 Good afternoon everyone. Today we have Tourism and Marketing Commissioner Heather Pelham, and Emergency Management Director Eric Forend here to talk about next week's eclipse and how we prepared for it. But first, as you know, every year we send out our Dear Jane letter to the Senate, giving our review of the House Pass budget and where we recommend the Senate make changes. We'll be sending that either today or tomorrow, but as always, we'll be able to share that with you and happy to do so. But today I want to highlight one component that will be in it, and that's our very different approaches to housing investments. As you may remember, my budget included strategic investments in cost-saving and cost-effective programs like VHIP where we prove it. We can renovate existing offline units and bring them back online for a fraction of the cost of other housing programs. In fact, since we lost the program, it's put 547 units back into use with 400 more under construction and in the pipeline for an average cost of about 38,000 per unit. Compare that with new units costing anywhere from 450,000 to over 600,000 per unit to build. And you can see how important this program is, especially when you factor in the number of years it takes to build new. Unfortunately, the House's slash funding for this incredibly successful program from 6 million to just 1 million. They also eliminated our $2 million base increase for the downtown and Village Senate tax credits, which help support housing projects across the state. Not only that, but they cut the healthy homes and the mobile home improvement program by 50%. What the House is doing is unusual. By removing a lot of spending out of the budget itself and putting it into separate tax and spend bills is misleading from my perspective. H829, for example, and this is the tax and spend bill, is being talked about in the House as a long term housing plan. But again, it's really just a big tax bill because it generates revenue for the general fund, not a special fund that can be used for any purpose in the future. And the programs they've highlighted don't really build much housing, which in a housing crisis should be our primary focus. Again, we have a supply problem. We need to increase it so any spending we do needs to have unit generation in mind. And the only way we'll get the biggest bang for the buck is if we actually move forward with meaningful regulatory reform to make it easier, less expensive and faster to build housing. Doing so will make public investments go further. But more importantly, help the private sector who actually build and fund the vast majority of housing development do more at a more affordable cost for home buyers. Next, as you all know, we have an exciting week ahead with the solar eclipse on Monday and good weather in the forecast as of now. We're expecting more than 100,000 people to visit the state for this event, and we've been preparing for months for matters that should expect a lot of traffic this weekend through Monday and possibly Tuesday. So please plan accordingly and use common sense. Think of this as peak foliage weekend on steroids. I know for some it will be frustrating with a large influx of people, but I want to remind folks many of our businesses have struggled this year between the floods and the snow situation. So the increased activity could be huge for them. So let's make the most of this exciting event. Be kind, be safe and hope we see an economic boost out of this historic moment. So with that, I'll turn it over to Commissioner Pella. Thank you, Governor. As the governor mentioned, this total solar eclipse is a once in a lifetime event. Vermont is lucky enough to be in the path of totality for a celestial phenomenon that truly will be a site to behold. The Department of Tourism and Marketing, along with other state agencies mentioned, has been planning for this event for months, as have many of our local communities who've been coming together to plan educational programs, festivals and events of all shapes and sizes. I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all of those local volunteers who are planning those events, not just on Monday afternoon, but throughout this coming weekend. While a total solar eclipse doesn't happen very often, to say the least, Vermont communities do know how to come together to celebrate. And I hope that all Vermonters will make a plan ahead of time to do just that, to spend some time with family and friends to make the most of this historic event. For folks looking for ideas, VermontVacation.com has a full list of events happening throughout the state, as well as additional FAQs. This incredible event for Vermont is also going to bring lots of visitors to our area, many who have been planning for this event for months and in some cases even years. While a large influx of visitors will inevitably bring some traffic delays and perhaps some other inconveniences, this is a great opportunity. At a time of year, when we traditionally do not see many visitors to have our downtowns, our restaurants, our shops and our ends full of people. Given the challenges we have faced post-pandemic, as well as after the devastating flooding this year, I hope that all will embrace this opportunity for our local communities to get a real economic boost. The state treasurer has estimated the economic to the boost to the state may be as high as $50 million. And if you are a store owner or a restaurant that might normally be closed on Sunday or Monday, it's not too late to try and stay open and take advantage of this opportunity. Tourism is an incredibly important industry for Vermont's economy, one that provides