 Good afternoon. Thanks for being here. As you know over the last few weeks I've been pretty critical with the direction the legislature seems to be heading and to be clear I'm still very concerned with the budget in particular as well as other initiatives with big price tags Even though I propose a path to achieving those goals over time without hurting the very people we're trying to help But today I want to point out a few areas where we agree Which hasn't gotten as much attention? Because as I've said we actually agree more than some would think and when we don't It's usually about the how and what pace we're on to get there You've all heard me talk about workforce development a lot over the last six years And the need to grow a workforce given our demographic challenges The budget I proposed in January focus on those challenges and the house agreed with much of what we proposed And then added a few ideas of their own Here are a few examples of agreement They included money I proposed for refugee resettlement Helping those seeking a new life in our state transition into the workforce They've supported millions for the Vermont training program to help workers move up an Upskill Vermont which helped those wanting to attain professional certifications with free courses and They fully funded our VSAC trade scholarship program Which will help put folks on a path to get the skills they need for the jobs we need Now what they didn't include were my initiatives to make Vermont more affordable But we'll save that one for another day because today I want to highlight our areas of agreement So I also want to thank the Senate for working with my team on the public safety and school safety packages And while we haven't gotten everything we asked for I Appreciate their willingness to work with us to find solutions. I Believe public safety is a shared priority with legislators and we've made progress The Senate has also worked with us on the forensic bills Helping advance initiatives and stabilize our system of care And I appreciate the house for also supporting our mental health initiatives Including funding our mobile crisis response and mental health urgent care services Programs our communities want and are in desperate need of I also want to take a minute once again to thank the Senate Economic Development Committee for their work on S100 the housing bill We were supportive of this bill when it came out of committee And although I'm concerned that most of the Act 250 provisions have been watered down It still gives us a strong foundation to work from in the house Where we hope to restore what was removed and the fact is we have to many legislators ran campaigns based on solving the housing crisis and Vermonters should know Act 250 reform is necessary to do so As I've said if the legislative legislature fails to act Then they aren't serious about making real progress on housing These are just a few examples of where we found common ground Thus far this session, and I'm hopeful we can continue working together to find consensus. I Know there will be times when we're just not going to agree Especially when it comes to adding more taxes and fees and just spending instead of investing money And I also know some of the majority party want to frame the debates We're having on childcare paid family leave climate action and others as Were for it and the governor is against it But that's simply not the case And I get it. It makes Political messaging a little more complicated when we agree on the goals, but there is a path forward And for the record, I'm a willing partner Which is why so many of my proposals began with trying to meet the legislature where they are I Firmly believe we can achieve universal access to paid family and medical leave We can make historic investments in childcare Helping thousands more families access affordable options We can act on mitigating climate change. We can create housing for homeless Vermonters We can expand treatment and prevention for opioid addiction and mental health needs And we can do all of it in a way that doesn't increase costs on already overburdened and over tax for monitors and without setting us up for serious and Very real fiscal problems in the future. I truly believe we can get the outcomes. We all want if we work at it So with that Open up the questions fellow colleagues and governors in other States have announced plans to start stockpiling Mephapresto and abortion medication In contention in the court in Texas and the Fifth Circuit now. Are you pursuing any sort of similar plans? We have we have contemplated that and we have conferred With the AG's office for one and we've also been in contact with Planned Parenthood to seek advice and at this point in time I think the consensus is we should wait until Friday and see what happens before moving forward So I spoke to a couple of their governor's offices in the northeast to see what they're doing and I think we all agreed why don't we just wait and See what happens and then we'll we'll go from there and see what What we need to do My understanding of this whole situation at large is that state governments are pretty limited and how they can respond and What they can do? I mean if there's a nationwide injunction on access to this medication Vermont can't single-handedly Keep it legal or what have you I mean, how does it feel to be sort of? Constrained in this situation. Well, we do I mean first of all The FDA I don't believe the Biden administration is going to let the FDA Prevent the FDA from supplying states with the need of medication