 Good evening and welcome. I'm Diane Meyerhoff host for tonight's candidate forum for Chittenden County State Senate Tonight's show is being aired live on channel 17 and streamed live on the channel 17 website. We welcome your comments and questions Please join the conversation at 8 6 2 3 9 6 6 The Chittenden County Senate delegation is made up of six seats as such will be taking candidates in groups throughout the evening Three separate groups Candidates joining me now are the two incumbents Democrat progressive incumbents Tim Ash and Phil Baruth Libertarian Seth Connayor Connayor Connayor, sorry and Republican Alex Farrell. Thank you all for coming out tonight Thank you The ground rules for tonight's forum is the candidates will make opening statements of up to two minutes each Then they will answer prepared questions and also questions that were emailed to us in advance for two minutes With a possible one-minute rebuttal We're gonna start with opening statements, and we're gonna ask the candidates why they're running and the experience that they bring to the position We're gonna start with Tim Ash. Tim. Well, thank you Diane So I've been very privileged to serve as a state senator since 2009 I was elected on the night that President Barack Obama was elected I didn't know how important that night would be until I've watched the last year and a half or so In the Senate, I'm the president of the Vermont Senate, which means that the other 29 senators elected me to be their leader I've been very proud just this last year We were able to achieve something and working closely with Senator Baruth on this gun safety legislation Which had eluded previous Legislatures and administrations for a very long time. That was very community driven, which I think makes it All the more promising in terms of the public safety that it offers There are a whole variety of issues that I care deeply about and that I want to return to work on including increasing the minimum wage Rebuilding our mental health and human services infrastructure, including most importantly the workforce Fighting climate change an area that we've made some strides here in Vermont But we now know that we're emitting more than we were 25 years ago or so. So we have more work to do there I'll leave it at that and say that my professional background I worked for a number of years developing affordable senior housing for Cathedral Square before that I worked for then congressman Bernie Sanders I've done teaching in our state college system and work with nonprofits on development projects So it's been a great privilege to serve the people of Chittenden County and hope I can continue to with their support in November Great. Thank you Tim. Phil, opening statement So I am Senator Phil Baruth. This is my fourth term ending now I'm looking for a fifth Tim mentioned the 2008 Barack Obama election I was actually a delegate that year to Denver and it was one of the more amazing experiences of my life So I like to think in some microscopic way. I contributed to the Obama era Currently I'm chair of education in the Senate and I sit on the Economic Development Committee and in both areas. I think I do Really necessary work for the state growing the economy or doing my best to grow the economy and Looking out for our children in their education and also the taxpayers that fund that system So just a couple of things from each of those venues in terms of economic development and General affairs as the committee is known We passed among other legislation the $15 minimum wage and also paid family leave We worked very hard on those. I think the bills were necessary They would have helped us become a more attractive state for people to move to Unfortunately, both were vetoed by the governor, but it is my intention certainly and I think Tim's a Senate president That if we're returned by the voters, we will go back to those issues very quickly And then the other thing in terms of education Tim mentioned gun safety and that was huge Something that I worked very hard on for five years But in addition to that the legislature also passed a four million dollar grant program to upgrade security physically at schools and then in addition to that My committee wrote a grant program to make restorative justice an attractive model for districts to adopt So that they can get grants to adopt that disciplinary model Why is that important because another reason why people believe that mass shootings occur? Is that sometimes you have students who fall through their cracks or harbor grudges because of Suspensions and disciplinary matters Stop you there That opening statement. Yeah, first I would like to thank channel 17 and Diane for monitoring this debate It's definitely huge currently our sitting senators consist of 21 Democrats seven Republicans and two progressives Personally that worries me. I think it should worry anyone not because there's 21 Democrats I'd be worried if there was a 21 Republicans in the Senate rather the Legislative branch is supposed to be having these important debates and with one side dominating the debate It's very hard for the legislative branch to do that job if anything I offer a different perspective a perspective in the Senate And you know if elected I would not only be the first libertarian sitting senator But also be the youngest sitting senator and as you'll see a lot of the issues facing Vermont and Vermonters today Have to do with my younger generation a lot of which are leaving Vermont We need to figure out how to best keep Vermonters here and want and have Vermonters want to stay So if anything I offer a different perspective in a way of looking at that perspective. Thank you Thank you very much and last but not least Alex opening statement. All right, so I'm I'm Alex Farrell Also one of the younger challengers. I'm running as a Republican and I graduated from the University of Vermont in 2015 with a degree in finance and since I've worked as a data analyst at a small mutual insurance company I bring a perspective of a demographic that is rapidly fleeing our state and it's one that's not represented in the Senate right now and It's it scares me not only as Seth pointed out that we have a supermajority in the legislature One that can really dictate the the flow of policy and the conversation that goes on But it concerns me that this demographic is not represented because as I said, it's one that we're struggling to hold on to Now I've served my community in a number of ways right now I'm on the steering committee of my neighborhood planning assembly out in the new north end of Burlington I served for a while on Burlington's board for the registration of voters where we we registered Folks some new Americans some folks that had just fallen through the cracks and never got registered on some folks that were new in town and that was extremely rewarding and encouraged me to get more involved and So after that the mayor and the city council appointed me to the Parks Commission Parks Rack and Waterfront Where we've had to ensure that we keep parks accessible to folks of all income levels and and make sure that the things that we love And Burlington are accessible to everybody. So again, I want to bring these