jobs to over 30,000 Vermonters. And so I hope that all of us will welcome these visitors with patience and kindness. We are encouraging visitors to come early and stay longer, not just to ease traffic congestion, but as there's truly so much for visitors to experience in all corners of the state while they are here. And whether they are here in Vermont for the first time or they choose to experience the eclipse in Vermont because they love all our state has to offer just as much as we do, I hope we can all do our part to make sure that experience is one they will treasure and so they will come back in the future. In addition to sharing information on where to go and what to do, we have also been spreading the word to stay on our major roads, to stay off closed trails, to otherwise respect private property, and to adhere to public safety guidance. For more of those details, I'd like to now turn to Director Forend. Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. I want to talk briefly about the planning the state has conducted over the last several months to prepare for the influx of visitors that we will see this weekend and for the eclipse on Monday. At the end of last year, VEM formed several working groups made up of state partners to begin considering potential issues and resource needs that could arise from a sharp increase in visitors to the state. Working groups focused on communication, safety and security, traffic, public messaging, and other topics met regularly to assess needs, prepare messaging, address rumors, and develop visitor estimates. We also worked alongside the Vermont League of Cities and Towns as they hosted a bi-weekly meeting with municipalities to help them prepare, discuss their events, and gauge resource needs. Vermont Emergency Management partially activated the State Emergency Operations Center on March 25th to finalize planning and will move to a full activation on the 8th for response needs. The Agency of Transportation partly activated its traffic incident command center and will fully staff at beginning on the 6th. To assist with potential traffic delays, the state has extended Welcome Center hours and added portable restrooms at Welcome Centers and parking areas along the interstate. We will have State Police, Department of Motor Vehicles, and Agency of Transportation patrols out to assist motorists. The Vermont Towing Association was contacted to encourage them to ensure tow companies are available and ready on Monday and the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association was contacted to encourage service stations to plan gasoline deliveries ahead of the event. The state has been working with cell phone providers since last year to ensure service will work for those who normally use cell phones to call emergency services. Service providers have told the state that they are prepared for the influx of visitors and service will be operable in areas that currently have cell service. The state also has five compact rapid deployable units that can be positioned on Eclipse Day should an area have trouble. Due to the potential for visitors to watch the Eclipse in their boats on Lake Champlain, State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard will have a combined five boats in the water conducting patrols. Fish and Wildlife and the Urban Search and Rescue Team both have trailer boats that can be quickly deployed if needed. I want to point out that Vermont's lakes, rivers, and streams are extremely cold and boating is not recommended at this time. The Vermont Hazardous Mysterials Response Team will be staged in various locations to facilitate their quick response should it be needed. Extra people means more calls for local emergency services. That influx and potential traffic could impact emergency response times. Please remember to leave breakdown lanes and shoulders free for these services to use in the event of an emergency. In closing enjoy this once in a lifetime event but be prepared. Traffic will be slow so be patient. Have a full tank of gas and water and snacks in the car. Download your directions or buy an old-fashioned map and respect road closures. It's mud season and a number of roads are closed for a reason. With that I'll turn it back to the governor. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll open up to questions at this point. How much is this Eclipse prep costing this day? Well a lot of the preparations that we are doing are in our normal business day so to speak. We're using many of the entities throughout the state. Secretaries and appointees within the departments and commissioners as well. But so I don't know is there any additional costs but Eric might have that as well. There may be a few additional costs for example we've increased for restrooms at the rest areas but in general this state emergency operation center is run by state partners and we've been doing that during state office hours so we've been keeping it on normal time. Thank you. I was talking to somebody who saw the Eclipse in Oregon. They said they traveled 15 miles in seven hours. What's the state doing to get this message to other states to Massachusetts, New York and that again? We've been messaging for two months now and we are reaching out and have reached out to the emergency management divisions in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and they are pushing our messaging about being patient and the idea that we spoke to Wyoming and they had the same issue in 2017 so we are just pushing out the message for expectations. There will be some traffic just please be patient be prepared have a plan understand where you're going to go