Final Reading: The clock is ticking down on Vermont Legislature’s biennial session

I write to you, Dear Final Reader, in what are — God willing — the waning hours of this year’s legislative session. As of 6:30 p.m. Friday, legislators are sticking to the script that they will have all their work wrapped tonight, no matter how late they need to stay.

That’s despite the House and Senate still being, it would seem, quite far apart on some of their biggest ticket bills of the year. But you know how it is: Time, at the end of the legislative session, is fluid and weird. Days-long impasses can magically dissolve over the course of one backroom convo. Or … not! Some bills may very well die. Pour one out for ‘em!

Before we Get Into It, a very important disclaimer: The information in this newsletter is current as of the time of its writing, but things can and will change in the ensuing hours. I would apologize, but I have a deadline to meet, people!

Here’s the sitch: After a turbulent few days of negotiations and back-and-forth amendments, the House and Senate seem to be nearing a tentative deal on H.687 , lawmakers’ headliner housing and land use reform bill. It’s not set in stone, but there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, the two chambers are still haggling over H.887 , this year’s yield bill, which sets property tax rates to fund the state’s education system for the year. It’s a must-pass bill, and with Republican Gov. Phil Scott signaling a likely veto, it’s key for lawmakers to secure a two-thirds, veto-proof majority on the measure … unless they want to go back to the drawing board.

The fate of some bills, it seems, is deeply uncertain. After a glint of hope earlier on Friday, a path forward for H.121 , this year’s landmark data privacy bill, is questionable. And H.81 , the House’s “right to repair” bill, appears dead — the House is simply running out of time to overhaul a slew of Senate amendments it does not support. That’s despite two years of work on the bill, which has garnered near unanimous support during previous votes in both chambers.

It’s not all doom and gloom: After a series of epic committee room debates this year, lawmakers on Friday did push through H.875, a bill that would establish a municipal code of ethics for local office holders and employees.

And of all things, this year’s $8.6 billion budget is quite noncontroversial. Lawmakers’ compromise version rings in just one quarter of a percentage point higher than what Scott proposed back in January. The governor signaled this week a willingness to sign the budget into law — rather than veto it or allow it to go into law without his signature — for the first time in years. How refreshing! By tradition, the budget is expected to be the final bill to pass both chambers tonight.

Whether or not we’re released from the clutches of the 2024 session tonight, one thing is for certain: We’re coming back, baby! Mark your calendars for June 17, when the Legislature will gavel back in for an opportunity to override any of Scott’s vetoes (which are most assuredly coming), and tie up any loose ends.

For the most insatiable of Statehouse rats who want minute-by-minute coverage of these bills, I would direct you to VTDigger.org tonight (or tomorrow — le sigh) for continued news on when — and if — these bills make it across the finish line. We’ll also have a story when lawmakers decide to adjourn for good.

In the meantime, I invite you to keep reading for a special treat… Power Lunch with Sen. Jane Kitchel, anyone?

— Sarah Mearhoff

Power lunch

You know her, and you love her — or maybe you actually don’t know her, because she wields her power quietly in these marble halls. Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee , taking a lead role in writing the state’s annual multi-billion dollar budget.

Kitchel also recently became the so-called third member of the Senate’s hilariously named Committee on Committees, a three-member group — composed of the lieutenant governor, Senate president pro tempore and a third member — who work together to choose which senators serve on which committees. It sounds like inside baseball (because it is), but the coveted role is very influential in the 30-member chamber.

But Kitchel contains multitudes. Once the gavel falls for the final time this legislative session, she will head back to her Danville home to tend to her lush, sprawling garden.

Welcome to Power Lunch, a semi-regular series where I sit down with Statehouse movers and groovers to talk anything but politics. For today’s installment, I chatted with Kitchel about her half-acre garden, where she grows a vast array of fruits and vegetables: potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, eggplants, peppers, berries, beans — the list goes on.

“There’s something about working the soil. It’s kind of a spiritual connection in its own way,” she told me, before adding, “Except when you’ve been out there for six or eight hours, and you still haven’t caught up.”

Asked for her favorite crop to grow, Kitchel describes in detail her famous Otis beans. That’s not their technical name; she doesn’t know what they are, actually. They’re big, like a lima bean. She calls them Otis beans after the man (Otis) who gave her the heirloom seeds 50 years ago. She’s been propagating them since.

“Last year, I had over 20 pounds of dried beans,” she told me, to which I replied with the obvious response, “Oh, my god.”

“I’ve saved the seeds for over 50 years, and they’re very, very prolific, and the germination is wonderful,” she said. “And obviously, because they’ve been grown in this climate for — well, a century — they’re just very robust.”

I asked Kitchel what she does with all the beans. She bakes them, even though “I don’t even like baked beans.”

I told Kitchel how I make my beans: On the stove top, kinda soupy, with lots of garlic, onion and lemon, spooned over toast with sautéed kale and a boiled egg on top.

“That’s dinner like, five nights a week during the winter,” I told her.

“That’s a little too much,” she replied.

Anyway! Here’s Kitchel’s recipe for baked beans, “the classic way,” even though she doesn’t really like them. All quantities are to taste.

• Beans, soaked (obviously)
• Salt pork
• Maple syrup (NOT molasses)
• Brown sugar
• A little ginger
• An onion
• Dried mustard seed
• French’s yellow mustard

— Sarah Mearhoff

In the know

This January, lawmakers introduced two major pieces of legislation, both of which aimed to improve Vermonters’ ability to access health care .

One bill, H.721 , proposed expanding the publicly-funded Medicaid program to cover thousands more Vermonters. The other, H.766 , sought to diminish private insurers’ influence over practitioners’ care decisions — a move that lawmakers hoped would reduce paperwork and free up clinicians to see more patients.

Now, at the end of the legislative session, the two bills have met divergent fates.

Read more here .

— Peter D’Auria

On the move

Vermont lawmakers have passed a bill that would create new uniform ethical standards for many local government officials — a change that proponents said is long overdue.

H.875 would establish a “municipal code of ethics” that’s similar to one for state officials that went into effect two years ago. The new code would apply to local officials such as selectboard members, clerks and planning commissioners, among others.

Specifically, the code would set baseline standards for cities, towns and villages to adopt around conflicts of interest, preferential treatment, gifts and other potential issues. Some municipalities already have robust ethics policies in place, lawmakers said, but others don’t — and the bill would create more consistency.

Other measures in H.875 would require county officers, such as sheriffs, to file financial disclosures both while campaigning for and holding office. The bill would also require state-level officials to disclose some additional information, such as stock holdings.

Read more here .

— Shaun Robinson

Visit our 2024 Bill tracker for the latest updates on major legislation we are following.

What we’re reading

Vermont’s 1st-ever wake boats rule is now in effect, but some are pushing for further restrictions , VTDigger

Vermont’s flavored tobacco ban bill attracted surge in lobbying, ad spending before governor’s veto , Vermont Public

Emerald ash borer forces big decisions for Vermont towns , Vermont Public

Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: The clock is ticking down on Vermont Legislature’s biennial session .