 Hello and welcome to Under the Dome from Town Meeting TV. My name is Bobby Lucia and I'll be one of your program hosts for this year. Under the Dome is Town Meeting TV's coverage of the Vermont legislature. So we're here in Montpelier today and there's a lot going on at the State House right now. We have a youth-led climate action rally happening just this morning and a lot of legislators are scrambling to get the votes passed for their bills as we approach the end of the session. So let's go take a look at what's going on inside the State House and see what we can find. So each bill that's being considered in this legislative session started in a committee, either in the House or in the Senate. And around the middle of the session in March there's a deadline called Crossover Day when all of the bills have to be passed by those committees and then by the entire chamber on one side in order to make it over to the other chamber to be considered by another committee and then passed by that other chamber. So the legislators that we're talking with today are going to be considering legislation that they received from the other chamber that they're now considering on their side of things and they're also keeping an eye on the legislation that they passed through their committees and their chamber which is now in the hands of the other chamber. Angela, can you just start by talking a little bit about what committee you serve on and what bills you've worked on this session? I'd be happy to. So my name's Angela Arsenault. I don't know if I need to say that. But I'm on the Judiciary Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and we have been working on so many bills this session. We are a proudly prolific committee, I would say. One of the first big bills that we took on was H89, which is the SHIELD bill on the House side. It has a companion bill in the Senate, but that was kind of one of the first big bills that I've been a part of since this is my first year in the legislature and that felt really, really good at helping, you know, work on something that was aiming at protecting providers of legally protected healthcare. We've also worked on, in the first part of the session, we worked on a group of bills dealing with domestic and sexual violence, really working to help and protect survivors and victims as much as possible, giving them different avenues, opening up the avenue to community justice instead of just criminal, the criminal justice system. We have worked on, well, I just presented my first floor report yesterday. That was for a bill we got from the Senate, which is S3, a bill that will prohibit paramilitary training facilities. That passed the House today on third reading, so that'll go back to the Senate and probably, well, I shouldn't say, but possibly be approved there. We only made a few minor changes, so those are just a few of the bills and groups of bills that I can think of, but we have worked on quite a range and it's all fascinating. So you mentioned that this is your first term as a legislator. What have you learned about legislating in these first few months? It's funny, I've learned, I can talk about what I've learned about the mechanics of bill drafting and committee work and there's that side of things and then there's just what it means to me, I can only speak from my perspective, what it means to be in this position and to have the opportunity and the privilege to be in this position. So I would say what I've learned about on the more mechanical side of things, you know, there's a really robust, collaborative working environment in my committee, in the judiciary, on the judiciary committee and so it's great to see, to know for sure now, that multiple voices are invited into the room, listened to. We, I have a really wonderful chair, representative Lelone from South Burlington and he's helped create an environment where everyone can ask their questions and I think that's so important in this work so I'm really grateful for that and then on the more kind of personal side of doing this job, I've been extremely lucky to come in with a large group of first year legislators, first year representatives especially and they're just amazing, like really smart, really curious, really open, really focused on equity and inclusion and really interested in learning, which is such an important part of this. No one comes into this work knowing everything. We know, I would say relatively very little about what we're eventually going to be doing. Some of us have a professional background in, you know, like some folks who worked in healthcare or on the healthcare committee but many of us just come in and for whatever reason, whatever got us here, there's so much to learn and it's been so supportive and exciting and really lovely, I mean it's intense and it's hard but to do it with a group of people who are extremely dedicated and so supportive of one another feels really special. Hello, Representative Kate Logan from the Chittenden 16 District that covers most of central Old North End and downtown Burlington. I serve on the House Committee on Environment and Energy. It has a pretty broad scope of policy that we work on, anything that has to do with environmental contamination, pollution, recycling, solid waste, land use, zoning, also kind of anything that would have to do with the climate as long as it's not related to transportation or agriculture. So energy policy as well. So we've covered a lot of that already this year. We have passed bills out of committee. Most of them have come to the House floor and passed with over 100 votes on things like household hazardous waste, making it easier to dispose of household hazardous waste, expanding what counts as household hazardous waste and putting resources into that program. We have expanded the bottle deposit for recyclables so more things will have a deposit on them and be recyclable in that way, which will ensure a higher quality of recycling materials are coming out of our recycling streams in Vermont. That change will take effect in a few years. Once that bill is passed, it's called the Bottle Bill. We passed an amazing bill called 30 by 30 on conservation, which would conserve 30% of land in Vermont by 2030 and 50% of Vermont's land by 2050 and focus our residential development in areas that are not essential to Vermont's biodiversity. So that's an important study bill. So there's going to be an extensive planning process to develop that plan for 30 by 30 and 50 by 50. Of course, if it passes out of the Senate. And then the most recent bill we passed out of committee just yesterday is S5, the Affordable Heat Act, which establishes a clean heat standard for heating homes and buildings in Vermont, similar to the renewable energy standard. It just says like, hey, here's how we want to reduce