understand how you're going to get back and understand that it might take a little bit longer than normal. What are you really expecting? I mean I know you're telling people to be prepared for everything but in your preparation are we looking at the interstate becoming a parking lot? What's your expectation of how this day is going to unfold? There's an expectation we're using modeling that has about 160,000 visitors coming so there is the potential given that we have only two interstates and a limited number of exits and on ramps for potential backups but we don't know the extent of what that might be so we've been reaching out to municipalities and then working with them to ensure that they understand that there may be some ramifications to their local streets as people try to find other ways so try to be ready for that understanding that Google and Waze will try to redirect people but we have been pushing the messaging to local emergency agencies around New England that stay on the roads stay after it roads the typical springtime messaging. And are you expecting the situation to be worse after the event because people might be coming up Friday Saturday Sunday but most of them are probably leaving after 3.30 on Monday? Right the partial eclipse ends at 4.36 I believe on Monday and that's when we expect traffic to tick up so we are also pushing the message for stay another day enjoy the state of Vermont for an extra 24 hours you'll miss the traffic and you get to partake in the great things that the state has to offer. Are you at all concerned that the state simply doesn't have the capacity to handle the visitors and the traffic and everything during day close? I'm not concerned I mean our infrastructure is there it'll be taxed but I know that for monitors will be patient and we understand that a large number of people coming to this is actually an opportunity and we're looking forward to it. So who are these eclipse followers? Have you like profiled the age income where they come from any sort of interesting characteristics and language barriers? I would say that folks who are enthusiastic about the eclipse come in all shapes and sizes there are folks who will travel around and have made plans to see this event years ago when the first reports came out that Vermont would be in the path of totality but we really see this as an opportunity for folks to enjoy an incredible experience in Vermont whoever they may be and in terms of our messaging out to folks who might come you know in our drive market and beyond is all the safety messages that have been promoted already in terms of you know to stay on the major roads to be prepared for traffic delays but really to take advantage of this is an amazing time to see Vermont at a time if you're when folks might not otherwise be here so we're really looking forward to making sure that we're putting our best foot forward so folks you know will come back it's just a great opportunity and we are getting the message out that folks need to be prepared. Within the path of totality an empty hotel room is going to be very hard to find I can tell you that but there is vacancy in other parts of the state so if you know people do decide to change their plans on Monday morning because the weather is looking good and decide to come up and then we hope they will stay an extra day there is vacancy and again folks are just going to need to be a little flexible and plan ahead that there there will be traffic delays but it should be a great experience for everyone. I'm actually hoping they'll stay an extra week maybe a month maybe a year. So you have, this is not about the eclipse, expressed disfavor with the three percent tax increase for over income of $500,000 but now it's been linked to VHIP actually supporting VHIP it's also something that you support do you feel any more warmly toward that wealth tax than you did before? Well we funded VHIP in our budget without the tax so I'm back to I don't think we need any more taxes and fees we've we've outdone ourselves over the last couple of years they initiated a number of taxes last year we spent more on the budget than they should have and now you know it's come to roost we are in this position because we over spent and we didn't plan ahead for this the financial position we find ourselves in we're restricted the federal funding has dried up and we didn't we we did but I don't think the legislature took that seriously how devastating this could be so when you're faced with a $240 million increase in property taxes I don't think that was the time to increase any other taxes. Governor you talked a lot about in your housing plan you need to create units what specifically being done about affordability helping bring down rent or housing policies? Well I think you know it's this common economic principle supply and demand right now we have much more demand than we have supply we need to turn that around the more we increase supply the less demand there will be and the prices are lowered as a result so with the healthy money that we have been putting in as well from a from a state perspective from a federal perspective using some of the once in a lifetime dollars that came from the federal government to invest in in housing in those initiatives that will help as well but again from a long-term perspective we need to to make sure that we have some regulatory reform so that there's an incentive for the private investors and developers small time to actually invest in housing which we haven't seen for a while but but they do the vast majority of the housing development in the state. What's your read on where the act 250 conversation stands