll be then sent immediately to appropriations. On Wednesday. Does that work? Good. So we don't want to pile them up the last week. And we want to get the, the best for question first. Great. Okay. So now Senator Rahm. Yeah, I don't think this could be taken up next week as opposed, but I thought this bill was also the vehicle. For our election item around language access and supporting people. Who speak another language as a first language. If we want to add that in here, we better do it right now today. Okay. It was, it was on that list. And it was, I would like to add it. I don't know. Do you have language? I thought that what we heard from. The secretary of state's office is that they had been working with. People around this issue, but I might be wrong. That question for me, we, we certainly have Senator White. On a pilot basis, the last two election cycles in Burlington and the last two. I, that was not on the list. I don't believe that you sent to me to. Go forward with on drafting. It was, it was not on the list to go forward on drafting. It was on our very initial list that somebody had talked about translation services. But so what kind, what language would you suggest putting in here? Senator Rahm. You know, I was thinking more about the section at the end where it talks about the new position, but that the secretary of state would have the responsibility of supporting any community that asks for language assistance. Based on, I mean, you know, I believe everyone should be entitled to it if they request it. So it might need to be that they have to request it at a certain time in advance or that the, it's a municipality that's aware of it. But I think it's a good idea to have a significant number of people with that language need. And would it be printing ballots in a different language or giving Trent, assistant, translation assistance? I'm not sure. I don't know best practice right now. I could try to look that up really quickly. I don't know what's happening in Burlington. But if Will has had a pilot, then Will may have a best practice already with the pilot in Winooski and Burlington. And I would tag on, is it the, are we offering this to municipalities or to individuals? Help with language with translation. Well, the individual, there may be an individual in Hartford that would need it. So it's, you know, I don't know who's responsible for helping the town figure out how to meet the best practices. But yes, any, anyone should be able to request that service of their municipality for any election. And if they're requesting it as a service, it would probably be interpretation, which is spoken. If they were a large enough population, they may request a written translated ballot in advance. I don't know if Audrey knows how other, I mean, there are whole towns that only speak Spanish. They're parts of the country. So I don't know if there is best practice around the country. Audrey, do you have. I, the quick answer is that there's lots of options. And, and we're happy to sort of collate some of those and bring those to this committee or even to just you, you know, but I love the sense that they're working on that. I also like to push them to meet with the mayor, your mayor or anyone else who hasn't heard it before, uh, he's in Senate or Ram or even work with Secretary of state's office. Um, so, um, Could we make it a possible committee amendment to the bill and work on it over the weekend and into Tuesday. Madam chair. Yes. Chris had a comment. Chris. I thank you. Chris Winters, a deputy secretary of state. some concerns about the limited resources of the Secretary of State's office and where we direct those resources based on need. And I think if any community reached out to us for this, we would we would work with them, we would assist them, we connect them with other nonprofits who do this, we connect them with interpreter services. That's what we've been doing in Burlington and Winooski. I just I'm a little fearful of any language that's not clearly directing us that puts a responsibility on our shoulders that we might not be able to meet if any community were to reach out and it says Secretary of State shall provide interpreter services or shall provide translated ballots. We just need to assess the details and know the situation before we're obligated to it, given our limited resources. What if we put language in there in a section 20, new section 20 and then renumbered them that said something like the Secretary of State will bring back to the committee, best practices around honoring the right to vote by non English speaking citizens. Or something about language access. Right. Well, it would be for non English speaking people. That's who it would. But however, it's worded that because that would be something that could be we could actually pass next year, because it isn't. I mean, we could look at that for the next year, because it isn't making a change to the election systems itself. So that could happen in an election year. If the Secretary of State comes back in January with some recommendations of this is the way to do it. The court system has a really good translation system set up. So the way the best way to do it is to put people in touch with the court system and we can work with them, whatever. Right. In fact, the best practice is to ask the affected communities, you know what they prefer. So, you know, it would be great to get a study or something that's in relation with some of the cultural liaisons in those communities to ask what would be the most effective and weigh that against the cost and sort of come up with a recommendation for us. So what if we did? What if we put some language in there in section, the new section 20 that just says come back with us to us with some suggestions of how best to meet the needs, the voting right needs of non English speaking citizens. We would love to do something like that and report back on the work that we've already done and what we're learning in the two communities where we're doing this. It'd be it'd be great to have more eyes on that and make that public and lay it out as a best practice for other communities to use. Great. Paul. Paul. Madam Chair, thank you. I wanted to express our strong support for the direction of this conversation. My organization and some of the partner organizations who have a strong interest in these issues have been interested to see what more could be done along these lines as well. And I totally agree with Senator Robb that you want to bring them into the conversation. So I think that the thrust in the direction that you're going to have a report back and potentially deal with something next year in terms of the specific language and requirements is great. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for bringing that up, Senator Rom. It kind of got lost in the shuffle here. Thanks for... But it was on the original list of issues. Yeah, I just didn't remember it getting wiped off. So I was looking for it. Yeah, I don't. I think it got lost. I don't think it got wiped off. Is that okay with anybody, Amaran and Will or Chris, can you work on some language to just add that in as a section 21? Yes. Okay. I mean 20. 20. Okay. Any other questions, comments, concerns, speeches, accolades, disses, anything you want to do? Anybody? John? I just wanted to say this is an extraordinary, even historic task you all are undertaken. And I'm very appreciative that you invited me into the process. Thank you, Pat. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just echo what John said. This has been an amazing process and it's a fabulous bill. I guess I'm just wondering from a Secretary of State's perspective, what's the process for once this bill has passed for getting the word out? Because there's a lot of changes and people need to know not just the town clerks, but people need to know all the changes. And how does that work? How do we get it out? You. Exactly. What we're going to do is show on this. I've already decided. Pat, are you asking what's our marketing plan? Yeah. We need to make sure that people know what the details are because there's a lot of stuff you guys have done an amazing job. Thank you, Pat. You will rely on our partners as we did in 2020. We had a lot of help from our friends in getting the word out on how to return your ballot, how to fill it out properly, the changes. So that was couched as a temporary situation in 2020. Well, if it's going to be permanent, we're going to do a bit more. We had PSAs. We had PBS did a great video, seven days in Digger. And some of the people on this line did a lot of social. I was going to say between Paul and Lila and the Secretary of State's office and the rest of all of you, I think we'll be fine. OK, good, because I think it's people, it's hard. I mean, people get confused. So this is a great. And it's a great bill. It's just simplifying so many things. Good job. Good. Thank you. Anybody else? Oh, Audrey, I just I just really quickly wanted to thank this committee and everyone in the stakeholder group that has been working really hard on this bill. We believe that in Vermont and every state voter should have the freedom to cast their ballot at home or in person. And we can give voters options that work for them without compromising the security and safety of our elections. And I'm just so, so pleased to have folks like you all that are working really diligently on this process. And we're here to help with anything that that you might need. So thank you so much for your work. You're doing just a fabulous job. Thank you. Paul. Madam Chair, I don't want to jinx anything. I know you haven't actually voted yet, but but I too want to thank you for the conversation and the tremendous progress that you've made. And I appreciate you listening to so many different voices in this process. We've been happy to help shepherd some of those voices to the to the table and just really, really pleased with where you are right now. So thank you. And I think you'll find a lot of public support for this as well. Good. Thank you. Well, I will I will just say that this is an amazing committee. The members of this committee are, I think, truly an amazing group of people and have worked really hard. And we're all coming from different places and all contributed. And and I think all of you, I think the committee will thank all of you who have been here and listening to us and contributing and dealing with our sometimes frustrations and technical glitches and everything else. So I think it's been a pretty amazing process. And I personally want to thank all of you. Yes. And we want to thank you. Your leadership has been splendid. So you're particularly navigating some of the political aspects of this bill. You just even those of us who who may not be happy that we didn't go down some of those political rabbit holes. You kept us in a productive process. And I applaud you for that. Thank you. I agree. So. I agree. There it will. Real quick, thanks to everybody. I don't have to repeat everything everybody said, but I really appreciate everybody's work on this, especially the committee members. And seeing this process through since early December, it's been impressive taking a lot of input and parsing through it and coming up with something we all feel good about, I hope. And just specifically, too, I wanted to mention because nobody has I wanted to thank Amarin, who. Yes, yes. Her first big her first big bill with us is really trial by fire. And for somebody who's new to the business, the last couple of weeks working with her has been great. So thanks, Amarin, also and look forward to it. And we saw the great product today. So yes, thank you. And Paul, not meaning to jinx the vote or anything, but the reason I did this today is because when we get it on Tuesday, I want us to just quickly vote on and move on to other things. That's that's why. OK, Chris. And I'll just add my thanks to the committee as well and all the partners on the line here in Vermont. We have a lot to be proud of when it comes to elections. And a lot of that comes from this committee and the House Government Operations Committee and the support we've gotten from the legislature. So you all have lots to be proud of here in having some of the most accessible elections and secure elections in the country in Vermont. So I'm I'm proud to be a part of that. