It’s been a revealing end to the legislative session up here in Vermont. Let’s start with the good news:
The legislature has passed a whole raft of good bills designed to strengthen Vermont’s economy for working people. The House moved a paid family leave program. Both houses passed a bill to prevent discrimination against pregnant women. We moved some of the most significant criminal justice reforms in years, including fixes to bail, expungement, police decertification, comprehensive racial justice reforms, and, of course, legalizing personal possession and cultivation of marijuana. We added PTSD to worker’s compensation, to better protect first responders who experience on-the-job trauma and to try and further destigmatize mental health treatment. We passed a bill to give trans people equal bathroom access in public facilities, and made it so students (particularly LGBTQ kids) can access treatment without having to notify parents. And we pushed back against the disastrous Trump agenda in DC, locking in federal energy efficiency standards for appliances, passing a shield law for journalists, and passing a law to protect immigrant Vermonters from federal witch hunts.
Unfortunately, the end of session is where the state’s new Republican governor, Phil Scott, showed his true colors as a stock DC Republican, willing to shut down government if he doesn’t get his way.
As the legislature headed towards adjournment, the Governor decided to start pushing for a program that moved collective bargaining on school staff’s health care away from the local level and to a centralized state board. This flew in the face of his proclaimed commitment to “local control,” but he claimed this was the only way to “capture savings” from a planned move to more ACA-friendly plans for those workers.
This was seen by many as the tip of the wedge of a Scott Walker-style attack on public workers. The labor community united in opposition, and after some drama, the plan was rejected in both houses of the legislature. Four compromise plans were offered at separate points in time, each directing the savings from this switch back to local homeowners. Each one was rejected by the Governor, who kept moving the goalposts on everything except collective bargaining. He eventually started threatening to veto the entire budget unless he got his way on this change to bargaining.
So the Legislature called his bluff. We passed a responsible, pragmatic budget. It includes $100 million for affordable housing; extends public investment in clean water funding; cuts property taxes for Vermont homeowners; and it does all of this without raising taxes or fees.
The veto threat remains. The Governor has decided that he would rather shut down government in July than work with Democrats in the Legislature to find a compromise. It’s a slap in the face to every Democrat who voted for him expecting that he was somehow different from national Republicans. It’s irresponsible and petulant, and it puts this state in harm’s way for politics.
Meanwhile, as this is all going on, Gov. Scott also decided to appoint the state chair of ALEC to head up the board that oversees and regulates health insurance across the state. Senator Kevin Mullin was one of ALEC’s most frequent fliers from this state, and now he gets to regulate our health insurance.
Here’s how you can help. We have a petition going to push back against Gov. Scott’s irresponsible veto threat. Sign and share that over social media, and help us spread the word. Also, you can use the state Dem party’s web site to send letters to the editor here. And really, just tell your friends that Phil is a typical Republican hack. People really thought he was a “Vermont Republican” in the last election, but his shutdown threat and his ALEC loyalty have shown that it’s the Republican part that matters more.