 with the Vermont House Government Operations Committee. We are meeting to look over what we hope to be the final language on S-354, the pared down version of it. We are assembled now with our Legislative Council and all of our committee members and Representative Murwiki, would you be willing to report this on the floor tomorrow? As long as Senator White isn't watching. That is a complicating factor since she is your constituent. And I am sure to hear from her. Yes, well the bill was perfect and nobody had any concerns so and it's still perfect and we have eliminated any concerns that we heard about. So Betsy Ann and Tucker, why don't you guys take it away, show us what we're looking at for some emergency provisions for our municipalities and school districts. Hello, if it's okay I'll do a share screen while the dock is being posted, if that's all right. If Andrea will let me. We've got three two versions up here because I didn't know how far the committee wanted to go with this. Let's take a look at draft 3.2 first. There's a 3.1 and a 3.2. The difference between the two is that 3.2 would apply only to towns and school districts. 3.1 would apply to all municipalities. So I just offered 3.1 just in case you wanted to extend this Australian ballot authority beyond towns and school districts. But for right now let's just look at 3.2 that's limited to towns and school districts. So this 3.2 again this is a strike all to the bill with only this one section that would say notwithstanding the two provisions of law that require the voters of a town or school district to vote to apply the provisions of the Australian ballot system to the annual or special meeting of the municipality because municipalities just catch all term for both town and school district in the year 2021. A town or school district may apply the Australian ballot system to any or all of its annual or special meetings held in the year 2021 by vote of its legislative body. So for a town that's its select board or city council for school district that's its school board. It goes on to say that the Secretary of State may waive statutory deadlines or other statutory provisions or provisions set forth in a school district's articles of agreement related to a municipal election as necessary in order for a municipality to apply the Australian ballot system to its meeting in accordance with subsection A. This waiver authority applies the statutory provisions set forth in a municipal charter or provisions set forth in a school district's articles of agreement if the waiver is requested by the municipality. If that language looks familiar to you or did it come from it's coming from your act 92. Essentially this same exact language for all municipalities in act 92 in the provisions of act 92 but only for the year 2020. So that's why that authority is ending in the year 2020. This would extend it just for towns and school districts in the year 2021 because this draft 3.2 would be limited to towns and school districts. There was some feedback from the education committee chair about defining school districts. So it's not just your normal town school district. It could be a union school district for example and they even had language suggesting a regional career technical school center school district. So according to language that they provided to define school district this would use their proposed school district definition meaning a school district as defined in 16 VSA sub section 11 sub 11 which defines school districts to include your standard town school districts as well as union municipal school districts all our normal school districts you think of plus the definition of the regional career technical center school district as separately defined in 16 VSA 1571 effective date on passage and then the title of the bill would be amended to be an act relating to using Australian ballot for town and school district meetings in the year 2021. So that's draft 3.2 limited just to towns and school districts. I had draft 3.1 just in case you wanted to extend this to all municipalities. So other municipalities might include a village, a fire district, a water district or any of the other utility type districts that exist in the state. If you wanted to take it that far I didn't know if you wanted to. So just in case 3.1 is there just using the more general term municipality so allowing any municipality legislative body in the year 21 to apply the Australian ballot system to any of its annual or special meetings in the year 21 by vote of the legislative body same statutory of state waiver authority and then the title would be real an act relating to using Australian ballot for municipal meetings in the year 21. I'm going to stop share for now and I think you have access to or should have access to these docs. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks Andrea. Committee questions, discussion. Go ahead John. Thank you. Betsy and the petition things out. I did not include your petition thing. I failed to do that. I'm sorry because you wanted to include that you didn't tell me that you wanted to make it permissive for Australian ballot but you didn't tell me to get rid of the petition so I need to do that. I apologize in the rush of things I did not. I don't fully understand just. Sorry about that. I would need to include that. So we should decide whether we're going 3.2 or 3.1. Mike Marwicki has a hand up. I'm just checking to see if I actually have any say in this. Well we've already covered the part that you don't have say in so yes you have say in this. Okay well no I just wanted to share that about 20 years ago I was elected the chair of a statewide group that organized after school care programs and people said oh that was nice and I said well the situation was I was at this meeting I had to take a phone call because we had a problem at the program back home and when I came back in the room I had been elected chair of this yeah you're all over again be be careful what happens when the group you're working with notices your absence I'm honored all right so my inclination is that we want this to cover all of the school districts as the concern was raised by the education committee that they wanted to make sure school districts union districts were all set and that we should also do all municipal bodies because villages and water boards and all and the like might still have challenges doing their annual meetings through the end of this pandemic so that would be my inclination anybody want to weigh in well I agree AP yes I I would I totally agree with fact I had my hand up when you said it I lowered it but yes I think that's the best way it covers everybody and it's just everybody has as necessary if they need it so I go with that thank you other committee discussion Mike Mike's got a thumbs up good deal yeah I agree with JP well without objection we will just give you a Betsy Anna moment to bring over the language regarding petition signatures and I think we will want to check in on this or or recommend to the newly formulated government operations committee in January to check in on this Jim Harrison Madam Chair we going to convene at all Thursday or Friday as a committee we can if you'll miss us well I don't want to just say goodbye and no I didn't I didn't know if we might fit in a five minute zoom session certainly want to say goodbye to Marsha she bailing on us well I hope that we could do that yes JP let me throw out 10 o'clock Friday morning just to get people thinking 10 o'clock Friday morning so my sense of Friday is that Friday is going to be a bit of a hurry up and wait day as we wait to see what's coming back when from the Senate do we have two two house or two four sessions on Friday well we have them