Meetings
Transcript: Select text below to play or share a clip
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the house please come to order and members kindly take their seats. Good afternoon. The devotional today will be led by the reverend Peter Quagie of the Waterbury Congregational Church.
[Reverend Peter Quagie]: Good afternoon. It's good to be back. I want to share with you this afternoon a bit of a text from an ancient and mostly forgotten Christian writing these few days after Epiphany and these this sort of one plus week into the New Year already filled with some amount of fear and anxiety. It comes from Revelation of the Magi written in the late third or early fourth century was a treasured document by the Syriac church and lost to the Western world until only recently. Much of the story unfolds in the mythic land of Shir, the home of the magi. At its center stands the mountain Of Victories, and at its foot a spring of purification, shaded by seven trees. The air is sweet with spice, even the dew carries a blessing. The Magi's journey itself is familiar as in Matthew's gospel. They come to Jerusalem. They encounter Herod. They kneel before the child. They offer gifts, and they return home by another way. But here, they are guided not by a star, but by a pillar of light brighter than the sun, radiant beyond telling. And what draws me most to this text is its gentleness, not a hint of overbearing power anywhere. When the pillar of light first appears, the magi fall on their knees, but a kind voice, a kindly voice, it says, speaks to them saying, rise, enter without doubt in love, and see a great and amazing vision. There's no command here, no fear, only invitation. And then the text says this, and when Joseph and Mary turned back rejoicing about all these things that they had heard about the holy child, they went away to their house. And Mary entered and found the child of light laughing about and glorifying all his great and amazing mysteries. Oh, laughing Christ. Nowhere in the Christian tradition do we hear this, and yet the laughter feels deeply true. It's not mockery. It's not triumph. It is joy without grasping. It is love at ease. Saint Paul gestures towards the same sense in his letter to the Philippians of a one of Christ who does not cling, but empties, who does not seize power, but gives it away. Laughter belongs to that moment. It loosens our grip. It lowers us a bit. The magi who tell this story seem to have encountered this laughing child in a way that freed them, Freed them from fear, from heavy ritual, from the need to control. Like Matthew's Magi, they leave their gifts, and like Matthew's Magi, they go home by another way, having gained something. Permission to stop treating God as a problem to be solved and to begin receiving God as a presence to be trusted. Perhaps our way in this new year is not resolving to be better, but resolving to be more open, to listen for laughter in unexpected places. Laughter that loosens our grip, empties power, and quietly makes us new again, quietly gives us a fresh vision. I hope you have a fresh new vision as you head into this new biennium.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Members, we have 23 house bills for introduction today. So with that member, you please offer a motion to send out rules to induce bills by member only?
[Representative Patricia McCoy (Poultney)]: Madam speaker, I make a motion to suspend rules in order to introduce bills by number only.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The member from Pulte moves that we suspend our rules to introduce bills by number only. Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it and you have suspended rules to introduce bills by number only. Please listen to the first reading of bills by number only.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six zero three.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To ways and means.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six zero four.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To judiciary.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six zero five. To transportation. H 606.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To judiciary.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H 607.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To general and housing.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six zero eight. To environment. H six zero nine. To energy and digital infrastructure. H six ten.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To energy and digital infrastructure.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six eleven. To healthcare. H six twelve. To judiciary. H six thirteen.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To judiciary.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six fourteen.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To education.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: Age six fifteen. To education. Age six sixteen. To education. Age six seventeen.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To education.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: Age six eighteen.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To education.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: Age six nineteen.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To ways and means.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: Age six twenty.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Two ways and means.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six twenty one.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Two ways and means.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six twenty two. To judiciary. H six twenty three.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To government operations and military affairs.
[House Clerk (reading bills)]: H six two four. To judiciary. And h six two five.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: To government operations and military affairs. Are there any announcements? Member from East Montpelier.
[Unidentified Representative (East Montpelier)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I have a guest here in the balcony today, and I would like to introduce her to the body. Her name is Madeleine Connery. She is a resident from Shelburne and a student at Brown University where she was recently part of a community affected by school shooting. I'd like to just share that she is well, she reached out to last biennium's judiciary committee of which I was a member by accident as she, only four days after the school shooting, turned her concern and fear towards action. And in reaching out, I connected with her. And as an alum of Brown, I have been corresponding with her since about a month ago. So we're really glad to have her here at the state house. She just testified in front of the house judiciary, and I just wanna share that over lunch, she shared with a few of us that after six hours of hiding under her desk and then overnight hiding under her bed, isolated, having all of her devices run out of battery, Then after all of that experience, the community closed school and everybody went home. And she described how the community affected that could perhaps be able to support each other all dispersed all across the country. And I just wanna say that Vermont is your home, and we are here for you even if we didn't just experience that same experience with you. And I also want to say that there are other members who are survivors of school shootings in this building. And as she eloquently explained earlier today, there are more and more
[Reverend Peter Quagie]: of us,
[Unidentified Representative (East Montpelier)]: more and more of that community in this country and in this state. So please help me welcome, Mylon Conor to the house chamber.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the guest of the member from East Montpelier please rise and be recognized? Will guests and members please rise as we have a moment of silence remembering the victims and thinking of the families who were impacted. Member from Georgia.
[Unidentified Representative (Georgia)]: Thank you, madam speaker. Today in the card room, we have representatives of the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds. The Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds is a statewide coalition of some 50 volunteer lake associations plus many individual lake stewards. They're all dedicated to fostering environmental quality standards and to the protection and preservation of Vermont's lakes and ponds, watersheds, and aquatic ecosystems. From its inception in 1972 and evolution into a statewide organization in 2001, The federation is one of the oldest nonprofit stakeholders in our state to promote Vermont water quality. The board members are seated today up in the balcony and their names Jay White, Jeremy Jones, Kent Henderson, Vince Hasegna, Jeff Schuman, and Chrissy Kakeo. Please, madam speaker, help me welcome them to the State House this afternoon.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the guest of the member from Georgia please rise and be recognized? Are there any further announcements? Seeing none, orders of the day. Members, we have one resolution on our action calendar today. Joint House Resolution six is a joint resolution authorizing the Green Mountain Boys State Educational Program to use the state house facilities on 06/25/2026. This resolution has been read and appears in yesterday's journal. The question is, shall the house adopt the resolution on its part? Are you ready for the question?
[Unidentified Representative (Georgia)]: If
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it and you have adopted the resolution. Members, that completes the orders of the day. Are there any announcements? Seeing none. Member from Pulte, can you please offer us a motion to adjourn until Friday, January 9 at 09:30AM?
[Representative Patricia McCoy (Poultney)]: Madam speaker, I make a motion this body stand in adjournment until Friday, 01/09/2026 at 09:30AM.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The member from Holteney moves that we adjourn until Friday, January 9 at 09:30AM. Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye.
[Unidentified Representative (voice vote)]: Aye.