perspectives to the state Senate Great. Thank you much. Thank you all appreciate it We're gonna now go talk about our prepared questions and we also have some email questions that I'm gonna sprinkle in people Interesting. So let's talk about the economy According to Forbes magazine Vermont's economic outlook is projected to be the second most in the US over the next five years While income growth is expected to lag behind. Do you agree with this assessment? What is your plan of action to strengthen Vermont's economic outlook? And we're gonna start with Phil. Mm-hmm I agree that we have work to do. I think Forbes typically undersells what's going on in Vermont We've had very low unemployment through the Great Recession to now I think we have been lagging behind For as much as we have my webgrocer and dealer.com some some very iconic Internet businesses. We have lagged ever since the Douglas administration Desperately on online and broadband So I think that the number one thing we can do to grow the economy is to finally make good on Jim Douglas called Vermont the East state in his, you know, ideal world that we would lead the nation in terms of our providing of broadband and in this day and age cellular access and We didn't make it during the Douglas administration Peter Shumlin came in and then we had a large amount of stimulus money that was brought forward by the Obama administration in their first year and the The Shumlin administration offered incentives to telecoms But I think basically the the failing idea has been that telecoms will do this build out to the last mile and they won't They've made it very clear that they don't want to do it on their own They've made it clear that even with incentives, they won't get a ton So christine holquist our democratic candidate for governor has what I think is a very out of the box idea And that's to use electric cooperatives to complete that that You know our our current generation's version of electrification How do we get broadband out to the barns and the ends of the dirt roads where we want entrepreneurs to be able to To work and and productively operate Okay, great. Thank you. Um, Seth you're next we're talking about how to improve the economy Yeah So I believe also in that Forbes article they had us ranked at number 47 for business cost and 48 for best business or best state to work for businesses And that's not really coincidental at all The economy is by far a complicated issue Much of it revolves around businesses and jobs And you know what seems good isn't always good Currently our unemployment rate is four percent, which is one of the lowest Although that seems good. It's really not it means that it's really hard for businesses to find workers to work their jobs Actually, I we're a bit below four percent a normal unemployment rate is around four percent And being below four percent with that hard or having a hard time to find jobs you create a price wage spiral Which means that you then start to raise prices on products And by raising prices on products it increases the unaffordability of vermont One of the other issues is the cost of living in vermont, which is extremely Inducive of our economic climate right now And a lot of that has to do with the permits we have on development Most of the money from development are most money of development funding goes towards permits Which then goes on to the cost of living So that's one way we can really look at fixing vermont's economic issue by helping out those who Need affordable housing because affordable housing is extremely hard to find in vermont, especially in chitin and county Okay, thank you Uh Sorry economy, uh, I absolutely agree with this assessment. Uh, in fact, I'm I'm one of five siblings and Three of them have left this state because it was just it wasn't plausible for them to stay here And so I've seen it firsthand my siblings my friends and uh opportunity as sas said opportunity is not there I talked to a business owner A couple weeks back who said I'm not afraid of competition because nobody's going to enter this market The the permitting process is too cumbersome. I know i'm protected and so in a way our permitting process is actually protected Uh quasi monopolistic Uh tendencies and and that's not something that we want to be encouraging when we know we already have an affordability issue and so, uh With as sas said incredibly low unemployment rate that indicates that employers are having a very difficult time Finding talented workers. We we just aren't doing anything to help ourselves. So if we can build into permit Some permit reform building into act 250 streamlining projects that'll Add job growth or we'll add a certain amount of housing to start Start chipping away at these issues and it's not going to happen overnight We've got projects going on such as camber and rise on north ave and that's not going to have an immediate impact On the housing costs, but we have got to take another look at permit reform to streamline projects that are going to start to chip away at this issue Okay, thanks tim talking to you how to improve the economy Well, I would uh go back to something phil started with I think in increasing the minimum wage We'll put more money in people's pockets the kind of money that they will spend on everyday uses And for too long the national economy as a result of our place in the global economy has allowed economic Gains to be distributed in a most unfair way most of the money drifts to the people who have Tremendous resources where middle class and working class people have had their wages and salaries be flat So a minimum wage increase in my opinion is very important. I worry a little bit when I hear people say that permitting reform is going to Boost the economy in tremendous ways as someone who has gone through the act 250 process as a developer I know something about it And while we can certainly make improvements the vast majority of projects around the state do not go to act 250 So it is no silver bullet and I've been hearing about permit reform for a long time and I think admittedly it's a complicated area Should we streamline some projects absolutely and we have done that we have a number of Initiatives we've passed with the douglas administration with the shumlin administration around new neighborhoods legislation. We've increased expense Support for the downtown and village tax credit program We've funded the vermont center for emerging technologies with increased resources for Vitas small business loans tech loans agricultural loans We have put more money into workforce development in recent years than in the past all of which are good things So those are some of the things we have to keep doing and do better Including the way we do our regulatory system for development. So I do agree there's room for improvement But another thing we have to do is we need to get more young people Equipped to enter the workforce High school kids many of whom if their parents don't have resources or connections to jobs and internships Have no job skills. They don't know what it's like to work with others in a team setting They don't know how to communicate to a customer So one of the things I hope we'll do is build on