Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Speaker 0]: Will the house please come to order and members kindly take their seats. Good afternoon. The devotional today will be led by Vermont poet laureate Bianca Stone of Brandon.

[Bianca Stone (Vermont Poet Laureate)]: Today, we're speaking of the arts bringing us together, and yet let us also know art brings us more closer to ourselves. It is a social act of a solitary maker. It helps us bear ourselves and reflect hard truths. And in that singular art, that private gaze, it inspires, of course, it humbles, and it reflects the consciousness of the collective, and this is important. It brings us into right relation with ourselves and then we can look up at the other before us. We can't come together unless we acknowledge the division in ourselves. It is to acknowledge, I think, what's happening on February 14, an act of the heart. This is a poem by the poet, Dara Bartholomew Dixon, and it's called If You Are Lucky. The same person will fall in love with you over and over and over and over again and again. If you are lucky, if your luck holds out over and over, the same one will fall out of love with you in order to fall back in. It is an excruciating process. Nonetheless, it is necessary. You will need to be prepared to recognize someone's love for you as well as be prepared to follow it as it wanes and waxes. Unfortunately, this means you will need to endure long stretches without love, And these, you will need to endure with patience and grace in order to be prepared for love when it comes and love when it disappears. With the strength you've gained because you've read poems and novels and stories and you've watched movies and you've looked at pictures and you've lived with animals and you've loved them. And by virtue of all these things, you've practiced feeling something as complicating as love without end and as complicating as love no more. You will have kept up in practice, and you will be able to take what love throws your way because stories and poems have wrung your heart and shattered your brain over and over again to watch you change. So now you are ready. So when Wednesdays that will never end come and the necessary days without nights, Try not to think of them. They will destroy you. The bright days with no love, the short days with no end. For those days, be glad. As patient as a glacier or one big starving panther waiting for its prey. Every time love comes, you will stand there and stand it, or it will come again no more. Thank you all so much. There

[Speaker 0]: are no bill introductions today. Are there any announcements? Member from Norwich.

[Representative Rebecca Holcombe (Norwich)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I am honored to introduce Vermont's poet laureate, Bianca Stone, who presented today's devotional. You may know her from her most recent book, The Near and Distant World. She is also the winner of the 2022 Vermont Book Award for her poetry collection, What is Otherwise Infinite. Her work has appeared in many places, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Poets and writers, the nation, and across our state. In 2025, the American Academy of I'm I'm sorry. The Academy of American Poets named Bianca as the 2025 poet laureate fellow, making her one of 23 poets selected from across the country for this very high honor. Bianca also cofounded the poetry based nonprofit Ruth Stonehouse in Brandon, where she brings beauty and teaches classes on poetry and poetic study. Today, she is here with students from the introduction to poetry class she teaches as visiting faculty at Dartmouth College, which is over on my side of the state. And I thought her words were the best to to describe who they are. She said, what is so incredible about this class is that although it is an introduction to poetry class, I have seen nothing but a group of old souls arriving exactly where they have always been, into the strange beauty of their own language. From all different backgrounds, they have come together in solidarity with a shared awe at how poetry can make their lives more full and real in these uncertain and shifting times. I'm deeply grateful to shepherd this. Our poet laureate serves as Vermont's ambassador for the art of poetry for a fourth year term. This tradition began with Robert Frost, was named the first Vermont poet laureate, but it's worth noting that among many notable poet laureates through the program's history, Bianca's grandmother Ruth Stone was also the poet laureate from 2007 to 2011. Bianca leads the state of poetry which hosts events throughout the state in many of your communities to bring together literary artists with writing and art making opportunities. These events give Vermonters an opportunity to dive deeply into the work of past Vermont poets laureate that illuminates and speaks to our current moment. Thank you, Bianca, for sharing your work with us. And in closing, I'd like to leave you with a few more of Bianca's words. She once said, I think what I love most oh, I'm sorry. May I read her quote, madam speaker?

[Speaker 0]: You may.

[Representative Rebecca Holcombe (Norwich)]: Yep. I think what I love most about poetry is that it doesn't tell a story. It tears open a veil with its story, and it opens you up to the beauty. Please help me welcome the Vermont poet laureate Bianca Stone, her old souls in the balcony from Dartmouth College, the members of the Vermont Creative Network, and the amazing staff of the Vermont Arts Council. Will

[Speaker 0]: the guest and the member from Norwich please rise and be recognized? Member from Guilford.

[Representative Sara Coffey (Guilford)]: Madam speaker, I'd just like to remind everyone we know now that today is Creative Arts Day in Vermont. I'd like to make sure that everyone feels welcome to the Cedar Creek Room right after our meeting today where there the council and the creative network are hosting a reception. Everyone's invited.