emissions from this sector. Right now the thermal sector contributes almost 40% of carbon emissions in Vermont. So we're trying to reduce that by about 80% by 2050 and trying to create the market conditions that we need in the thermal sector to make that possible as we have done with renewable energy. And right now we're working on a housing bill to change zoning to make it possible to more densely develop in our historical settlement areas and put resources into affordable housing development in those places. And then we're going to be moving on to talking about the renewable energy standard, which was passed in 2015 and needs some updates. So this is your first term as a legislator. Can you just tell us a bit about what you've learned about legislating and what it takes to get bills passed and act change? Yeah, thanks. I have learned a lot. I had some experience as a community organizer and lobbyist in the past, helping to get legislation passed like the minimum wage increase in Vermont. But on this side of things, I think it's just the experience of being a legislator has impressed upon me how difficult it is to get as much done as we would like to for a couple of reasons. We meet for five months, roughly each year. We're all paid only about $13,000 a year, plus some expenses, which makes it fairly inaccessible to a range of different perspectives in the legislature. So getting fully educated, considering every aspect of these really complex issues in a very short period of time, and making sure that we're bringing in people into the statehouse to give perspectives that we ourselves don't hold, it's a lot of work, especially if you've heard the list of things that we've worked on. It means we're all working really long hours, we're learning a lot in a very short period of time, and we want to do it well, so we're pushing ourselves really hard. We're working really hard. So it's hard work. That's one piece. The other thing is, again, like I mentioned with the federal government, because they're not taking action on things like child care policy, paid family and medical leave insurance, health care, climate, a number of things that we're not seeing big national policy being passed, that means every state in the United States has to do this work on our own. So it's putting it on states like Vermont to develop clean heat standard, for example, that we hope will be adopted in other states similar to renewable energy standards and like the clean fuel standard that Oregon and California have passed. We're hoping to bring that here into Vermont. So it's a lot of pressure to do what seems like national policy at the state level, but happy to do it, really glad to be here, and just wish we all had more time, or needed less sleep. Thank you so much, Kate. Taylor, thank you for joining us. Can you just share a little bit about what committee you serve on and what bills you've been championing this session? Absolutely. So I get the privilege to serve on the House Human Services Committee, which focuses on the full agency of human services, and really our work directly impacts Vermonters, especially some of our most vulnerable Vermonters. And so this year, speaking of vulnerable Vermonters, we took up adult protective services and rewriting that full statute making sure that it was working in the favor of the people who are going to be using that process, especially using plain language in those discussions for folks with developmental disabilities or who need additional support in knowing the process, which most state processes are complicated to begin with. Other things that we're taking up is overdose prevention, knowing that again this year, Vermont sent a record for the number of overdose deaths due to opioids. And so we passed H-222, which took some smaller steps, incremental change on access to treatment, barriers in the field, and expanding harm reduction services for the state. But I'm really excited that in the next week, we're going to be taking up overdose prevention sites, something that we tried to do last year, but was vetoed by the governor. Coming back to it again this year and really understanding that we need bold change, we need bold action to prevent overdose deaths in the state of Vermont. You mentioned the importance of plain language. I think, so CCTV houses the Vermont Language Justice Project, and so we try to stay tuned into the ways that language justice is moving forward in the state and the ways that the state of Vermont is advancing language access and language justice. Can you speak to the ways that the state of Vermont is considering language access or what's kind of being done to make sure the people who don't speak English as their first language are able to benefit from the resources that our state has? Oh, absolutely. Plain language, which has become a common theme across bills that we've been considering this year, especially when it comes to notifications directly to Vermonters. We don't want it to be complicated. We want folks to understand the information that's coming from the state. But I do also have to acknowledge that we have a long way to go when it comes to language access here in Vermont, and I'm really grateful that we have the Office of Racial Equity in the governor's office that is focusing on these key pieces. Susanna Davis and her office has now released two reports, one in 2020 and the most recent one on language access as well as departmental changes that need to happen in order for Vermonters who either are multilingual and don't speak English. What I hear directly actually from my constituents in Winooski is that we take for granted this privilege of being able to read in our native tongue. And what a majority of refugees and new Americans are coming in and saying is, I know how to speak my language. I don't fully know how to read my language. And so when we're putting out all of these written materials, we think that we're doing our best work. We've translated it into languages that are spoken here in the state, and yet that spoken piece is the most important. And that's where our growing edges is really leading into multimedia, just like town meeting TV, and providing video descriptions or providing opportunities for folks to meet with a navigator who can explain it all out for them. You also serve on the discrimination panel. Can you tell us a little bit about what that panel does and what you're up to there? Yes. So the discrimination prevention panel was established in recognizing that we are a self-regulating body, meaning that there are no outside sources of kind of checks and balances when it comes to the membership of the General Assembly. We are the ones who would impose any action such as censure or expulsion, but also making sure that we're creating a safe and equitable work environment for everyone