programs like the youth conservation core And give every high school kid an opportunity who wants it for some type of internship or work Opportunity so that's something that i'm determined to revisit when we go back to Montpelier. Okay. Thank you Let's switch gears and talk about health care How do we limit health care spending in vermont while also remaining one of the healthiest states in the nation Seth we're going to start with you Yeah, so health care is definitely a complex issue now Whether or not we're talking about health insurance or actual the health care system They're two very different issues with health insurance Most businesses and most people have been seeing a rise in cost and health insurance Part of this is due to the the high cost of health care But also the high um government Forcing you to buy different types of health insurances What I mean by this is the government in vermont mandates 40 different types of health insurances One of which uh being herbal care Uh, you might not want this sort of insurance But the insurance companies are forced to purchase this for you Which means you are forced to buy into this this in turn raises the cost of your health insurance Now with the health care market, it's a it's a lack of competition You know when you go in and get an x-ray you don't know how much that x-ray costs And whether or not there's a cheaper x-ray you can go out and get This causes a lack of competition in the health care market And because of the lack of competition There is no set costs and therefore monopolies kind of form Now in vermont it's even harder to form a medicare or a medical service than at other states for the most part Now this is more of a national issue while Health insurance and health or sorry health companies have a hard time forming We need to make it easier and less Less complicated and with the red tape and the paperwork For you to enter the health care market to create a better competition Okay, thank you alex health care spending. Yep. So there there is some hope that the the aco model will in time Curb the cost and and curb the expense to to patients However, there's there's also a concern about access to care Under that under that aco model and that that care can be Weight times could be increased Now something that we we could take more steps for and I know there have been some but something we could go after more Is price transparency price transparency can empower patients to to better understand What they're paying for what's what's on their bill a lot of folks You get the bill and you don't know what's on there and frankly You don't know what you're going to pay until after you get the service So empowering patients to better understand what they're going to be paying for And and compare prices like we would do with any other good Are a couple good first steps that I think we need to continue to pursue Thank you. Tim. Well, the primary thing we have to do is rein in hospital spending. We have A six billion dollar or so total amount of spending on health care services in vermont about two and a half billion of which goes to hospitals Right up the hill here in burlington. It's about a 1.3 billion dollar operation Which almost matches the size of the state's entire general fund. So it puts it in some scale The growth of the uvm medical center budget just to pick the largest on an annual basis If it's two or three or four percent that can be almost 30 million dollars a year of growth And that money is coming out of the pockets of businesses and individuals and state and federal government So we all have a stake in reining in hospital spending and I think what that would allow us to do Is use those dollars upstream on preventive and community based services So that we can treat people in an appropriate way before they wind up in the hospital That over time will break the cost curve. We hope Price transparency. I absolutely agree is something that we need more of One of the challenges right now is that the information is available But it's like you have to go through a labyrinth to find it The other thing is is that the insurance companies themselves should care where you go to get your procedure And sitting here in burlington right now We have access to two or three hospitals within a 45 minute drive or so And blue cross blue shield should care if we have three equal care options If one is say half the price of going to one of the other facilities and our insurers Have shown little to no interest in exploiting those kinds of savings. The other is we have a small But important independent doctor workforce The powers that be have tried to squeeze them out over time by holding their reimbursements flat Have opposed the creation of a new surgical center My belief is we need those independent doctors not only for the choice they provide But they hold the rest of the cinema system accountable and some of the monopoly concerns that have been raised I absolutely agree with independent doctors are a good Testing case to see if they can deliver the services at a cheaper price than the larger entities And so we have to make sure that they don't go extinct. They're dangerously close Phil healthcare spending. Yeah, I would second what tim and alex said about price transparency But I would just insert a note of caution about the free market and what I mean is this I think if you listen at the national level, you'll hear the republican party Acting as though competition itself Will bring prices down Clearly it hasn't over the years But if you think about just a common example, you know, you want to buy a plane ticket to go somewhere You can go to a website that will give you the different prices on different airlines And you can use that to make your decision But if you had to take that airplane or die You would lose a lot of your Your power as a consumer and that's at at the root of it. That's why we spend so much money on healthcare People don't really have a choice when they go to a doctor and they're told you will die unless you do this They simply nod their head to every single thing that the doctor says Because in effect they're disempowered as consumers To me that suggests that healthcare itself is a field that needs to be heavily regulated Um, you know, again national republicans will raise a cry about one sixth of the u.s economy being Turned into a government-run entity. I look at medicare My mother just passed recently She was on medicare and she had tricare because my stepfather was a veteran and Both of those entities took Remarkable care of her from the time she was diagnosed until the time she died And it seems to me that a medicare for all solution Is the the path we should be moving toward and I believe the national conversation is going that way And vermont is very much in sync with that So I I think in addition to the steps that have been mentioned We need to be moving systemically toward something like that. Okay And we have a question from the audience which plays on this question so that I Time to rebuttal at all or you know, we can do it because this question I think we'll perhaps address some of the issues that we talked about. Let's try it So the trump administration is part of its efforts