 Welcome to Under the Dome. My name is Emily Brewer and I'll be your host for today's program. Under the Dome is town meeting TV's coverage of the Vermont legislative session. In this series, we speak with legislators and advocates about the bills that move through the legislator this year and what they might mean for you and your neighbors. On today's program we've got two representatives from Winooski. We're joined by Daisy Berbeco and Taylor Small. Thank you so much for coming out tonight or today. I'm aging myself here, but thank you so much. And so Daisy, you serve on the Committee of Health Care, on Health Care, excuse me, while Taylor serves on the Committee on Human Services. Starting with Daisy, could you tell us a little bit about a couple of the things you worked on on the Health Care Committee this year? Thanks so much for coming to Winooski today. Welcome. So I was so pleased and fortunate to land on the Committee on Health Care in the legislature and had a wonderful time working with my colleagues there and are the great leadership of Lori Houghton from Essex. I think there were three key things that I'm proud to have collaborated on in that committee. Number one was legislation around reproductive rights and access to gender-affirming health care. That legislation, many of you have heard of shield laws, so there was a House bill and also a Senate companion to that. I'm incredibly proud to support protecting our providers in delivering access to those legally protected health care services so that everyone in Vermont can continue to have bodily autonomy and access to reproductive health care. The other legislation is the Suicide Prevention Bill that reduced access to lethal means. Alyssa Black was such a great leader in really pioneering a voice behind why we need legislation like that, and as someone who's worked in the field of suicide prevention and mental health advocacy for decades, I just can't speak highly enough of all of the voices that bravely came in and helped move the bill over the finish line. So that one, I know we're going to probably hear a bit about when it comes to the governor just in terms of whether it's constitutional or not, and I'm happy to have the support of our Attorney General on that and look forward to further discussion on it. And lastly, I think something that we all need is better access to health care services in Vermont. So the health care committee took up four different pieces of legislation that would have Vermont providers joining interstate compacts that would allow providers in Vermont who are licensed here to provide services to other states that are part of the compact. So that allows providers here to not only provide services out of state, but also allows patients in Vermont or residents here to also get services from other providers who are part of the compact. I think those are probably six key pieces of legislation that we're really grueling to do work on, but again my committee was just incredible and I'm really proud to be part of those. Thank you, Daisy, and it sounds like really important work that needed to be done. So despite the fact that it was grueling, thank you for working on that. And Taylor, moving on to, could you tell us a little bit about the work that you did in the Human Services Committee? Absolutely, and what a beautiful day here and when you ski. You know, our work really starts first on the budget. That's where a lot of our human services work is because of understanding the funding needs for the various programs serving Vermont's most vulnerable people across the state. And one piece I will highlight amongst all of the investments that we made was really increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates for various providers, especially looking to our older Vermonters for adult daybeds or nursing home beds, understanding that there is this intersection with homelessness as well as older Vermonters not necessarily getting the services that they need. So by increasing those Medicaid reimbursements, being able to expand services available. A smaller, yet I still think a very important one as well, was getting a vehicle for our youth development program. And this vehicle would allow for foster youth who are having a difficult time staying in driver's education either because they're bouncing around from different schools or aren't able to stay in a consistent program, to be able to now have one vehicle that goes around the state to be able to provide driver's ed and a collaboration already set in place with driver's ed instructors to be able to get. I think it's about 76% of our foster youth do not attain their license by the age of 18, and this would allow them to do so. But I think just to talk about the major legislation, of course, I cannot overlook our amazing childcare bill that we did this year, really expanding access for folks across the state of Vermont, in particular looking to rural Vermont for our family childcare homes and increasing reimbursements for them, as well as understanding that for financial assistance for families who are paying way too much to be able to keep their kids in a sustainable childcare, especially to have it all week instead of these kind of peace and parcel childcare situations. We were able to go all the way up to 550% of the federal poverty level of folks who would qualify and actually removed the copay for families under 175% of the federal poverty level. And lastly, I will mention our work on overdose prevention. One key bill that we were able to pass is 222, which really expanded access to naloxone. Do we want to? Hello, friend. Oh, so cute. No worries, an adorable interruption. But really taking smaller steps to address the overdose crisis, especially accessing naloxone and buprenorphine and removing the sunset that was previously put forward by the administration to make sure that personal use amounts of buprenorphine would not be criminalized anymore. Thank you very much, Taylor. And again, really important work being done on all sides here. And so something about this legislative session was that the Democratic Party had a veto-proof majority. And now Daisy as a Democrat and Taylor as a progressive Democrat, did this