Secondly, I think we're in a somewhat unique position here in Vermont We are one of three states who have sought to be able to purchase Drugs in Canada ourselves Colorado and Florida and So we're just waiting for approval from the feds to do so Now might be the time when they give us the green light instead of having us wait at the intersection so There are some alternatives that again may be unique to Vermont, but I think we're going to be okay But we'll see we'll see what the decision is on on Friday We agree with the other states in terms of the decision Washington And so we'll just have to see where we go from there The plans to purchase drugs from Canada, can you explain a little bit more how that would work? We along again with the two other states had this started a Couple of years ago, I believe and we we've asked this was based on I Guess some of the dialogue that we've had I think senator Sanders You've been working on this for a long time We decide to try and move forward. So we sought approval from the federal government to do so and They are considering what we're proposing and again We're one of three states who have at least gotten Pasco on this and are in the are in the middle of Maybe negotiations and so forth. It seems to be stalled out, but again, this could be a way to obtain that that particular drug in Canada You mentioned The state assisting refugees certainly in your budget. I know there has been an influx of Refugees at the northern border in New York and in Vermont You know what what services do you see me commissioner Morrison can chime in to but what services do you see the state? Providing for some of these individuals coming to Vermont and at what point do you see maybe some of those services coming straight at all Well, what we're seeing at this point and and I might ask Maybe some others to weigh in on this as well But what we're seeing thus far is they're coming Cross into the state and then they just transfer to other states. They're just there was just a pathway to other states I would like to see some consider in Vermont to be honest with you I mean considering our demographic challenges and workforce issues We might need some folks. We do need some to stay so But thus far it hasn't been a long stay for any of them at this point, but we've We have been anticipating this for a while just in case a type of scenario. So we have We have some plans Moving forward if we if we get somewhat Overwhelmed, but I don't see that happening at this point, especially with the action taken by Canada and the US with President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau In their agreement to come what somewhat close the border off What those plans look like Well, again, we were considering some of this when If you as you recall may have been a year ago, maybe less When there's some southern states who are busing and flying some of the migrants to other states and we weren't sure if we were going to Be targeted as well. So we want to be prepared for that. So again, what will you work together with our labor department or Agency of human services public safety and so forth and we're just trying to anticipate if this happens What are we going to do? We didn't want to be surprised. So we put a plan together I don't have the details of that, but but we've considered a number of different options Anybody else want to say anything more? Secretary Samuelson, is there anything I should add to that? You're exactly right. Okay, Mr. Morrison can weigh in as we constantly it's only a trickle of folks coming in now But services that we've looked at are housing food sheltering those types of services but for right now folks are coming into the state and needing assistance with transportation to their to their goal location just coming back to the Potential or the pending decision on my first stone So you agree with the eight the actions that he has taken in recent. Yes. Okay. Yeah I mean, this is I think it's an FDA decision was made a long time ago And I don't think it's for the court to decide but that's just my opinion I'm sure that they will have their legal disagreements on that and we'll see it play out over the next few days You're concerned about the precedent that this if the Texas judges Decision stands. I mean, I've heard concerns of people saying what if district judges now are given the power to overall FDA decisions for other Medications are politically opposed to say vaccines or You know medications that use certain research methods and r&d. Are you worried about that too? Yes, I am I think does set a precedent And I'm concerned about that As you've seen there's a big Rally today on the state house lawn, maybe north of to 300 people. We don't know but You you of course as you mentioned have outlined your vision of childcare bolstering Subsidies and but not raising taxes or new fees The proton and the speaker both out there. This is a big priority of theirs. I mean, have you had any additional conversations with them or chair or advisor or anybody else regarding the current Childcare proposals where it says well, they seem to be fairly Far apart between the house and the senate to be honest with you So they haven't even come to agreement about the leadership is fully aware Of my stance on this and our proposals Again as a reminder, let's go back a bit I've I've been proposing childcare subsidies and increases the last six years Many times the legislature has cut those proposals and not move forward with that But we've we've actually doubled our Our provisions for for childcare Since then