penciled in I don't know that we're definitely going to use them oh okay so why don't we why don't we make tentative plans to to have a a zoom on Friday between floor sessions I don't want to have you come in before 10 a.m if floor is at 10 and we take a break we can decide at that point that we're gonna get together to say our goodbyes eat our lunch together Rob's bringing donuts right I think Jim actually could buy us lunch and just pay for it all through this Venmo did you know that the way side is open for dining in I saw a big banner on the it is and I if Jim would like to spring for it I'd go get gift certificates for everyone so I saw a headline in Times Argus but I didn't have a chance to read it evidently the wayside also has been in business long enough that it survived the last pandemic is that correct I read that as well that's impressive I'm assuming it wasn't a pandemic caused by their cooking Warren I just wanted to I wanted to remind folks that Dr. Fauci and others at the CDC have said that data shows that dining in increases twofold your chances of catching the virus that dining in any of these restaurants doubles doubles your chances as opposed to dining outside or not going to a restaurant anyway and then there's no doubt that the restaurant industry has been hit harder by this thing and any other segment of our society but well I'd be very careful about dining in a restaurant I'll be right back I'm speaking with the chair of education what's taking Betsy and so long Jim she can't hit me from this distance I was asking for Rob well I'm a little disappointed in myself I mean she actually she waited till the last couple days to make a mistake this year I know it's the first one she's made in the biennium well that's yeah exactly not that I'm counting or anything but all right Betsy and it's going to disappear for a moment and put the finishing touches Warren is your hand just up from before I'll lower it for you if you want me to okay I think we're good one second here I am going to first let me just I'll save this as a PDF and send it to all of you sorry for the hold up I have so many versions of docs open it's I had to recreate is someone hungry I hear some growling sounds like Rob's dog that was here there is a dog downstairs I'm sorry I couldn't tell if it was a dog or Jim okay let me I just emailed it to you all this is draft 4.1 adding back in the waiver authority or excuse me the suspension of the requirement to collect voter signatures for any municipal meeting so if we're good to go I will do a share screen okay here we are this would be draft 4.1 your strike all it's for municipal meetings in the year 2021 notwithstanding those two provisions of law that require the voters of a municipality to vote to apply the Australian the provisions of the Australian ballot system to the annual or special meeting of the municipality in the year 2021 any municipality may apply the Australian ballot system to any or all of its municipal meetings held in the year 2021 by vote of its legislative body here's the new language in sub 2 notwithstanding 17 vsa 2681 b or any other provisional laws of the contrary a person shall not be required to collect voter signatures in order to have the person's name placed on the ballot as a candidate for a local election that is held at a 2021 municipal meeting there in sub b is that waiver authority for the secretary of state to waive statutory deadlines in order to allow municipalities to move to Australian ballot this is the same language that the general assembly already enacted for municipal elections in the year 2020 those are still that authority is still ongoing and now this would pick it up and apply it to 2021 I'm gonna get rid of that sub c I was working with that old doc I'm getting rid of sub c you don't need that sub c definition of a school district because you don't have it in here so I'm getting rid of sub c I just did that on the fly there's be no subsection c in this draft 4.1 we'll call it draft 4.2 time stamp is my wiki has his hand up like go ahead thank you Betsy I have a question I believe we heard earlier from the secretary of state's office that other ballot questions for town meeting don't have to have signature on a petition also is that am I remembering accurately you're muted they were saying that a a town can choose a town legislative body can choose on its own to put on the ballot any questions that otherwise would have been submitted by voter petition so for example they gave the example of a prior petition for a budgetary appropriation instead of requiring people to submit a voter petition the town legislative body on its own could submit that question to the voters so it's not a statutory authority to actually waive the signature requirement for those voter petitions it's just the town legislative body could act on its own to propose those questions to the voters so people if a town doesn't agree big picture if a legislative body doesn't agree with putting a for example a budget appropriation on the ballot um some a person would still have to collect voter signatures for a voter petition to have it placed on the ballot but that's only for public questions not for work candidates yeah so it's up to the town boards yes if if they if they want to do it on their own thank you hi jim yeah just whenever appropriate i would move that we adopt draft 4.1 as a strike call amendment to s 354 and i did just change it to 4.2 because i just sent you 4.1 with that erroneous definition of school district which you don't need anymore so if you want to make it 4.2 because i deleted that what i was saying is i meant 4.2 thank you for working with me thank you for working with us all right uh committee discussion does it meet all of your concerns yes all right i see jim and mike with hands up but i'm going to lower them because i'm going to assume that you're good to go um any other committee discussion jim you know the vice chair lowered our hands this morning did he do that for you in my absence jp just just trying to verify in and um section one subsection two last sentence uh the main place on a ballot's candidate for a local elections held at a 2020 municipal meeting now the word municipal just trying to verify we'll cover town and school districts is that correct that is correct municipality is a general term for governmental incorporated units so it includes towns school districts fire districts villages water districts all of those units of government great and that's what that was my belief i just wanted to verify that thank you yeah all right we have a motion on the floor here are we ready to vote all right marcia when you are ready let's just take a moment to know recognize that this is quite possibly the last roll call vote that marcia as our as our committee clerk will take for us so let us hope thank you for your sake and for ours and we do so appreciate your work in that position so thank you whenever you're ready okay gannon yes kits miller yes roll wiki yes la claire absolutely maybe yes erison yes gardener yes plastic yes super yes ronnell yes colston yes couplin hanses yes so it's a unanimous 11 00 vote all right what is the most expeditious way to get this information to the clerk so that it can go in on notice so i did just forward you that 4.2 that you just approved and so whoever the reporter is can just send it over to just eat by email to the house clerk's office okay so might take forward that um through the clerk's office and you might want to just ask him for confirmation uh just to be sure all right any other business for the committee before we go off stream cnn e mic thank you marcia good job marcia thank you all right i think we are done with official business so let's go off