veto-proof majority change the way that you approached legislating at all? And we'll start with Daisy again. I'm trying really hard not to say that's a good question because I feel like that statement is so overused. But it really is because as a first-time legislator, I don't really have a comparison for that. So did it change what I have done differently? I don't have a comparison for you. No, I mean, I guess I would just say that the way that I vote is by my conscience and by what I know Winooski and our constituents here have voiced as their needs and concerns and priorities. And then I use a lot of the resources that my colleagues across the party and even outside the party. I mean, there are tons of things I've collaborated on with Taylor. She referenced some of the opioid legislation. I've cosponsored her legislation on that, and she's cosponsored legislation that I led. And so I think having the super majority is an opportunity to, for some maybe, but I think a lot of us really, you know, what guides us is those principles and values. And so I think other people might, I don't know, I'm curious what Taylor would say in terms of someone who has something to compare it to. But for me, those are the principles that sort of guide, you know, where I go. And I think right now what we're seeing is something that is more of a numbers game. And so maybe that's what you're referring to, Taylor. Yeah, I really appreciate the question because of the piece of thinking about how I legislate in relation to a super majority. And I would say it hasn't changed the way I'm working in that building and how we're doing that work together. What I think changes the conversation in the building is about that veto proof number, especially when we take progressives and Democrats together into one larger swath. And understanding that for minority parties, typically they describe it as being on a ship together. And that the majority party is the one that is steering the ship and showing us the direction of where we're going. And the minority parties are there to point out any of the pitfalls, any of the rocks, the icebergs that are ahead to make sure that we're having well-rounded legislation. And I think that's what comes with a stronger responsibility with the super majority is to make sure that we are bringing our minority parties into the mix and hearing the different perspectives instead of brushing it off with the, well, we can pass it anyway. Which, luckily, I would say is not the experience that I had in the legislature this year. I think what was disappointing, I would say, is that it seemed that with the lower numbers of our Republican colleagues in the House in particular, they weren't as active to voice their opinions or perspectives through the process as we were doing legislation because they saw the super majority as a barrier to that work. So that would be my only, I know it's a weird thing to say, that my downfall of the super majority is not having diverse perspectives, maybe as loud as they usually are. But I really truly find the diverse opinions help us to pass legislation that is more balanced in the long run. Thank you, Taylor. And I really enjoyed that ship metaphor. I think that really helps visualize it a little bit because from the outside it's hard to know sort of the inner workings and what you're thinking about when you're in there making votes and choices. So before I move on to my next question, I just kind of want to go back to Daisy and was there anything else you would like to add about what you, how you felt, what you thought being a first-time legislator this session? I had a lot of thoughts and feelings. I guess, you know, one fundamental takeaway is just I feel extreme gratitude to be in the legislature, first of all, and representing a place as unique and special as Winooski and the opportunity to work alongside Taylor, who's a national leader, is incredible, really. The other thing is the incredible gratitude I feel to be professionally coming full circle it feels like, having worked in advocacy for mental health and substance misuse and then having worked alongside providers to help sustain business operations and then coming to state policy after being at the agency of human services, it really feels like a big click. And I feel like I have found a place where all of that experience is really informing great policy. And I feel like I have the colleagues who value that and it's really an extraordinary feeling. Well, thank you for that takeaway. Thank you for sharing. And we'll move on now to sort of the big question that's on a lot of people's minds, which has to do with emergency housing. On the last day of the session, the legislature passed the budget but that budget does not include support for the continuation of the emergency housing program established during the pandemic, excuse me, meaning that over 2,000 Vermonters will be evicted from motels across the state this summer. That budget vote did not have a veto-proof majority and it sounds like the governor will not support it. So that being said, what do you think is the path forward for the budget? And how do you think the state should support those people that are currently being housed in motels? And we can start with Taylor for this one. Yeah, a very big question and I will just start off in acknowledging that I was one of the no votes on the budget because of this particular issue. And being in human services, this is right in our wheelhouse of work that we were doing throughout the session, especially hearing directly from providers at emergency shelters across the state, as well as folks experiencing homelessness and trying to get a full understanding of what the picture is and the reality here in the state of Vermont. And what came across really clearly from those conversations is that homelessness in Vermont has always been a policy choice. Prior to the pandemic, the legislature administration has been relatively comfortable with about 1,100 households being houseless in the state of Vermont as it fluctuates throughout the year. And so I think what has brought this conversation to light is the fact that during the pandemic, we were able to house everyone experiencing