right now past the house it's in the senate is that I don't think it's changed a whole lot from last week the week before week before that week before that it's we'll see where it all ends up but the provisions in S311 I think would have the most benefit for Vermont at this point in time. How about the expansion of the judiciary was that part of your public safety message? Well as far as I can see the I mean there are some it's mostly just adding positions and I think some of our public safety is to try and get people moving through the courts getting them to show up many many times those offenders those who have been cited don't show up for court that doesn't mean the court doesn't have to be prepared so they sit there waiting you know the state's attorney and the judge and others waiting for the defendant show up and they don't show up and there's no accountability for that so it keeps happening and so we don't have an efficient court system because I believe we don't hold people accountable enough and make sure that they show up in court that's why we asked for you know going back on to some of our our bail you know undoing some of the bail reform so we put into place I sign so I think we need to think about that as well but I'm not as excited about adding 74 positions to the court system it's I think it's unfortunate that they many of those who are expressing their concerns don't do their homework or believing everything they happen to read on social media and and don't give her a chance and I think she deserves a chance she's a very bright bright person I think she is the right person the right time to lead us through a very difficult time from an education standpoint and she has all the attributes to help what are the things that people are reading on social media I think a lot of people are objecting to charter school experience yeah you know that's really interesting to me and as you probably know better than I do I mean President Obama was pretty was pretty popular but he was an advocate for charter schools Howard Dean who served 11 years as governor here was an advocate for for charter schools I don't really that's not what we're trying to promote it never even came up in any of the conversations I've had in the interview process with any candidates charter schools didn't come up it's not something we're we're going to do in the future and the only time it came up with that particular candidate was almost a forewarning that this was going to be a hot button for many so she was prepared for that but I think her charter school experience will help her help us and and I think having that vast experience of both charter schools and public schools seeing what works what doesn't I think could be tremendously helpful but they need to give her a chance governors are background in school consolidation and closings one of the reasons that you chose her no no that wasn't one either I just believe that she has numerous numerous attributes that all together make her the best candidate for the position shortly before the press conference your veto letter for S18 came out I guess if you can kind of just take us through that process and then also when you look at the votes neither would sustain or override the veto so there's 20 vote difference in the house 18 to 11 I believe in the Senate do the vote numbers play a role all year so would you well if you look at my record in terms of vetoing and determining whether there's going to be an override that's not a number I look at I think on the pension reform which I still believe I was right on I didn't get a single vote so that doesn't enter into my principles it didn't enter into the equation here either I I struggled with this decision admittedly I talked about this a lot for those who haven't read the letter and because we have so many people on Facebook live maybe hearing this and probably will never read the letter I think I'm going to read the letter I prepared for this so that I could at least get that out and then we can have a conversation about other pieces of it this is what it says Dear Mr. Blumer pursuant to chapter 11 section 11 of the Vermont Constitution number turning S18 an act relating to banning flavored tobacco products and liquids without my signature because of my objection to subscribe herein admittedly I struggled with this bill as it seems hypocritical and out of step with other initiatives that have passed into law recently and over time to be clear I too feel we have an obligation to protect our children but it must be balanced in such a way that we honor the rights and freedoms of adults to make decisions about their individual lives that's why in 2019 I signed a bill raising the age the legal age to buy tobacco or e-cigarette products from 18 to 21 and even increase the tax something unusual for me by the way even increase the tax on some of those products to deter use in my mind these were reasonable steps to struck the right balance from my perspective this bill is inconsistent with other laws relating to legalized substance use in 2020 the legislature legalized the commercial sale of cannabis including edibles and other flavored product products which are now widely available despite the known risk to youth and the developing brains yet to my knowledge I'm not aware of an initiative to ban such products even considering their obvious appeal to minors and negative health impacts in addition we the state allow and in fact actively advertise and profit from the sale of flavored alcohol products we also promote and highlight our distilleries and breweries with all their unique flavors which have been incredibly successful not only financially