here, both folks in the General Assembly and the staff as well. And so the discrimination prevention panel is majority response to discrimination or reports of discrimination that are coming up in the State House, as well as putting through a very thorough policy as to what we want to see for the State House and the culture here, and training for our members. So, so far this year we've gone through that policy and tried to parse out what discrimination looks like, what it is, what it isn't, and then are continuing to work with the Office of Racial Equity to continue discrimination prevention trainings, which I believe will happen in the next year. So my name is Representative Carol Odie. I'm on the House Ways and Means Committee. Currently, we're working on the Child Care Bill this very week. Well, we're getting all the background so we know how we will attempt to finance that program. We were, personally, what I've championed is banning child marriage under the age of 18 and that passed the House, went to the Senate, passed there, came back and made a small minor tweak in the House, and now it is a bill that has completely passed both chambers and it's on its way to the governor's desk. Hi, I'm Tiff Blumlee, and I represent the south end of Burlington, and I am on the Appropriations Committee, and it's my first year there. And, you know, our sole job is to pass the budget and legislation with appropriations in them, and it is a fascinating, incredibly complex process. I basically spent two months in one room with all of my colleagues hearing testimony from a variety of people about the budget and what should be in it, and working with committees to understand what they think should be in the budget and a priority. And we got the budget passed through the House just a couple weeks ago, and it's in the Senate, and they probably are having their way with it, and we'll get it back, and we will have a conference over any differences. So, yeah. Thank you both so much. So there's a lot of big investments, you know, sort of proposed by Democrats in the budget this year, child care, paid family medical leave. Can you talk a little bit about how we're going to pay for that as a state? Well, we would both have kind of complementary answers because, you know, some of it is on Carol's end, which is ways and means and raising revenues in different ways, and some of it is through income we know that it's already been forecast we are going to have through the various taxes that we levy, plus carry forward money from the prior year, plus some remaining ARPA recovery money, and, you know, the big investments, I mean, we're talking about passing child care legislation, paid family leave, insurance, and major housing legislation, and that, you know, that will cost money, and we happen to have surpluses that Carol can talk about on the tax side, but surpluses and ARPA money that can fund some of the infrastructure stuff related to building, housing. Plus, we're, you know, well, no, I think that's really I've covered the ground. But you, Carol. Well, one thing that we are all committed to is spending one-time money on one-time obligations. So that we don't obligate ourselves going into the future with money that wouldn't be replicated. For paid family medical leave insurance, we are looking at one-half of a percent on the payroll where the employer would choose whether the employer would pay the full half a percent or would share that with the employee. And then, as long as you're an employer who offers benefits that are equal to what we're asking to be provided, then you would not have to be part of that program. So you can opt out if you want by providing those benefits. On the childcare, that is a bigger bill, a big bill. What I mean is it's a huge amount of money that we have to come up with. And we're just now, just briefly looking at the old Blue Ribbon Tax Commission report of 2011, I think, and then another one that was more recent, maybe 2020. And we're taking into account what they have said about how taxation in Vermont might look going forward. We've got a tax system that doesn't necessarily reflect how people are spending money today. For example, we have sales tax, but we don't have tax on very many services. So both of those commission reports said maybe you should expand to cover some services that aren't currently covered, not all, but some. And then lower the tax on sales, a little combination. But that's one of the things that we looked at last week. And nothing has been decided at all. We're just trying to get a lay of the land. But we're very much committed to helping with childcare. And what was the other thing that you... I just wanted to add one thing. It is an investment that we are making that is not one time that I think is really critical. That was a key priority of both the health care and the human services committees. And that is investing in service providers in our communities who are doing the work that we desperately need them to do. The social workers, doctors, nurses, et cetera. We have maintained Medicaid reimbursement rates at a certain level that has made it almost untenable for the organizations that run these services. And this year, we've made a big commitment to them, recognizing that we cannot continue to afford to do this. And of course, this issue is really pushed forward by the fact that getting people to fill those jobs is really hard. Why? Because they don't pay enough to live on. So I just... It's something that people don't think about. It doesn't capture a lot of attention. It's not shiny, but it's critical. Something else I would say is what we are doing is we are bringing the priorities of our monitors to the State House. These are not our individual priorities. These are when we go door-to-door and when we have listening sessions, you know, by Zoom, or at our NPA meetings for Burlington, we are listening to what people are saying. And they are saying that they want jobs that pay enough so that their families, their children and grandchildren can decide to live in Vermont and stay in Vermont. And they need access to childcare. These are the people who are coming to the doors to talk to us. The children need access to childcare, healthcare, affordable housing, and time off when they have a child and that they are able to care for their parents if their parents are ill. So these are things that we have heard from the people who live in the places we represent. There was another thing. Oh, and a mental health system of care that works and of course public safety. And the situation in downtown Burlington, it can be very difficult right now. So we are really trying hard to find wrap-round services and housing for people who are currently on the street. And that can mean mental health care, substance abuse care, and things like that.