homelessness. We took a very bold and important step in protecting everyone and making sure that they had a roof over their heads. And now as we're seeing the transition of this program, and I really want to highlight the nuance there of the transition that the General Assistance Emergency Housing Program is not disappearing by any means, just the rules of who is able to participate and to what extent are changing back to their pre-pandemic rules. And so those were really limiting. The rules prior to the pandemic limited folks who are pregnant and who would be able to participate. You would only be able to get a hotel room if you were in your third trimester. Or if we think about families with children, it would only count if you had children under the age of five. But if you had children over the age of five, you still would not necessarily qualify for General Assistance Emergency Housing. So that's why we're seeing such a mass exodus happening both at the end of this month and then a larger group of folks at the end of June. And so what I see as a path forward is really trying to figure out if there is flexibility in the budget that we passed with cooperation from the administration and the Agency of Human Services to make sure that there is a just transition for these folks instead of this abrupt end and pushing folks and putting the responsibility onto our municipalities. I think one thing that became really clear through testimony and through conversations with AHS is that the typical exit rate for this program is about 100 to 200 households a month. And so to be exiting over 1000 households or exiting over 700 households in one month is not doing due justice for our communities and being able to support and understand the larger swath of an impact that we'll have. I think otherwise if we're not able to come to an agreement or cooperation between the budget that was put forward and the administration then we need to rewrite the budget and we're talking about a nearly eight and a half billion dollar budget and the investment that we're looking for for a just transition is just 0.3 percent of that budget to be able to allow for folks to not be put out onto the street and to have a shelter over their head. So it's not a fun solution by any means. It is really complicated but I think that it comes with the territory of this work is to make those really tough decisions. Thank you. And Daisy anything you'd like to add? I agree with Taylor that it is a really complicated decision and it does seem really abrupt to me and tragic but it didn't have to be abrupt. That's the thing is the administration has been asking for a transition plan or sorry the legislature has been asking for a transition plan from the administration for years and I know that because I worked at AHS during the time that this program was stood up and Taylor has been working in human services and was part of trying to get that transition plan in place. So we both voted for the budget adjustment in March which gave an additional 65 million dollars to help the administration transition this population and maybe that's what Taylor's referring to that it should be more gradual 100 people per month or something that's a little more realistic in terms of you know connecting folks to services and more permanent housing. So it should never be this abrupt and I think we are all equally frustrated but I think that there are a lot of us who have different approaches going forward. So I think that what needs to happen is we need to pass this budget. I think this is not a single-issue budget. I think there are things baked into this that actually support these people. I think we have 211 million dollars for housing in this budget. We have over I think the governor's budget had what 56 million dollars in it for housing and the house and senate agreed through the conference committee 211 million dollars for housing. So when you hear the governor say that we are spending so much money we're putting it into housing and this is a problem that the administration should have addressed years ago when the legislature was asking them to transition this population. So I think what you're seeing is a legislature that is ready to go. We have as Taylor and I walked through put forward legislation that addresses social determinants of health for Vermonters through addressing things like the opioid epidemic through raising Medicare rates, Medicaid rates to providers across the board including dentists, mental health care providers, primary care providers and we are really addressing social determinants of health and housing is at the center of that. I don't think there's anyone in the legislature who didn't learn that this past session. We've done such a good job collaborating on that and I think it's really unfortunate that at the end of the session this project that the administration has clearly dragged their toes on and failed on is dragging us down because we've done great work together and I think we're going to continue to do great work together. Thank you Daisy and thank you Taylor as well for both shedding some light on this very pressing issue and we'll be following this as as I believe this session the next is in June voting on that budget so we'll be speaking with legislators and keeping folks up to date on what's going on with this issue as well as others and so that being said let's shift now to a more local focus I'm very curious to know what the impact will be of this legislative session on folks living in Winooski and Daisy we can start with you. I think there's a lot I mean I mentioned social determinants of health just now so my mind is there in terms of health care. Child care also Taylor worked a lot on that bill and I know as a parent that one is top of my heart and mind I have two little kids that were greatly impacted by everything that this new child care legislation will partly address and so I'm probably most excited about 217 and I think that will probably for me impact a lot of or from what I know of constituents in Winooski that will be a huge one. Again I think for some of our older Vermonters and older folks in Winooski I think some of the you know improved Medicaid rates for providers