but also from a branding and tourism standpoint but it can't be denied alcohol abuse has been a root cause of many societal challenges I've found that people lose faith in government when policies have these types of inconsistencies because they contradict common sense furthermore from a purely practical point of view these products will continue to be widely available just across the river in New Hampshire and through online sales regardless of the outcome of this bill and if it becomes a law of the legislature should direct the Attorney General and the Department of Liquor and Lottery to further crack down on direct online sales of minors in conclusion I'm not convinced the in-state prohibition of flavored tobacco e-liquids and tobacco substitutes only is justified when sales will remain online and when state law plainly encourage sales of other unhealthy adult products to continue and that's how I ended up with my decision Did the revenue implication for state coffers? You know that was that was something that was brought up during some of the testimony and the floor debate and so forth it didn't enter into my decision So the motel program advocates say that the administration is purposely making it very difficult for people to figure out what's going on so that they lead in order to sort of take it back toward to reducing the size of the program It does seem like communication is a problem Well I disagree we have been trying to help those who qualify the program stay in the program and I think that maybe somebody from yeah Deputy Commissioner Gray is on the line maybe she could answer that question or succinctly Yes I'm happy to go through Thank you So I Monters know that they need to renew their authorization at least monthly I mean this is nothing that is new and I say at least monthly because it's a program that you really need to watch it really depends on what the individual circumstances are for that person if they have income what the frequency the income is that comes into their household so this is something that we are continuing to work through with the program just making what we could use help us make sure that everybody's seeing the same message that they're really important things that you're contacting economic services so that we can help support you We also come in there many vermin who want to move move out and so that's something that we also have to try to work with them on I think that's in the blue first in criticism about the numbers we have heard from vermin to renew that and there's also income contribution so right now we have a lot of people paying for their own rooms and because the price is lower they have a few more days that they need to pay for now So there's been this fierce criticism that you guys aren't communicating and that these people don't know about this and that they don't and that they have to renew or that they have to re-up their qualifications to stay in the rooms and you guys are working with these with the motel guests so that they know what's going on Yeah so we have to put letters under their doors we also mail letters but we know that that will take some time to get there but as I said most of the watchers who have worked with economic services do know when they're given an authorization they're also told that they need to call back you know when the authorization is off to the tax and communicate it to them How many people are currently living in the motels and how many left this past Monday? I think we're still working through Kulak because we're not sure if they don't have to tell us when they no longer meet our services we just learned that as we are going through and seeing where we are at with authorization it takes a little bit more because we also have the monsters who know now that they need to do their income contribution so they will wait to call us so we'll have a good sense of how many people have moved should we have them that we've had monsters leaving us that's also fairly common around the first of the month so I think we have around 1,300 households including those that we know have income contributions Governor, there's a bill also that passed the House modernizing the GA program making it more streamlined increasing communication there's a couple task forces to including service providers but also homeless for monsters as well to reimagine what the next stage of this is going to look like have you seen the bill a little bit? I have not no Governor, to go back to the SA team just going back to your letter it seemed like the inconsistency was the big issue that sort of led to your view is that am I being that right? Yeah, as I said it's almost a bit of hypocrisy and from everything else we do we have promoted distilleries beer many different flavors substances and so forth and we have profited from that and it struck me that we were not and we again it's the same age group we have discouraged again making sure that we're not selling to miners both in person and online and anything else that comes of age so it just seems like we're treating this a little bit differently and it seemed hypocritical to me Would you view potential legislation differently if it included say ban on the sale of flavored cannabis products or something as well? I do I am very concerned about edibles cannabis edibles in the future that could bring it seems already a little bit out of control not just here in the state but across the board and I think we should get a handle on that and I just wanted to ask so I wonder if you can talk a little bit more about how you know the potential health effects on kids and kids potentially getting addicted how did that factor