Leonine: Lawmakers target $100 million for economic relief

SPACE WEEK

Leonine Public Affairs The legislature has finished its second week of the fall session, which was largely devoted to finalizing a budget for the 2021 fiscal year. Most of the House committee activity consisted of developing recommendations to the House Appropriations Committee regarding how the remaining federal Coronavirus Relief Fund money should be spent. The House Appropriations Committee then worked to incorporate those recommendations into the budget bill.

Despite the focus on fiscal matters there was some activity on other topics this week. The Senate passed S.254, which deals with union organizing, and the House signed off, without making any changes, on the Senate’s bill dealing with energy efficiency for the heating and transportation sectors, S.337. For its part the Senate agreed to the House’s bills regarding driving privileges, H.578, and expanded access to contraceptives, H.663. Additionally, as detailed later in this report the Senate Natural Resource and Energy Committee tentatively agreed to significantly pare back the House’s sprawling Act 250 bill, H.926.

Beyond that, and as is discussed in more detail later in this report, the legislature began looking at how it might operate during the 2021 legislative session beginning in January. It is likely that both chambers, and the public, will not be able to be in the statehouse due to a continuing need to maintain social distancing for the foreseeable future.

The House Appropriations Committee took a unanimous straw vote on Friday afternoon and approved their version of the FY21 Budget Restatement bill. It is a “massive bill” as Chair Kitty Toll, D-Danville, told her committee before the vote. The bill includes all spending already approved in June for the first quarter of the fiscal year as well as the last three quarters of the fiscal year, which starts on October 1. A draft of the bill will be ready Tuesday and debated next week on the House floor.

The bill includes over $223 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) spending outlined in more detail below. The bill also contains significant policy provisions including a section that gives the Joint Fiscal Committee authority to reallocate current CRF dollars if those dollars are not spent by the federal deadline (12/31/2020) or if Congress expands the uses for CRF dollars or extends the time within which CRF funds may be spent, significant education policy changes and the entire Transportation Budget Restatement bill for FY21.

The FY21 budget bill the House Appropriations Committee approved by straw vote on
Friday appropriates $233 million in remaining federal Coronavirus Relief Funds the state received this spring. Click here for a link to a spreadsheet summarizing all CRF appropriations.

Some of the significant CRF appropriations include:

• $32.4 million to reimburse PreK-12 schools for COVID-19 related expenses and improvements to indoor air quality systems. This sum is in addition to the $50 million the legislature previously appropriated for use by the state’s PreK-12 schools.

• An additional $15 million to expand the hazard pay program established this spring for health care workers and others to food service and custodial workers, grocery store workers and front-line workers that are under contract but are not employees.

• $4 million for emergency housing for homeless people and other housing programs.

• $10 million for UVM, $10 million for private colleges in the state and a swap of CRF funds for general funds to enable the Vermont State Colleges to get $23.8 million in bridge funding.

• $100 million for direct economic aid, broken down as follows:

  • $88 million for additional grants to Vermont businesses and nonprofit organizations. Additionally, the eligibility rules for receiving grants has been expanded. Businesses and nonprofit organizations will not have to show a 50% decline in revenues in any month since March 1 but instead need to just show that they have suffered an economic loss during that period.

  • $5 million to ski areas for physical improvements to their facilities needed in order to mitigate public health and safety risks associated with the COVID-19 emergency.

  • $4 million to the Department of Tourism and Marketing to publicize the resumption of activity in the state and the efforts the state has made to ensure a safe experience in Vermont.

  • $3 million to the Vermont State Colleges for training workers who have been laid off, furloughed or had their hours reduced as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.

The draft budget bill includes language that lays out procedures and logistics for the General Assembly when it convenes for the new 2021-2022 biennium in January. A recent study determined that the State House does not provide enough space for all legislative activity given COVID-19. The study looked at many locations around Central Vermont where the legislative branch could meet while adhering to safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget language authorizes the House to meet in the Barre Auditorium or remotely or both. The language also lays out a Plan B in case unforeseen circumstances arise that render the Barre Auditorium unusable. Plan B gives the authority to designate an alternative location and/or system of meeting to the little known Joint Legislative Management Committee, which is composed of four members of the House and four members of the Senate and chaired and vice-chaired by the Speaker and the President Pro Tem respectively. The budget language also authorizes the legislative branch to hold committee meetings and set up staff space in various state buildings.

Since January 2019 the legislature has been working on legislation that would make significant changes to the state’s land use law, Act 250. In late February, the House passed H.926 which, among many other things, would exempt projects in “designated downtowns” from Act 250 review while applying Act 250 jurisdiction over projects as small as a single residence if a road in excess of 2,000 feet is associated with the project. H.926 also changed Act 250’s review criteria relative to projects sited in large forest parcels and dealt with the issue of Act 250 jurisdiction over recreational trails. The bill went to the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee (SNRE) and then to the Senate Finance Committee. However, yesterday the Finance Committee was relieved of the bill (at its request) and it went back to SNRE. This morning that committee tentatively approved a “strike all” amendment that would pare the bill back to the issues of Act 250 jurisdiction over recreational trails and development in forested areas. Click here for SNRE’s proposed strike all amendment.

SPACE: THE LAST FRONTIER...FOR JUNK?

Exploring legislative efforts to regulate space debris liability.

Over the last decade, private and public partnerships designed for advancement in space travel have flourished with entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk of Space Exploration Technologies, or more commonly known as SpaceX, at the helm.

As Starman (queue Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) makes his way toward Mars utilizing reusable launch vehicles designed by SpaceX, the question of responsible space practices is brought to the forefront. With the development of the Space Force, a military branch formed under the Department of Defense earlier this year, command and control of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has become a national security interest, including increased scrutiny of current space orbital debris and liability. This rapidly growing industry has attracted the attention of state and federal governments alike, enacting new legislation and regulations to keep pace with development and encourage this new growth in their respective constituencies. Keeping track of these bills is a crucial first step to staying ahead of the competition, and that is where FOCUS can lead the way.

Click here to read more.