and the proposed I put forward in the budget For this year Raises another 56 million On top of what we already do. So that makes it about, you know, 120 million dollars. I'd say that's pretty substantial So we feel with the and that includes those at the 400 percent of poverty level That would be included now Again, I believe it's the senate That came up with a proposal that includes 600 percent So it's the same path forward In you know, when you look at The same the proposal we made and the senate has made It's just theirs is more generous. I mean just going to the 600 versus the 400 so It feels as though from my standpoint That we have a path forward And then we I I believe we should do it in steps So we don't have to raise taxes in order to do so And I guess last year I mean you have you heard me chatter this legislative session about regulation Child care facilities, as you know, I mean 10 years ago a lot of mom and pop shops closed Because of increased regulation has that been a question that that you've been hearing or anything that Your office isn't fielding from Again refer to secretary samelson on that but but obviously This has been An area that we've been fully involved in with over the years and But I haven't specifically heard about their proposals in the in the legislature Secretary samelson anything you can add to the conversation No, governor. We've even heard those specific proposals. We'll need to to loop back to you On the subject of legislative compensation Senate is amended or is going to be amending a proposal that would essentially increase lawmakers pay By by Increasing the length of time it would take to do so to four years instead of two Are you familiar with that plan and how do you generally feel about lawmaker? I'm not familiar with what they're doing with that bill now. I've said in the past I'm I'm In favor of Increasing their pay as long as they reduce the length of the session I think they can get their work done in 90 days give them a contract amount They can increase their pay incrementally whatever they want to do But get it done in 90 days because if the real goal Is to get more participation more people running for office I think the length of the session is probably a bigger issue than the pay to have Have and I've served in the legislature to go to your employer I've heard this many many times to go to your employer and say I'd like to run for the legislature The next question is how long will you be gone? How long will you be absent? And they say I really don't know it's somewhere between Four months and six months. It could be there's no ending really until the budget passes I know myself. I've been here since into june before june maybe 15th or something like that So That prevents a lot of people From running for office. So If they really want if that's the goal Is to get more participation then do both, you know, you can increase your pay but Produce the length of the session it can be done many other states do it I believe isn't at least You know 10 10 11 other states that have 90 day sessions in more small state. We should be able to do that I mean is someone who served in the legislation for a long time obviously Is there anything you can think of and the way that they go about their business that could Strength the amount of time without losing the effectiveness of the of the bills they send to your desk I mean you want those things to be well researched and thoughtful and sure agreed upon so Well getting a shooting one if you pay pay more money, right? Maybe you work five days a week instead of four Maybe you don't take off a week in between Maybe there's something you have to maybe have to work later at night like the rest of us do in the private sector I mean there's there's ways to get it done and maybe you don't take up Some of your time with things that aren't going to to make it through you have to prioritize just like we do in our Everyday lives and our own budgets our own lives you have to prioritize And I think we have to do a better job here System suicide bill there's a There's a bill to To remove the residency requirement so that people from other states could come to Vermont To get that type of care here. Are you familiar with that? I know you support it like that. Yeah, I'm okay I'm okay Why Well, I just don't think you can Shut down the border. Um, I think it's it's something that has to be open to any and all I mean, I wouldn't use it as a way to draw more people here But but at the same time, I don't think the border should Be the barrier And in your early remarks, I also heard you say that you thought the legislate you and the legislature were on the same page about Universal paid family Yeah, do I have that right because universal is the Maw of fire that they use for their plan right and are you now coming around to the no universal meaning What I've said all along And I don't know as I I maybe I haven't articulated it as well as As I should have but I've said we need to create a structure. We need a framework There's nothing better than what we're trying to do a voluntary type of program to start with Creating a structure that where we don't have to build out a bureaucracy here in the government We don't have to hire 60 70 people to oversee it. We don't have to have an it system We don't have to to get a you know, establish a a capital reserve to fund it We can do this in the private sector. They already do this work. They do it every day So we're doing this right now. We have a plan. We're we're moving forward with for our state employees That's