in your thinking when you looked at SA team? Yeah you know I have the same concerns I you know I'm I'm not a smoker never smoked have no use really for tobacco so this is nothing to do with me and my own personal views but it really is about trying to find that balance between protecting our youth but also protecting the freedom that adults should have to make their own choices so it's it was again I struggled with this decision but at the end of the day it was just about the hypocrisy more than anything else I'm sorry last thing when you said that you know these sales would still continue online even with this ban those would be illegal sales that's right that's my feeling yes they are illegal sales but they are happening and I think the Attorney General should should work at it and coming up with a plan we need to as well with our Department of Liquor and Lottery and try and work together to counter what we're seeing across the board because they're you know again we went from 18 to 21 just four four years ago five years ago so they're still getting the products somehow and we're right here right across the border from New Hampshire as well so there was an amendment I think in the House that would have added an investigator position to the liquor and lottery would you maybe they came back with the drawing board next year would you support you know increased funding for the Attorney General's Office or for the current lottery to crack down on how the state says well again I I want to find out what the magnitude of the problem is what we could do to prevent it probably counsel with our commissioner and the Attorney General to see what's needed I just don't know a few folks on the phone we'll start with Ed Barber Newport Daily Express it looks like you're can you hear us Ed? we can see you but all right we'll move to Tom Davis compass Vermont thanks James and one additional question about the eclipse and the state of Texas is there going to be a plan to sign up on their highways saying no stopping on the highway to view the eclipse no parking on the shoulder to keep moving are we planning to do the some sort of similar thing on our highways here Vermont? I'm confident and we have message boards that will be deployed we also have a lot of a number of troopers on the road to keep traffic moving my fear is because we have so many limited means of getting through the state to major interstates in our our world wouldn't equate to major in other states but it only takes one one mishap one accident to actually stop traffic and it's in its place so that's my biggest fear at this point but Eric do you have any more from BSV perspective? that's correct we have additional patrols out in AOT to sign packages out okay thank you building questions Tim McQuiston Vermont business magazine I haven't heard Bill or say you probably know all this a lot more than we do but you know building housing takes a very long time it's a you know a long process whether it's a 10-year plan or it's VHIP or Act 250 reform it's going to take a while are there it seems like you have to do two things at once enact those sorts of things while finding a shorter time solution which which seems kind of difficult you know lower mortgage rates or or provide loans to people looking for housing you know market rate housing is there is there anything like that that that could be employed to get the process moving at a quicker pace? well again from our standpoint we believe the regulatory reform we'll get the biggest bang for the buck by moving forward with that we've been advocating that for quite some time been acting asking for a common sense changes to Act 250 for since I became governor and we haven't really you know done a lot to move forward in that area maybe not at all so I I still believe that's where we should be what we should be working on today during this point in time and yes I mean we should we should look further into the future and make some common sense changes to Act 250 in terms of some of what I've seen in the bill in the house it could be could be helpful in the future but but that's not what we should be putting all our eggs into that one basket we need we need relief right now today yesterday last year the year before that and it couldn't happen soon enough S3-11 is has some provisions in in that bill that would be helpful they want to go further great but but I would be I'd be satisfied getting that bill through that would be be very helpful to what we're trying to accomplish and as well again I just want to there's some other pieces there in S3-11 that would be helpful as well and that's those tax incentives having tax incentives would encourage smaller developers and other developers to to move forward and having that barrier the regulatory barrier removed would help as well because people don't have the funding smaller small-time developers in particular don't have the funding to wait something out for years to move forward with their with their vision so they don't they don't even start and those who start suffer as a result well that's sort of thing as I was wondering about you know even almost something like an earned income tax credit on the housing side which could be implemented but I mean I I understand the politics of all that but that would that would be a very sort of fast thing to the buck in that regard too sure tax incentives work very well I believe so they want to venture down that road we would be all years but we have some provisions we've we've pushed forward with all right great thank you governor Sarah Digger Hi governor I've heard from the folks over in the Senate that they have not yet received your