[Speaker 0]: Are there any further announcements? Member from Essex Junction. Thank

[Representative Lori Houghton (Essex Junction)]: you. I rise today to recognize the community based domestic and sexual violence advocates joining us in the House Gallery. The 14 nonprofit member organizations of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence serve every square mile of our state. In 2025 alone, their advocates responded to more than 23,600 hotline and chat line contacts and provided in person support to over 7,500 Vermonters seeking safety, care, and justice. Beyond crisis response, these advocates lead prevention and education efforts across our communities and schools. They provide life saving services twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year. Please join me in welcoming them and thanking them for their extraordinary service to Vermonters.

[Speaker 0]: Will the guests and the member from Essex Junction please rise and be recognized? Are there any further announcements? Member from Milton.

[Representative Michael Morgan (Milton)]: Just a reminder for everybody tonight, Sportsman's Caucus is in the Pavilion Building Room 10 at 04:30. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Are there any further announcements? Seeing none, orders of the day. Members, we will begin with house bill five twenty seven, which is an act relating to extending the sunset of the 30 BSA chapter two forty eight a. The bill was referred to the committee on energy and digital infrastructure which recommends that the bill be amended as printed in today's calendar. The member from Dover, representative will speak for the committee. Please listen to the second reading of the bill.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: H five twenty seven, an act relating to extending the sunset of 30 VSA section two forty eight a.

[Speaker 0]: Member from Dover.

[Representative Laura Sibilia (Dover)]: Madam speaker, h five twenty seven addresses the immediate question of how Vermont should cite telecommunications infrastructure while act two fifty is undergoing significant statutory and procedural changes. The bill preserves a functioning statewide framework while the legislature considers longer term reforms. Section two forty eight a is a specialized telecommunications citing process created in 2007 that allows certain cell tower projects to to be reviewed by the Public Utility Commission instead of act two fifty. It was adopted to provide a more predictable and technically focused alternative to act two fifty while preserving environmental review and public participation. It has been extended multiple times on a temporary basis, which is why the sunset legislation keeps coming back to the legislature. Testimony in house energy and digital infrastructure on h five twenty seven showed broad agreement that Vermont's telecommunications citing process under section two forty eight a needs some improvement, particularly around notice, transparency, fairness, and meaningful local participation. Municipal officials, planning commissions, and residents testified that notice often comes late in the process and that opportunities for meaningful participation are limited. The Vermont League of Cities and Towns supported extending section two forty eight a while emphasizing the need for clearer notice, defined timelines, and a more predictable process for municipalities that operate with limited staff and volunteer boards. The Public Utility Commission and telecommunications providers supported retaining section two forty eight a as the appropriate statewide framework and acknowledged that notice and public participation can be improved. Industry representatives emphasized the importance of predictable timelines and clear process for planning and financing infrastructure and agreed that targeted improvement improvements to notice and transparency are preferable to allowing projects to default to act two fifty. Given the scheduled sunset of section two forty eight a this year, the committee chose to move the bill forward rather than allow authority to for two forty eight a to lapse and default telecommunications citing to go back to act to go to act two fifty. The committee members can find the bill in today's calendar and I will now walk through the sections of the bill. Section one is an extension of the 248A sunset. It extends the sunset from 07/01/2026 to 07/01/2030. This is a four year extension, and prior extensions have been typically for three years. Section two, Public Utility Commission recommendations. Section two establishes a defined public process and work plan for improving the Section two forty eight A process, and it directs the PUC to recommend changes to section two forty eight a to increase transparency, efficiency, fairness, and the ability of individuals and municipalities to participate. Subsection a also requires the commission to hold at least two public workshops and to invite, at a minimum, telecommunications providers that have used section two forty eight a, Vermont the legal cities and towns, regional planning commissions, Vermonters for a Clean Environment, the Department of Public Service and Public Safety, the Agency of Natural Resources, and other relevant stakeholders. Subsection b requires specifies the required topics for workshops at the PUC, including advanced notice requirements, timeline, distribution, prepetition hearings, site visits, and the consequences of failing to file in a timely fashion. Post petition comment procedures, intervention hearings, and significant issue determinations, contested case procedures, evidentiary hearings and public participation, evidentiary burdens, standards for supplements and amendments to petitions, streamlined processes for transfers of certificates of public good, and any additional topics the commission identifies through consultation. Subsection c requires the PUC to submit a report on or before 12/15/2027 to the house committee on energy and digital infrastructure and the senate committee on natural resources and energy. That report must include an overview of the public process, the commission's recommendations and a description of any changes the commission made to the section two forty eight process following stakeholder consultation. This bill was voted out of our committee on a vote of five three one. It would take effect on passage, and we heard from the following witnesses, the director of external affairs for AT and T, the assistant vice president for state legislative affairs, CTIA, legislative council from the office of legislative council, the chair of the Danville Planning Commission, a board member from the land use review board, a managing partner from CEO, from Downs Rackland Martin, legislative liaison from the PUC, the Tin Mouth town clerk, Tinmouth town clerk and treasurer, the executive director of the Land Use Review Board, the chair of the land use review board, the vice president for New England state and local government affairs for Verizon, municipal policy and advocacy specialist for the LCT, the bill sponsor, the executive director for Vermonters for a Clean Environment, and the telecommunications and connectivity director for the Department of Public Service. The committee asks for your support.