going to do just that so we've We just want to expand that and so let's Let's do that. It's going to take their Every proposal I've seen from the legislature Is going to take three four years To implement And I'm saying let's do the voluntary path Let's establish what works what doesn't and then maybe we can cater the plan for Vermont As we learn more about it with what we're doing with state employees and so forth and then in three or four years when the revenue Hopefully in the state continues to grow if we bring more people in Then you can make it universal you can you can pay for it you can pay for it out of existing Dollars, but I but I think eventually I think that's the path forward. I think I think everyone should have it But I don't think that's what it's always about the how I just don't think we can do everything they want to do in one year Can't have pay family leave And child care and some of the other provisions all in one year I think it has to be staged over a number of years And what they're doing is it's going to take three or four years to put their plans into place And we're still going to be paying for it and not receiving the benefit Hours actually get to try it out Governor the house gave preliminary approval to 16 year old local voting And we brought a bureau your thoughts on that. I think I vetoed something similar to that previously I don't think my thoughts have changed much on it Also, critics of s 37 say that it has no minimum age limits for puberty blockers or sexual reassignment surgery Now that our constitution assures reproductive liberty. Are you concerned that standards of care Could shift to allow middle schoolers to elect surgery over the wishes of their parents. What says 37 the gender reassignment and Abortion and transgender And did that pass the senate then is in the house now? Yes. Yes I I can't pretend to know all the intricacies of that bill I can certainly We can confer with my My cabinet members those are involved in it and then go from there, but I I don't I guess I can't comment on that at this point in time The house corrections and institutions committee has had some lengthy debate this session about the women's correctional facility up north Um and plans to build a new facility how many beds should be in it The whole gamut Where do I mean, I know it's down the line Still we're early and talks on this, but where do you stand right now? I think we proposed it we put it in the bill so that the number I I think was a hundred and I'm going to guess 130 beds something like that Facility, I mean we've known for quite some time that um and and this was back in my days in the senate that We needed to do something to upgrade the women's facility in particular We I went for field trips there with my committee and got to see it with our own eyes and and thought we should do better There's the main model that appears to be The best approach that we've seen thus far So I'm in favor of moving forward with something. That's what we put in the bill Hopefully the legislature will agree So back in february cormont state colleges made what became a pretty controversial decision Doing physical libraries and books and they wanted to go fully digital and there's a senate bill They're receiving testimony today That the Vermont state colleges would have to go through the legislature to be able to make any changes Whether it's the libraries cut library into hours because what are your thoughts that university might have to go through the general I think it's a terrible idea I think that might type of micromanaging when we're telling them You got to live within your means you got to figure out how you're going to support yourself without More money from the legislature there We passed this last year the goal was they were supposed to save I think another five million dollars This year and i'm not saying that that what they did was the right thing to do But we can't micromanage if we're going to give them a directive can't micromanage that You have to let them figure out what the best path forward is for them I believe we have tom davis from cormont on the line We had you unmuted for a second and it looks like you remuted yourself tom Yeah, we're not hearing you tom. I think you're you're talking but we're not hearing you i'm sorry Is ed barver from newport daily express on Tom feel free to if you have a question send it to me. We can get a response to you this afternoon Thank you. I had no questions. Thank you We did hear that I'll take the gold star. All right, you got it any others in the room Did you have a nice Easter? I'm sorry. Did you have a nice Easter? Yes. Yes took a hike up He'll um next to our our house and it was a beautiful day Governors who reported that during the swatting incident at the middlebury library police outside could not communicate with police inside Due to problems with the 12 million dollar vcom communication system Some first responders say it's too complicated to train workers and that access accessing it on cell phones is difficult Any any thoughts about this? Yeah, I'm I know I've heard this some of the same thing that you're describing, but I don't have any details at this point I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it First you're hearing of issues with the vcom system or just been on going well during the pandemic actually when we were transitioning to This new system There were some complaints during the transition, but I hadn't heard of any sense to be honest with you Is that concerning for you at all that you have heard these concerns? Well, I'm