to dismantle the affordable care act is now allowing small employers To lead the small group marketplace through associations And if remember we had this the system was similar in the past at least that's been my experience There's a broad agreement that this will lead to higher costs for those who are left in the individual small group Insurance pool some believe this will put the stability of our health insurance marketplace at risk Do you share these concerns? Will you work to prevent this from taking place and we are going to start with alex Well given given the the recent changes to At the federal level, I'm not sure that there's a lot that we could do at the state level to to impact this Now the concern of this dismantling the the insurance market I'm not sure that would be the case. I know to some extent small businesses may May advocate for this and I think further studies required to see if this really would bring costs down But I think the the focus should be more at cost containment at this point And empowering patients Okay, uh tim well, um The blue cross blue shield and I do not agree on everything but on this one we do that it will increase Uh premiums for those who remain in the exchange, which would be a very serious problem Especially for all the individuals in the exchange. I happen to be one of them. So maybe I have a little self interest, but um the federal governments attempts to dismantle it, you know by these little nibbles around the edges Have left us in this awkward Situation trying to determine what the state of Vermont can do relative to the federal government So I would be concerned with dismantling this system And I should also say one of the because the rollout of vermont health connect the website was so clumsy And so frustrating to so many people one of the things that was lost Was the ability of income eligible individuals in the exchange to avail themselves of federal tax credits Which greatly reduce the cost of health care for people if Plans leave the exchange that resource is threatened or taken away altogether So uh, it may be that many businesses will actually stay in the exchange for that reason because it might be better for their Employees with their coverage But at the moment if I find out that it's going to raise the premiums for everyone who remains in the exchange I would be I would do what I can to stop that from happening Okay, thank you if anything is available to the state. We're talking about the the affordable care act exchange versus association policies in this sense Phil Yeah, I I do also agree that if you allow this Exodus out of that small market you will increase premiums for those who remain in it I think in general the trump administration's approach Because they couldn't get the votes to uh dismantle the act They've been trying to make small changes that when taken together will make it appear as though the affordable care act Is collapsing when in fact all of the things that were very carefully Put into it to make it succeed are being pulled out one by one So that of course in that event you'll have bad policy um, I guess the other thing I would say is that If you think of it as an issue of individual freedom That no individual should be made to buy a product and there was in fact a famous Suit to the supreme court that was decided by chief justice roberts Where he upheld the affordable care act that it was in society's interest to Regulate and group together to bring down these costs to keep everyone in the country healthier Now if you're someone, uh, you know, my libertarian friend here, I'm sure we'll take exception to that Um, you know bring it down to a very tiny level. I have a friend in the senate Joe benning who's a republican he hates motorcycle helmets And he wants to pass a law to get rid of the requirement that they be warned But the logic is in that event you'll have a lot of people with severe head injuries The whole system will have to pick up that cost So individual freedom and the needs of the whole are intention In this case, I think it's it's just a better argument that Regulating the insurance market requiring Those those businesses to stay in will keep prices lower and everyone will be healthier Into the bargain Okay, and we're talking about the aca exchange versus association policies seth. Yeah, phil certainly beat me to the discussion of the debate um It is a question of individual liberties and whether or not you have the right to choose what you buy Uh, including the individual mandate and whether or not you You should be forced into buying a certain policy a health care policy premiums will most likely raise There's there's not much of a debate towards that Now we'll un or we'll uproot the health care insurance market probably not Now it's important to know People are not going to canada for the most part for health insurance or for health care Most people from canada are actually coming to america for major health care issues part of that is due to the fact that us and and in the The free market and how we run most of our health insurance and it can certainly be better and our health care Is that by having a free market? money Although it can be seen as evil helps people get what they need to live You know most people in the uk have wicked long wait times and don't get the policies they need It's a scary thought to have the government be able to tell you whether or not you can get that Cancer inducing treatment that you need or not You know the free market is best able to work with these issues So that's why I believe the best way to fix this issue is to kind of deregulate the market You know the us is one of the leading Countries in health care research Most other countries with a socialized health care Have a much lower health care research because there's not that incentive to do that research So that's why I would push us towards a free market system Yeah, thank you. Do you want do you all want another minute or did we were we able to cover your Rebuttals in that. Okay. Good. Um, let's uh, let's turn now to uh marijuana something a little lighter Now that marijuana is legal. This is a question that we got via email now that marijuana is legal Do you support taxing and regulating it and tim you're first? The short answer is yes. Um, the senate has passed a full Seed to sale regulatory system Um, should we revisit it in light of what we've continued to learn from other states including most recently massachusetts and what we Are now seeing come online in canada. Yes, but I do support it and I am Concerned that right now we have a system that allows people to use legally But not to purchase it safely And I believe that marijuana and alcohol should be handled in an equivalent manner And I think we're missing the boat not because I'm a huge enthusiast. I don't I do not want kids trying it At young ages. I want there to be good public health And public education to tell people what the risks are. I don't want people driving while they're Under the influence of marijuana on the other hand I know that tens of thousands of vermonas are using marijuana Responsibly in their homes not causing problems for anyone else and from my point of view right now The one thing