is going to start to address some of the the pains that we all have had in health care recently. A lot of folks who get Medicaid or who are getting services from Medicaid are going to start to hopefully see that we are beginning to chip away at some of some of those areas. Yeah and really to build on it and to talk about housing I think S100 really is going to have a significant impact here in Winooski. We've already been a model city when it comes to development and making sure that we can get more and more housing built as as fast as possible but also in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way and I think what the state was able to do by removing some of these impediments around Act 250 and expanding the allowable development even right here within Winooski is just going to help address the housing crisis that we have heard time and time and time again. On top of investments of 60 million dollars into the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board on top of additional investments that we made during the Budget Adjustment Act I think that shows this legislature's commitment to really addressing the housing crisis. The other piece I will acknowledge is that we are looking to welcome more refugees here into the state of Vermont and we invested a million dollars into employment supports for refugees and new Americans and getting connected to employment and are also looking into housing options there as well. Too many of our refugee and new American families are still in hotels themselves not through the general assistance program but very much adjacent and recognizing exactly that that we are welcoming folks we have always been welcoming folks here in Vermont but we also need the housing to support the folks that we're bringing in and I think what is really important about welcoming more refugees into the state of Vermont is that it comes with it federal funding to really up stand and expand the services that we're able to provide. I was sad to see that in the budget conference there was a needs assessment that was put in on the house side and really understanding what services do we have available and where do we need more especially as we're seeing folks move into different parts of the state who might not have those services there already and so I'm hoping again flexibility in the budget that we are still able to do that needs assessment so then we can even better understand where we can uplift communities like Winooski that are doing the work but also making sure that the state is putting that funding behind it as well. Thank you Taylor and so you both have done some really hard important work this session but I'm both of you had your own priorities coming into the session were there any that either weren't addressed were left on the wall if you could just speak to that? You know I think I was most disappointed to not see just cause eviction advance this year and I know that it will be taken up next year but I think that was an especially hard one just knowing how overwhelmingly voters in Winooski supported that it was hard to see that one not advance. I absolutely second that one and really welcome the chance for us to get a statewide policy in place so it isn't dependent on where you live in the state and having those tenant rights and protections. One piece I will highlight that didn't make crossover but I'm really excited that will be coming up for consideration next year are overdose prevention centers so H72 which was passed out of human services and ways and means in the house and is currently sitting in appropriations co-sponsored by my seatmate here and what this is really looking at is our work that we tried to do in the last biennium which was study overdose prevention centers and the impact that they could have in Vermont a rural state where we have not seen in the United States a rural application of this but we have seen it in other nations such as Canada and so what we are looking at is no longer studying this we've looked at the research we've looked at the international research we've looked at the research right here in the United States and it says that not only is Vermont leading an overdose deaths in the nation right now but we need a new solution. This is of course not the panacea of addressing the opioid crisis in Vermont but it is addressing the death crisis the overdose death crisis that we're seeing here and so I look forward to that continuing its conversation in the next year. Thank you Taylor and finally before we wrap up here I want to give you guys a chance to let your constituents know who are watching out there how they can get in touch with you particularly at this point in the legislative session but in general I know in our emails you mentioned a coffee hour so if either of you just want to let folks know that would be fantastic. Thanks again for coming to Winooski and having us. Best place to get in touch with me is I have a website www.daisyforwinooski.com go to my blog I just posted a blog update today I'll be doing a session end of session report today there's a new post on the money the budget's important so I did a post on our budget the capital bill and an update from the Ways and Maines committee I also will be doing a coffee hour with our senator Martine Gulick and that is on the 14th at the senior center I believe it's at 10 a.m. and I'll put that on my website as well and as always available via my website tailorsmallvt.com or across social media which is just the same handle tailorsmallvt.com have not planned on the coffee hours yet as I am very much embracing this nice little break at the end of the session but yes always welcome continued conversations with folks in community. Well thank you both thank you both that break is well deserved for both of you and thanks for having us here in Winooski we're glad to join you and this wonderful behind the Winooski Memorial Library and yeah thank you for tuning in and watching under the dome stay tuned in the coming weeks as we continue to recap the 2023 legislative session you can watch online at www.ch17.tv or on our youtube channel youtube.com slash town meeting tv thank you very much for watching and have a great rest of your day