[Speaker 0]: The question is, shall the bill be amended as recommended by the committee on energy and digital infrastructure. 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 amended the bill. Now the question is shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for that 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 third reading is ordered. Members, the final item on our action calendar today is joint senate resolution 37 which is a joint resolution supporting in solidarity with national and international ski organizations and numerous skiers across the globe. The introduction of a long overdue gender equality in Nordic combined Olympic competition and urging that the international Olympic committee only introduce new Olympic sports that practice gender equality. This resolution was treated as a bill and referred to the committee on commerce and economic development which recommends that the resolution ought to be adopted in concurrence. The member from Burlington, representative Duke, will speak for the committee. Please listen to the second reading of the resolution.

[Representative Abbey Duke (Burlington)]: Madam Speaker, Nordic combined.

[Speaker 0]: Member member, just one moment. We need to read the bill.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: JRS 37. Joint resolution supporting in solidarity with national and international ski organizations and numerous skiers across the globe, the introduction of long overdue gender equality in Nordic combined Olympic competition and urging that the International Olympic Committee only introduce new Olympic sports that practice gender equality.

[Speaker 0]: Now member from Burlington.

[Representative Abbey Duke (Burlington)]: Thank you, madam speaker. Nordic combined is a sport which combines competition in cross country skiing with ski jumping. A men's division has been included since the very first Winter Olympics in 1924. In recent years, the number of women and the quality of international competition has increased significantly, and yet there is still only a men's competition in the Olympics. This joint resolution urges the International Olympic Committee to add a women's division to the Nordic combined and to only allow only add sports to the Olympics that offer both men's and women's divisions. Your committee on commerce and economic development heard from the lieutenant governor, the senate sponsor of the resolution, and the president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, and your committee passed it with a vote of ten zero one.

[Speaker 0]: The question is, shall the resolution be read a third time? Member from Northfield.

[Representative Anne B. Donahue (Northfield)]: Madam speaker, may I intend interrogate the member from Burlington?

[Speaker 0]: The member from Burlington is interrogated.

[Representative Anne B. Donahue (Northfield)]: Madam speaker, I believe that I am I have read the resolution. I believe I'm quite clear about the fact that it's requiring or asking that anytime for example a new men's sport would be added there would also be a woman's sports added so that there was equality. However, I have read published reports and seen comments by Vermonters in response to those reports that interpreted it differently and was suggesting or reading it to mean that future sports only be introduced if they were combined teams in order to have equality. So there would not be separate men's and women's divisions. So I just want to, clarify and make sure that my understanding is correct and that if there are other interpretations being made publicly that those are not correct.

[Representative Abbey Duke (Burlington)]: Madam speaker, that is correct. The resolution asks that all Olympic sports have both a men's and a women's division. It does not speak to having the the the the divisions combined. I thank the member.

[Speaker 0]: The question is, shall the resolution be read a third time? 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 third reading is ordered. Members, that completes the orders of the day. Are there any announcements? Member from Wolcott.

[Representative Daniel Noyes (Wolcott)]: Thank you, madam speaker. A question I hear all the time in my community is, what does the lieutenant governor actually do? My answer usually include things like presides over the senate, serving on the committee on committees, and I have to explain that, yes, that's a real thing. Breaking ties, stepping in if the governor is out of town, or unavailable to finish his term. Important duties handled with the utmost respect and reverence. But have you ever secretly wanted to tell the honorable lieutenant governor to go jump in a lake? Good news. You can, and it will be for a great cause. The Special Olympics Polar Splash is in March 14, and he's trying to reach his goal of $2,600. So stop by his office and help him reach the goal. If he does, he's promised to shave off that legendary cheesy mustache.

[Speaker 0]: Are there any further announcements? Member from Barrytown.

[Representative Francis McFaun (Barre Town)]: Madam speaker, for the record, need to correct the member from Milton. The Sportsman's Caucus will be meeting in Room 10 at 04:30 this afternoon, not in the pavilion. Thank you.

[Speaker 0]: Are there any further announcements, member from Waterbury?

[Representative Theresa Wood (Waterbury)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I just wanted to recognize one of our guests in the, back there. I forget what that's called. Anyway, the gallery. Right. My, former vice chair of house human services and a former representative from Shelburne is visiting today.

[Speaker 0]: Will the former member please rise and be recognized? Member from Shelburne. Are there any further announcements? Seeing none. Member from Hultney. Can you please offer us a motion to adjourn until Friday, February 13 at 09:30AM?

[Representative Theresa Wood (Waterbury)]: Madam speaker, I make a motion this body stand in adjournment until Friday, 02/13/2026 at 09:30AM.

[Speaker 0]: You have heard the motion. 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 this body stands in adjournment until