This is the final Leonine Statehouse Insider report of the 2021 legislative session. Thank you for following along. We will resume our reporting when the Legislature reconvenes.
ADJOURNMENT
Leonine Public Affairs The Vermont General Assembly adjourned on Friday, May 21, ending the first fully remote legislative session in state history. The adjournment resolution allows for lawmakers to return on June 23 for a veto session, in the event the Legislature attempts to override any bills the governor vetoes. The resolution also allows for lawmakers to return on October 19 to address subsequent federal stimulus funding that may be approved by congress over the summer. It is anticipated that a federal infrastructure bill will pass in the next few months, directing significant additional stimulus money to the states for eligible programs.
The 2021 legislative session culminated in an FY2022 budget bill that invests $7.3 billion across state government. The bill, H.439, includes nearly $600 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, investing in economic recovery, fighting climate change, clean water, housing, broadband and state information technology infrastructure among other things. While the end of the legislative session was defined by debate and posturing between the House, Senate and governor on the budget and ARPA spending, the overarching theme this year was the fact that it was the first fully remote session in history.
The 2020 legislative session was historic on many levels, with the virtual legislating that began in March being a huge factor. The 2021 session, however, was conducted entirely over Zoom, from start to finish. Lawmakers, executive branch staff and the public interacted via phone, text, email and on Zoom and YouTube. In many ways the public’s ability to follow the proceedings was easier than the pre-COVID-19 era because anyone could tune in without having to be physically present in the statehouse. The public could (and still can) watch any committee hearing or floor session after the fact on YouTube.
On the other hand, the ability to interact directly with state government officials and lawmakers was reduced (particularly for the press and lobbyists) without in person interaction in the statehouse. That said, lawmakers were overall very responsive and inclusive with constituents and stakeholders in the legislative process, and the legislature and statehouse staff should be commended for the efforts made to ensure transparency and inclusion in the legislative process under such extreme circumstances.
A key dynamic that set the 2021 remote session apart from 2020 was the scope of work the legislature undertook. While 2020 was intense, both because of the sudden shift to Zoom legislating and the response to the pandemic, the focus remained almost solely on addressing COVID-19. In 2021 COVID-19 response continued to be the primary focus and indeed everything was addressed through the lens of the pandemic, but the legislature began to work on priorities that would receive attention in a normal session.
Many of these priorities had a nexus to the pandemic, such as broadband deployment, economic development and state IT infrastructure improvement. These were boosted significantly by funding levels that would have been unimaginable without federal aid.
But other priorities stood apart from the pandemic-related debate about federal aid dollars, such as a bill designed to extend the operation of the Ryegate Power Plant, a bill that would significantly change the way solid waste is handled and a bill to begin the process of recalculating how Vermont weights certain students to account for education spending in rural, urban and disadvantaged districts across the state.
The result for lawmakers, their staff, the executive branch, the media and lobbyists was working on a wide variety of issues that did not always intersect with the pandemic, which was a first for the Zoom and YouTube environment. When the pandemic first hit Vermont, virtually every stakeholder had similar, aligning priorities - how to navigate the emergency order and restrictions contained therein, how to interact with state government and how to navigate the recovery process. In 2021 stakeholders returned to a more normal environment and participated in a wide array of policy discussions across all issue areas.
It will be interesting to see how the remainder of 2021 rolls out. While the legislature adjourned on May 21, it may reconvene on June 23 if House and Senate leadership want to try and override any vetoes by Governor Scott. The governor has already vetoed a bill relating to youthful criminal offenders and there may be more in the coming weeks as bills are delivered for his consideration.
It is not a given that there will be a veto override session—once the governor has acted on all the bills legislative leadership will determine whether it is worth coming back on June 23 to try to override any vetoes, wait until next year when they can attempt an override because it is the first year of the biennium or simply not attempt to override anything.
In the interim months, along with the typical legislative summer studies, a provision tucked into the FY2022 budget bill requires the Speaker and the Senate President Pro Tempore to undertake a statewide, community-based engagement process to solicit Vermonters’ priorities for investing the unprecedented amount of federal funds that state is slated to get.
The community engagement process must engage marginalized communities and use nontraditional methods of seeking public input that do not rely solely on public hearings and online options. A report that includes Vermonters’ recommendations for investments in the future of the state must be submitted to lawmakers.
While there is no date set for the report to be completed, Vermonters’ recommendations are to be used “in preparation for budget or policy development” so presumably the report will be completed before the 2022 legislative session. It will be interesting if the recommendations in the report differ from the Scott Administration’s proposal for spending the federal dollars and how legislative and administration officials will work out those differences next year.
It is likely that the legislature will reconvene on October 19 to deal with a new influx of federal money if Congress approves an infrastructure bill. This would in effect give lawmakers a head start on the 2022 session as a late October session could run up until at least the Thanksgiving holiday if not beyond.
And in terms of how the 2022 legislative session will be conducted it remains to be seen how much will be remote and how much will be in person. A major factor is obviously the course of the pandemic. With vaccination rates in Vermont among the best in the country there is a strong hope that risk levels will be very low from here on out. The subsequent and related factor is the space the legislature uses for business.
The statehouse was overcrowded and had HVAC issues before the pandemic and lawmakers are already looking at how in person activities could take place in 2022, including whether normal legislative business could be conducted at other sites around the capitol. It seems unlikely that the legislature will return to pre-pandemic norms in 2022 but almost everyone who works in and around the statehouse is hoping for some level of in person activity.
Through a special arrangement with Leonine, Vermont Business Magazine republishes Leonine's legislative report on vermontbiz.com