Leonine: Legislative deadline looms, major bills move

MISSION BREAKOUT!

Leonine Public Affairs A sense of urgency filled the statehouse last week as the legislature will not be in session this week, and the Friday of the following week, March 13, is the crossover deadline (the deadline by which bills must be voted out of the policy committees). As a result, the committees are beginning to get down to brass tacks in finalizing their bills. Lawmakers spent long hours on the floor debating significant legislation, sometimes going well into the evening.

On Tuesday the week got off to a dramatic start when it was rumored and then confirmed that the House would try to override Governor Scott’s veto of S.23, a bill to increase the state’s minimum wage to $12.55 by 2022. The Senate had successfully voted to override S.23 the previous week.

Statehouse observers speculated whether Democratic House leadership had the votes needed to override the governor’s veto.

After hours on the floor debating the merits and economic impacts of the legislation a roll call vote commenced and on a razor thin margin of 100-49, the House joined the Senate in voting to override the governor’s veto. This was only the 11th time in Vermont history that a veto override has been successful.

On Wednesday, nearly a year after the Senate passed S.54, a bill to tax and regulate adult-use cannabis, the House approved their amended version of the bill on a vote of 90-54. One of the more contested amendments made in the House was the removal of the Senate’s two-percent local option tax.

As approved by the House, marijuana sales will have a 20-percent combined tax rate, including a 14-percent excise tax and a six-percent sales tax. The bill sets up a framework for an adult-use system by creating a Cannabis Control Board charged with overseeing cannabis establishments, licensing cultivators, wholesalers, product manufacturers, retailers and testing laboratories. The Cannabis Control Board is also charged with setting fee amounts and establishing testing requirements.

S.54 also creates a Cannabis Regulation Fund to collect money from fees and penalties and will fund the work of the Cannabis Control Board.

If the bill is enacted a cannabis business will be able to apply for a license starting January 15, 2022. The preliminary approval on Wednesday followed a lengthy floor debate and many years of work by proponents of a legal, adult-use cannabis market.

On Thursday morning, before S.54 was finally approved by the full House, Governor Scott indicated that he would not support the bill in its current form because it requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant prior to conducting a roadside saliva test.

As the legislature is on break this week for Town Meeting Week, it’s likely that this bill will head back to the Senate the following week where a request for a Committee of Conference appears inevitable.

On Friday the House gave final approval to H.926, which makes significant changes to Act 250.

In doing so the House adopted the House Ways and Means Committee’s changes to the bill as originally developed by the House Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee. The House Ways and Means Committee changes undid the reduction in the role of the regional District Environmental Commission that the Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee had proposed.

The House also changed the elevation threshold for projects requiring Act 250 review from 2,000 to 2,500 feet, again, contrary to the Natural Resources, Fish and Wildlife Committee’s proposal.