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Callemore. Yes, I have the last word. I hesitated to say anything one way or another. I checked off as we went through. There's only four sections that I have issues with. And I think it's been pretty obvious throughout the process that I won't be voting in favor of the bill. That doesn't mean that what we do in this committee doesn't matter. I think it makes it a better bill if there are contrasting views and opinions. And I tried my best to at least stay engaged to the point where even if I could change it just a little bit with everybody else's agreement, I think it's a better bill than if everybody just sort of nod and went, yeah, OK, that's great. Well, and I'm not so while I'm not sure about analogies anymore, because when I use them, I sometimes regret them. I don't want to be a skunk at the garden party, but, you know, that's sometimes what I feel like. But never in this committee, because I really honestly do value everybody's views and opinions. And just because we don't always agree, doesn't mean there's anything personal. And I think that reflects positively on the state of Vermont as well. And certainly the legislative process. We all come from this at a different angle. And anyway, thank you. No, thank you. And I you are not the skunk at the garden party because your input is very much valued here. And we all come from different perspectives. And we all might have liked to have seen some differences in some of the places in this bill. But even the fact that there are only a few places where you disagreed is is a huge, huge undertaking, I think. So you would never be the skunk at the garden party. But speaking of skunks at garden parties. Last night, I heard a thump on our porch and I went out to look and there was this possum sitting on my back porch. Aren't they hibernated? Well, he must it must have gotten warm. He came out. He was really furry. He had very thick fur. And somebody told me to make sure I feed him because they eat ticks. Yes. Yes. Get any foul on possums like ticks. OK, anyway, I didn't mean to derail the conversation here, but I thought I'd throw that in as maybe one of the last comments. Anybody else have any thing they'd like to throw in here? Well, I just want to say as the newest member, it was it was just, I think I said in the middle, kind of jarringly transparent. And I actually just really appreciate that. I have not been on a committee like this in my eight years in the house and being new to the Senate. And I really credit you, Madam Chair, I think it's a great model for people to follow and know that even if we disagree, we respect each other and we blade it all out there as we ask our towns to do a lot with open meeting law. So really grateful to be on this committee and appreciate your leadership. Thank you. And here here here, I think the one thing I'd like to add because I've already spoken about this. But, you know, as we look at the good things that have come out of this horrific pandemic, you know, this is one of our best lessons learned, you know, that we are leaving, you know, having crafting this bill, really, we would never be. We wouldn't be here if it if it hadn't been for COVID-19. So despite all its horrific challenges, I I am really glad it's given us this because I think we've all been educated in during the process of of turning to this for last year's election. And I think we've all learned a huge amount, all of us. And so I guess I I I hesitate to say this, but thank you, COVID-19, because two years ago, we would not we would not be doing, you know, this is this is great. So and I think we heard from both Audrey and Will that in most states, it took between five and seven years to get to this point. And it took us less than a year. Yes, less than a year. So, Senator Polina, you had your hand up. Well, just I was going to go back to what Alison just said. I've often said that we we don't want to go back to normal because normal wasn't so good when we look at the economy and the environment. You know, we want to get over the pandemic pandemic over with so we go back to normal. We want to go back to something better than normal. And this was an example of where we did that, where we could take a system and actually make systemic change in this case and how we vote and how we participate in democracy. And so we actually I agree, Alison, we're ending up with something better than we started off with before the pandemic. And it's a lesson that other committees and we should use on other issues. I mean, imagine if this they let this committee design the health care system or something, maybe we should do that next week. It's how government operates. No, you're the best, really. Yeah, building back better together. Yeah. All right. Anything else or are we ready for a weekend? I'm Jeanette, we haven't thanked Gail, who's just been really well ordered. Oh, my God. Yes. Thank you. I always thank Gail. Gail is the sixth member of the committee. I mean, when we talk about the committee, I just assume we're talking about Gail. Gail, thank you. Yes. Well, thank you all. Thanks for putting up with all my gyrations. And even though I haven't been participating, it has been fascinating. And I would concur with with what Senator Colomore said that, you know, we all respect one another. We all value one another's opinions and. You know, I am just amazed at Vermont having lived in Vermont only for the past six years and come from other places where there's so many factions and so many people weighing in that there's no consensus. I'm just blown away at how this committee comes to consensus, even if they don't all agree. So thank you. Thank you. And I miss you being able to pass me notes. OK, so you and I are going to stay for just a little while. OK, great to talk about next schedule. Sure. It's our family are cooked by young moment. Have a great weekend. Thanks, everybody. Have a great weekend and thank you all. Thank you. Excellent. Thanks, everybody.