we're not receiving is the tax revenue which we could use to support all those public health measures So I absolutely support moving forward and if return to the senate will We'll vote in favor of that. Okay, phil marijuana Yeah, my position is similar to tims. Um, I've I've been An advocate for a long time of decriminalization and then legalization I think you always need to do that in light of public safety And especially how we Prevent young people from acquiring it when they're not legally allowed to do so So vermont going back to prohibition has been what we call a Heavy control state with regard to alcohol So we have a An alcohol beverage commission that has oversight and a great deal of regulatory authority We issue licenses and it's somewhat difficult to get a license And and we try to distribute them geographically But also the state has control of all the alcohol until you buy it the state controls it And that's no accident. So there are other states that are loose control on alcohol We've chosen over the years to be heavy. I think we should do exactly the same thing with marijuana Tim mentioned seed to sale. That's secure seed to sale. So knowing exactly Literally to the seed where the marijuana is keeping it behind fencing Making sure that people have proper idea all of those things Right now, you're allowed to grow a couple of plants legally I think one of the things that we might want to look at is Making sure that those plants are themselves secure My my memory of the legislation is that it's silent on some aspects that I think could use some tightening up And there is no roadside test for THC That's continues to be an issue that I think we have to grapple with But on balance, I think it's revenue that the state needs and it's also additional control in terms of regulation Okay, Seth marijuana taxing and regulating. Yeah, I would be in favor of opening up the To a legal market or tax regulated market In part because when the law was passed to legalize marijuana It initially although legalized marijuana It created a black market because there was no way to legally purchase it. You could grow it But most people would want to purchase more So without creating that legal market, you then created a black market and with the black market became risks of Whether or not certain marijuana or certain drugs were safe Whether or not it was because you might be purchasing a laced marijuana plant or or other other drugs That introduced you into the market It became more risky by by opening by legalizing a market for marijuana. Not only will we receive the tax money But we could also Regulate what drugs or rather sorry regulate the safety of marijuana in the market and whether or what people would be purchasing Okay, alex taxing and regulating marijuana I think there are a lot of benefits to a tax and regulate model and and the recent legislation certainly Improved the odds that what you're getting is a safe product Now, I think senator beruth already voiced what would be my concerns, which are that we do not have a roadside test right now for thc and Unfortunately until that is nailed down. I'm not sure I could support a tax and regulate model Now that being said, I have no ideological opposition to it because of the benefits but an education campaign And doing more to ensure that we have a roadside test are absolutely necessary before we were to go forward with a tax and regulate model Okay, thank you. Uh, we have another question from the audience Um, and it is what is your opinion on the explain the asterisk legislation campaign Do you think college students that are dismissed for sexual misconduct should be able to transfer to schools With no notation on their transcript as to why they were dismissed Correct kind of a specific very specific question. Uh, phil you start us off So this is a campaign that's been pushed and I think successfully pushed by a uvm student a young woman And uh, I think she absolutely has right on her side So the way it stands now if you're a young woman and you've experienced some some form of assault on campus The odds are very high that that system is going to Not serve you well and I draw an experience Not simply in vermont, but nationally speaking Um, so I think young women have a hard time when they come forward They have a hard time in terms of making their case at the university level But then if they are successful And you know, the student is found to have Committed some some form of assault that student in many cases can go on to another university With absolutely nothing trailing them and perhaps commit the assault elsewhere It's the sort of thing we would never allow with teachers You know, we would we would never allow there not to be a record that followed that person Around the school system, but in the higher education system Particularly young men because they're statistically the ones who commit this sort of crime the most They can move freely and uh, that has to be fixed Okay, seph Yeah, I would say It should be taken to a court proceeding. I I this day in how College campuses deal with a lot of these sexual assault issues And for it to be able to be taken to the courts I think we really need to discuss what we define as sexual assault Um Because sexual assault is a very complicated issue I I find it disgusting that it happens, especially how often it happens on college campuses Now what do we legally define as sexual assault versus I would say creepy behavior That's something we have to discuss. I think it's best discussed in the legal court system Rather than the the jungle court system of college campuses Now once it's legally founded in a legal court, then that should follow your record everywhere So that's what I would say Okay, um, alex Well, I think especially right now it's incredibly important that we do everything we can to protect and believe survivors And more importantly protect our entire student body From uh from the potential of that occurring and if you've got students transferring from one university to another I think it is important that Folks in student services are able to communicate. I think maybe not via transcript But via the common app, which is where it would probably end up is on the common app The reason for the dismissal and I think that's an absolutely necessary part of protecting the student body Okay, mom we're talking about explain the asterisk campaign tim I support the movement and uh, I think what would be critical is that all the higher education institutions have to work together So that when one school has an asterisk and explains why it has a common meaning across all Colleges, I think that's an important part of kind of the intercollegiate system of justice it is different than the Than the state run court system. And so I think that's part of the the effort that needs to be Furthered and it's not just on individual student activists to make that happen That's the leadership that colleges and universities all over the country who have to make it a meaningful Term so that when they see that they know what it means and have their red flag up Okay, thank you. Um, we have another question from the audience people have been calling in for you guys So you're doing something