official letter indicating the nomination of so we senders for the education secretary position why is that well she's not starting until the 15th of April they can't begin with their confirmation process until that they receive that letter so are you saying they're not going to send the letter until April 15th well I wouldn't think that they could start the confirmation process until she gets here and is on board don't you think that's a pretty tight timeline if they're getting out of session around May 10th is what I've heard so far that maybe I should knock on wood on that that's less than a month for them to move through the confirmation process when it's a little tight I have great faith in their ability I don't believe the confirmation process typically takes all that long and some of them have already made their mind up do you think it might take a little longer this time around considering the tone of things thus far um we'll see okay thank you your call back to the room Governor were you able to read or see the auditors report EP-5 I didn't uh I did a quick overview of it nothing surprising in there from my standpoint how so it was things we already knew impact you know we wanted everyone to know what we knew and we advocated for the release of all the documents early on as you remember I first came into office and the AG's office didn't want to release them so when they went and they made made this deal with the auditor to come up with an independent report we advocated for that to come out as soon as possible I'm grateful that it finally came out just generally what's your confidence level in the EP-5 program as an economic development tool I don't believe that it's going to have much of an effect here in Vermont we have a a regional center that we just have those who are in the program in that under that regional direction so but I I don't we're not promoting anything in the future with it almost a lighter topic we've heard this weekend you're going to set some in your acting debut about Mansfield and Puget in high school was this wondering kind of how that came to be and what that process was like for you they were very creative in their invitation they sent numerous numerous productions asking me to participate and so hard to say no and they were again they were well done very enthusiastic and and again hard to say no not something I'm actually looking forward to though so H612 of cannabis bill that would allow a loophole a critic saying allow a loophole for sales to older teens was approved in the house it's now in the senate asked you a few weeks ago you said you didn't hadn't thought much about it any thoughts now still haven't thought much about it I don't know where it's going in the in the senate whether they're moving forward with it or not going back to you folks do you have any you in plans or you're going to be joining the traffic rush or no I'm very going to stay local and not to add to the problem and see well I mean we can look up in the sky we have a we're on the edge of it here in central Vermont and we'll we'll be watching it from here see how far it goes oh and in fact I go ahead if you can hear us I may regret this but yeah hello go ahead yeah I can all right there's a storm coming there's a little problem with the signal here governor I want to return back to last week's press conference you were talking about different ways of making major reforms to education in Vermont and that was funded at the time you said everything is on the table so my question is 30 years ago before I was speaker of the house wealth right tried to pass through a statewide teachers contract to bring equity and pay and control the comments of uh senators and I know that's tended to support that my question you are is that concept as well on the table as a means of reforming cost of education I think it should be on the table in fact we advocated for that early in my career as governor so it's not as though it's hasn't been public that's that's something we thought was a good idea and some some concept of that so that all these local school boards who don't have the means to to to negotiate with some of the unions and so forth put it in someone else's hands and maybe even regionally or statewide we're just such a small state it seems like to me that one district ratchets up the other and and utilizes that as a tool and I just think having it all in one place would make some sense but but again that's not there are many other reforms that need to be made but that that is on the table as well Bryce and I should say it should be on the table it it isn't on the table that I know of this is just from my perspective so in context it's somewhat similar to the move a few years ago of an acting a statewide health care or health insurance program for all for all teachers over mine would that be considered a similar parallel? yes yeah now they they did do something with that but it wasn't anywhere near what we had proposed and proved to be ineffective from my standpoint doing that it's down to the start yeah Governor the Senate just passed S310 which is among other things mapping a flood mediation map a state flood mediation map the Republicans hoarding against that said FEMA's already doing that this is just duplication and Senator Bruce says actually it'd be nice to have our own map any thoughts on that bill and that process? yeah I think we should avoid any duplication in terms of any dollars that are spent so we'll take a look at that as well but I think things are going to get a little tighter not not more lucrative in the future in this state so we should be looking for ways to save money thank you all very much