no, I mean obviously we want people to be able to communicate During those types of situations. So again, I have complete faith in our department of public safety and our commissioner And I'm sure they'll get to the bottom of it and fix it if If the house doesn't restore the 25 Unit act 250 exemption for housing Is that a deal killer? Does that be something? you know, I'm I've been saying for quite some time That we need to do something about act 250 and and if we're really serious about about housing Then and if this is really truly a crisis Then we better address it like it's a crisis and and do something about this provision vlct Has some issues with it. I don't know if they're supportive of this At this point in time But there are so many good parts of the bill. I wanted to acknowledge that it's in the house now They have the ability to fix it and make it so that all of us can support it and move forward I think we're really about to see ev sales take off in the state of Vermont, but in the past you expressed concern that They may not be paying their way Vermont's road is but it's not because they're not paying gas taxes You have a solution for how to make sure that those drivers contribute to the state's network well, we Again, I I'm Fully supportive of the transition to evs as you know have one as a daily driver myself We have to continue. We are really On the forefront of providing for the infrastructure of charging infrastructure and so forth And we need to continue to grow that and having faster chargers more of them in more parts of the state As we transition to this electric technology So at the same time, I think we're about six percent of the sales at this point And I believe it will grow and we're seeing more and more manufacturers that are coming out with some pretty Pretty ingenious type of vehicles so we'll But having said that as we grow and continue to to have more evs It has to be a user fee. We have to pay for our roads and bridges and maintenance and so forth somehow So we put forward a mileage tax In the house I think I believe that past or was included And and now it's in the senate I know that they had some issues with that and they'd like to see that it be Be imposed and they're not disagreeing that it needs to happen But they'd like to see it imposed at the pump so to speak at the charging the station Just like we do with with fuel. I'm in favor of that, but we've been told by the utilities That they are not They can't do it at this point in time if they can if they figure it out. I think that does make the most sense That way We can we can take advantage of those who are coming to visit our state. They're using our roads to And pay as well as making sure that For monitors are are treated appropriately Is there an argument to be made for not doing that? So that people are more incentivized by UV which is still a little more expensive than a gas power vehicle? Well, again, I'm all always in favor of tax reductions Fee reductions, but in this case Again, we need that's the way and I believe that the country has to come to grips with this as well That's the way we pay for our highways our bridges and roads and so forth It's through fuel. So if it's I don't see how we can do without it We're going to have to to make some decision on this sooner rather than later and again, I think The country needs to do so as well That's all I mean, can can our grid support These ev charging infrastructure investments across the state plus what we might see acquired by or incentivized by s5 Yeah, I'm uh, as you know, I've been I've been concerned about the grid and when I went to To uh, Washington D.C. For the national governor's association. We had a panel discussion about things of this nature And so we are going to have to do some more planning We need more battery storage large-scale battery storage and In strategic places. We're going to have to upgrade the grid. I think velco has talked about this I've had conversations with them as well So we can't um, I think we can handle the the infrastructure the charging infrastructure at this point in time Um, but when we start adding more heat pumps and so forth and when you try and renovate or Reconfigure your your your home to allow for charging at home That has an impact on the grid as well Transformers have to be upgraded and so forth. So it gets to be pretty expensive So again, we need to look at this holistically across the state. We're doing our Public service department is doing just that And velco as well and and I believe the utilities Are our partners in this as we move forward, but but it is a critical issue That's why it has to be done in stages and steps. It can't be done overnight One question I've pondered with the ev mileage based fee proposal is How that would factor into someone who drove outside of the state So they took a cross country trip or a college kid who lives out of the state for most of the year I'm sure you've thought about that. Yeah. No, it's not a perfect system admittedly But it's the only one we could come up with at this point in time To provide the resources we need to maintain our roads and bridges So again, as I said, if there is a If technology changes or the utilities say we can actually do this And charge some sort of fee or tax on the per kilowatt tax of some sort Then that would be Probably more appropriate and I believe again across the country. That's what we're going to have to move towards But I don't know when they can do it. So we've decided to move forward with this and make the proposal Thank you all very much