right here. Um, and we should actually say eight six two three nine six six We of course would love to hear from you. Um, so this is the handle at big rig vt asks How did the recent gun laws passed by the legislature do anything for school safety? And sat we're starting with you perfect, you know, I would say this This would affect my my school more Specifically in other schools I don't think it really did a lot in Vermont. I'll be very honest You know when it comes towards school shootings and school issues or in gun violent issues It's very close to my heart I was at the fort lauderdale shooting with uvm the uvm swim team at the time and Although it was a firearm being used at the time by the the crazed I would say, um Man who shot up the fort lauderdale airport I I never really quite blamed the firearm You know He was able to get the firearm because The background check system kind of failed because background check systems Aren't all effective in some ways That needs to be looked at on whether uh, how we fix that You know, it's it's an issue of whether or not Teen are specifically school shootings recently teenage depression and teenage suicide has has risen and I would Pretty pretty sure that school shootings have also risen because of the same cause It's I would say it's a mental health issue that we really have to look at and how we help out these teenagers and see what's Affecting this rise in depression and teenagers to really get down to the roots of the issues You know, the guns have always been here in the united states. They are 15 has been here since 1950 So what has caused an increase in these recent violent shootings? That's what I would say. We'd have to take a look at Okay, which um gun regulation and school safety alex uh, well, I I'm not sure you can ever say the number of uh, Violin acts prevented by a law But you know, that's not to say that common-sense measures shouldn't be implemented Now there there are methods of going about this without diminishing folks rights And and I think some of those were in the legislation that recently passed Now there's I think a lot more that we can do in terms of working with folks seth's age and And continuing to work with programs like the howard center that are right here in the community that Will be able to do more outreach and Take a preventative approach now Again, I think it's it's all about common-sense tactics that don't that don't diminish The rights of hunters and sportsmen But but again, I think for the most part the legislation that recently passed achieved that Okay, tim Well, yeah, it is impossible to know what's been avoided by laws that you pass of a general nature But I can tell you why we pass some of them or at least why some of us supported them Increasing the purchase age to 21 unless you've been through an approved training program Means that people are less likely to buy firearms on an impulse right now You could just walk into a dicks or a walmart And walk out with a gun if you were 17 in some cases 19 depending on the firearm you're purchasing And what we heard from public health officials and pediatric doctors was that it's those impulse purchases that are often the Ones that are most likely to result in a violent act We passed an extreme risk protection order bill. What that means is if someone is threatening others Threatening harm to him or herself that a loved one or a community member Can go through a process that respects due process to have firearms temporarily removed while Perhaps that person cools down or gets through that acute episode They're going through in the state of connecticut that helped reduce Well, it was used to intervene in potential suicide cases more than anything else and about 85 percent I might be slightly off on the percentage I think it's actually greater than that of the firearm related deaths in vermont are actually firearm suicides So that's going to be really critical there and universal background checks is another instance where it merely extends to purchases online or At a gun show in the parking lot the same requirements to go through the background check That purchases at a licensed firearm dealer have to go through it's I've never heard a good justification of why If I went to buy an ar-15 at walmart, I have to go through the background check But if I check on craigslist and meet someone in a parking lot, I don't so Whether that will prevent the school shooting is is we'll never know if there's a direct link But it it could only help promote public safety phil mentioned the investment in our physical grants for schools to do things like more secure exits and entrances And things like that and then lastly I'd say we've we've put some major resources the last two years into our mental health workforce It has been starved over the years The turnover rate at places like Howard center is very high because of the low pay And so in order to have the proper therapeutic environment you need staff who are compensated fairly They don't get rich doing this work and they never will But if they're constantly turning over because they can't make a living at those jobs that that is a deterioration of the therapeutic Resources that they're supposed to provide so we have to continue to maintain and strengthen our human services infrastructure Okay, thank you phil talking about gun regulation and school safety Right, so Seth mentioned the need to strengthen background checks and I think that's exactly right. That's why We passed universal background checks because as tim mentioned We have had in place for decades Background checks for new weapons. What we didn't have was background checks for used weapons and by used I mean it could be five minutes old So literally I could go into a gun store Get a background check buy an ar 15 go to the parking lot and on my laptop Sell it legally to someone else without a background check To my mind that was always insane. It was very similar to saying on the highway in the left lane We're going to have New cars that have to go 55 miles an hour And in the right lane you can have a used car that goes as fast as you want Just doesn't make any sense if you're going to have background checks It should apply to all weapons and all people and that's More what we have now and I'm I'm very proud that the legislature did that in terms of Knowing how many of these incidents we might have prevented one thing that we do know is that Background checks prevent a certain number of prohibited sales every year and the fbi gives us those statistics in 2015 the legislature passed two modifications to the background check system And vermont digger reported we had seen an additional 160 plus Denials under those changes So Just take the 2015 law which was nothing compared to what we just passed That was 160 people who were not supposed to buy a weapon Either because they were domestic abusers or they had some other reason why they were denied that right So preventing an actual number of people From acquiring a weapon who shouldn't have it Whether or not we know for sure that they would have Shot up a school or a mall or a nightclub or a church We do know that they weren't supposed to have a weapon and that there was a good reason why So I think that's justification enough For that law and then we we hope that in addition it will prevent in the future mass shootings Okay, thank you. I'm going to shift gears a little bit. We have time for a couple more questions Or maybe only one. Let's talk about the environment and water quality How do we increase funding to clean up vermont's lakes and rivers and alex? You're going to start us off Absolutely, uh, so this is an issue that is is vital and there has been More research into exactly how we're going to clean up the lake And and it's something we know we have to do because if for no other reason This is an economic asset for us. This brings people to our state where they come and spend the money So to lose lake champlain as one of our assets that we can sell is is an absolute mistake So it is worth investing the money Now the question will be where does that money come come from and one of the One of the proposals this year was to start taxing the The hotel industry either two dollars or at one point it was proposed five dollars a night Which uh to me is extremely misguided because this is Pinning the issue on one industry that I don't think it's fair to say is responsible for the problem Now spreading that amongst the entire state with something like a parcel fee that's a reasonable approach, but I I simply can't understand why the senate Well, actually this came out of the house But why the majority in the house was willing to support targeting an industry that had nothing to do with the problem But that being said I'd like to go back to the fact that it is crucial that we clean up the lake Okay, I'll talk about water quality funding tim. Well, one of the concerns some of us had back when the so-called water quality bill was passed three years ago was that it had all sorts of Directive about how different types of properties would have to behave in terms of Managing their their runoff in contributions to water quality But it never identified the way to pay for all the work that would be needed and system-wide across the state It's not just lake champlain. It's many other bodies of water It's a huge undertaking that will take decades really to get on the other side of and what the problem is now is that There's no shortage of ideas about how to pay for it At its core right now. We have a governor who opposes any new revenues to pay for anything not just this And that means that you would have to cannibalize from within The problem is there aren't many easy Places to cannibalize right now In our capital budget, which is how we often pay for some of the water quality infrastructure and have for many years That's a resource that has declined pretty precipitously over the last four or five years And the committee that sets that amount that we can borrow each year for capital expenses Says that it's going to go down another seven or eight percent next year So it's an already oversubscribed source of funds that now is going to be even smaller despite the needs growing With every day so in terms of paying for it. My own preference would be something that is very broadly based that That people will feel like everyone's making a small contribution Towards what is a collective problem But i'll just tell you the politics of this particular issue have been horrendous because no matter which source of funds One suggests to help clean up the water the governor and his allies attack it They attack everything without proposing a solution And i know that now one of the things that's being floated is some complicated bond structure Of course, we'll be all ears if it's a good idea and it has merit we'll We'll we'll hear it out and maybe it will be the right thing But sometimes tried and true means of funding things are probably the more appropriate way But we'll be all ears for the governor to signal if he's willing to pay for the to clean up this problem or not Okay, we'll talk about talking about water quality funding phil I second what tim said about the governor's approach to this I would add that they came out with what I thought was one of the most disingenuous Uh bits of misdirection. I've ever seen which was to say Let's not talk about how to fund cleanup of the lake. Let's talk about how we can make money cleaning up the lake And so the administration came out with grants to subsidize work on Extracting fox phosphorus from the lake and our streams and other waterways and then selling that elsewhere in the country Now if you could do that right now, it would be a magical solution So we'd have all the money we need because we'd sell the phosphorus as we took it out of the lake And it would be a self perpetuating machine But anybody who has any expertise in this issue will tell you that's a fantasy And it was a fantasy that was put out deliberately to delay the amount of time that we would have to Raise the revenue to clean up the lake because It would take at least 10 years to get to the point where you might have some workable pilot program That would do that. So let me go back to tim mentioned 2015 bobby star, uh, one of my favorite senators from the northeast kingdom chairs chairs agriculture and he came up with A very smart proposal that would have taxed people When they buy phosphorus or other fertilizers So you'd be raising revenue from the people who are using the phosphorus And that would disincentivize them from using it So connecting the money that we're raising to the actual use of the nutrient and that was a brilliant idea bobby brought all the stakeholders along Had them all ready to go along with it and the shumlin administration At the last moment pulled a switcheroo and put in the property transfer tax Instead of that connection to the polluter. So that's the place where I think we should go back immediately establish that connection between the polluter And the pollution and the cost thereby. Okay. Thank you. Seth. What a quality funding? Yeah, I would echo a lot of the words alex said beforehand about targeting a specific industry It seems that both the other senators or sitting senators seem to not want to target the industry now I would say that Enforcing a new tax would not be beneficial to vermont's economy, which was something we talked about earlier I would agree with phil scott on the issue that it might be worth looking into self cannibalization of certain other Areas where we have spending vermont spends a lot of money in different areas, whether or not it be roads or welfare Both of which haven't been extremely effective for vermont as a whole You know looking at vermont's uh road industry. We spend a lot of money on roads yet new hampshire spends Half as less as us and yet have much better roads than us And you know, that's something we kind of have to look into and if we can look into fixing that area And our tax spending we can certainly look at putting that money towards cleaning out our lakes You know looking at our welfare where I brought up earlier We have 74,000 about citizens who are below the poverty line We spend 1.7 billion on welfare. That's effectively 22,906 dollars per person under the poverty line If the money was going to directly to the citizens who are below the poverty line None of them would be considered nationally under the poverty line So clearly the money there isn't being spent as effectively or going directly to the people who are below the poverty line So once again if we can look at these systems and self evaluate And see where we can cut spending and move spending around perhaps we can help out our government and clean out the lakes I'd like to respond to what I think actually I'm gonna I'm gonna not do that because we're almost out of time Believe it or not what I'd like to do is give you each a minute to do either a closing statement or a rebuttal Whatever you'd like to do. Okay. I apologize. It went faster than I thought. Um, so we're gonna start. Um, actually Tim you actually are starting person Well, thank you, um, and I have appreciated the opportunity to engage on the issues here I will say the state of Vermont is not spending 1.7 billion dollars on welfare if you came up with the most expansive definition to include Medicaid, which is Some people's eyes perhaps welfare, but it's not welfare. Um, maybe you start adding up to those types of numbers but I some people think that there are um Many many people like tens and tens of thousands of people on the state receiving very generous cash payments each month Which is what welfare more conventionally is and that is not true Um, I have greatly enjoyed being the leader of the vermont senate one of the things that I take most pride in is that despite the perception Pitched by the governor's team his political team the budgets passed by the senate last year were unanimous in every instance Uh, the tax bill enjoyed a majority support of the republicans in the senate So despite the fact that it's uh, the partisan breakout is about two to one We had worked very well together, uh, which I think means that we came with very balanced solutions to the state's needs I would be very proud to return to the senate and represent the people of shitting county Which has been the great honor of my adult life I work very hard to be in communication with my constituents Throughout the summer and fall and not just when we're in the session And I hope to continue to be engaged with you solving all of our problems The vermont's a great state to live in one of the most important things we can do is stop letting some people for political purposes Trash it at every step of the way I have a much more positive vision and most of the people I serve within the senate Have a positive view about vermont and want to build on it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Uh, phil Well, I'm uh, I'm very excited that we talked some tonight about gun safety Um, that's something I've been talking about for a number of years And I will say that of of the moments that I think back on in the senate as my proudest There are two that I that I would just point out one was standing beside uh, governor phil scott and his wife When he signed those gun bills this past year on the steps of the state house That was an amazing moment even though there were People there who are calling for his hide and people there who are yelling their support We were divided to a certain extent about two-thirds of the state Indicates strong support for those laws now and I think that's a fabulous thing for our state The other thing is just recently a couple of weeks ago the vermont medical society Named me one of their winners of their 2018 founders award And that's an award that they give every year to someone who has Move the needle on safety for the lives of vermonters and the lives of americans generally And um, they noted my work with gun safety. They noted that I had pushed through Five years of obstacles. I'm not the only one to receive the award the governor did as well And the two of us will receive it together and I think that's additional proof of What tim was talking about that when push comes to shove in the vermont state house We often work together in the best way great. Thank you. Seth Yeah, I'm extremely happy that we talked about some of the issues regarding affordability of vermont Uh, especially in the housey mark housing market and affordable housing I wish we could have gotten to more detail about what's causing that such as uh zoning laws Along with the permitting cost, which we talked about briefly And we talked a bit about economic issues tonight a lot of which is very important to vermont because without a growing economy We won't grow our population And the more we can grow our economy and help businesses form in vermont I think the better of the stronger of a population will have and the more we can help grow vermont Because vermont's a beautiful state and as much we want to keep it that way as much as possible But we also have to grow and if we don't grow as a state We won't grow and compete in the the growing country that we are today You know, um As one of the younger candidates for the senator position I would love to talk about a lot of the issues regarding education One thing that I didn't we weren't able to talk about today was education I'm very pro a school choice system so that you aren't forced to go to a school that you Live in the area of rather that you get to decide which education is best fit for you So then you can learn those skills instead of being forced to go to a local school You know, I would push for that as a state senator. I'm gonna push through that Uh through my campaign as well Um with that I would say, uh, I hope to get elected so I can continue to have these discussions Uh, I will continue to have these discussions either way, but as an elected official I would have more of an influence on the senate Great. Thank you. Um, alex final statements. Yep Well, I've been in vermont my entire life I stayed here for for college at the university of vermont and I stuck around when I graduated there And and will continue to live here for the rest of my life My family's been here for many generations and Rightfully so it's a great place and I love it here and I'm a big cheerleader for the state of vermont We know what our issues are People my age are fleeing. It's because it's it's because it's very hard to leave Seniors are fleeing. It's because they're on a fixed income and their property taxes are rising And and given that we had a massive surplus this year I I cannot imagine a situation in which the majority party would not raise taxes I feel compelled to ask that majority party if there is such a situation And so what I want to bring is some balance. We have, uh, uh, a delegation from chitinon county That's made up of six folks that all represent one ideology. I would bring a Moderating and a different perspective. I'm somebody that that watches their friends leave and and I know what I want To see in my state to stick around and and I plan to but I need to bring that perspective to the state senate Great. Thank you gentlemen so much for joining me tonight. Um, stay tuned for more state Senate candidates from chitinon county because we have two more groups of people coming in Um, and of course, don't forget to vote either now early at uh, town or city hall or on election day Tuesday November 6 and please stay tuned to channel 17 for ongoing election night coverage. Thank you so much