Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the house please come to order and members kindly take their seats? Good afternoon. We have a special treat for you today. The devotional will be led by our state house singers and the member from Woodstock, representative Kimball, do an introduction.

[Representative Charles Kimbell]: Thank you, madam speaker. Today is a performance of the State House Singers, which is a collection of fellow legislators and our talented legislative staff. So the recent incantation of the State House Singers was in 2012 and a former member and now a senator, don't hold it against her, senator Allison Clarkson, was a member of that founding group, and we are ably led by Brett Murphy. Today, we are singing a song often performed by John Gilmore, who many of you knew personally. He shared his gift of music, playfulness, and joy with the people of Vermont. He passed in November. John was honored by a house concurrent resolution from this body in January. Today, we sing in his honor and to all who cannot keep from singing. The State House Singers.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Beautiful. Members, we have two house bills for introduction today. The first is house bill nine seventeen, which is an act relating to military affairs, introduced by the committee on government operations and military affairs. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: H nine seventeen, an act relating to military affairs.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Now the bill's been read the first time and materially affecting the revenue of one or more municipalities. The bill is referred to the committee on ways and means pursuant to house rule 35 a. And house bill nine eighteen is an act relating to membership on school district boards introduced by representative Hartpull of Glover and others. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: H nine eighteen, an act relating to membership on school district boards.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on education. Members, have a bill on the notice calendar requiring requiring referral to a money committee pursuant to house rule 35 a. House bill five forty nine is an act relating to eligibility of detainees to obtain a state issued non driver identification card affecting the revenue of the state. The bill is referred to the committee on ways and means. Members earlier today, the committee on government operations and military affairs reported favorable with amendment house bill eight forty one which is an act relating to miscellaneous animal welfare procedures affecting the revenue of the state. The bill is referred to the committee on ways and means pending its entry on the notice calendar. We now have a joint senate resolution to take up at this time. JRS 42 is a joint resolution condemning the Russian Federation's military and political actions in Ukraine and especially their impact on Ukrainian children. It was offered by senator Buchhofsky and was adopted on the part of the senate. Please listen to the reading of the resolution by title only.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: JRS 42. Joint resolution condemning the the Russian Federation's military and political actions in Ukraine and especially their impact on Ukrainian children.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Now this resolution has been read the first time, and the same is treated as a bill and referred to the committee on government operations and military affairs pursuant to house rule 52. Are there any announcements? Member from Montpelier.

[Representative Conor Casey]: Madam speaker, we have in the chamber some of the finest folks you'll ever meet today. AFT Vermont, the largest health care and higher education union in our state, representing 12,000 working Vermonters. These workers range from nurses at Northwest Medical Center in St. Albans to the faculty and staff of Bennington College and everywhere in between. These are the people who keep our hospitals running and our campuses alive, and they live in every single one of our districts. They're here today pushing for strengthening workers' rights, lifting the ban on striking for higher education workers, and building a health care system that puts care ahead of profit. Madam speaker, I do have one small issue with this union. My wife, who is a medical assistant, is a proud member, and she always pesters me with action alerts from the other side of the couch. Regardless, they're an incredible crew, who literally make our state work and they'll be hosting a reception in the cafeteria from four to six. I hope you'll join them and I hope you'll join me in welcoming them here today.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the guest member from Montpelier please rise and be recognized? Are there any further announcements? Member from panel.

[Unidentified Representative (Announcements on Vermont’s Economy Caucus)]: Thank you, madam speaker. Tomorrow is Friday, which means the caucus for Vermont's economy will be meeting at Room 10 just afternoon till 12:50. We'll be hearing from Linda Rossi of the Vermont Small Business Development Center and Ellen Taylor of the State Sustainable Jobs Fund. All are welcome. Thank you.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Are there any further announcements? Seeing none. Orders of the day. Members, we'll begin with house bill two zero five which is an act relating to agreements not to compete. Member from Burlington.

[Representative Robin Scheu]: Madam speaker, I move that we postpone action on house bill two zero five for two more legislative days.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The member from Burlington moves that we postpone action on house bill two zero five for two legislative days, which means until Tuesday, 03/10/2026. 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 postponed action on house bill two zero five for two legislative days. Now we'll turn to house bill six thirty five which is an act relating to eliminating department of corrections supervisory fees. Member from Springfield.

[Representative Alice M. Emmons]: Madam speaker, I move we postpone action on house bill six thirty five for two legislative day.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The member from Springfield moves that we postpone action on house bill six thirty five for two legislative days. 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 postponed action on House Bill six thirty five for two legislative days. And now we'll take up house bill five sixty six which is an act relating to sealing post charge court diversion records upon successful completion. Please listen to the third reading of the bill.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (Clerk of the House)]: H five sixty six, an act relating to sealing post charge court diversion records upon successful completion.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The question is shall the bill pass? 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 passed the bill. Members, the final bill on our action calendar today is house bill seven ninety which is an act relating to fiscal year 2026 budget adjustments. The bill was referred to the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two chambers. The committee of conference has met and considered the same and recommends that the house adopt its report which is printed in today's calendar. Member from Middlebury.

[Representative Robin Scheu]: Madam speaker, the committee of conference for the f y twenty six budget adjustment act, also known as h seven ninety, met three times last week to resolve differences between our two versions of the bill. Because the number of differences were few, rather than do our typical strike all amendment to the entire bill, the house agreed to accede to the senate proposal of amendment to be further amended. This makes much less work for our JFO staff and accomplishes the same thing as a strike all and that's why it doesn't look very big in the calendar. There were three changes which were agreed to that created the six instances of amendment. The first several instances which involved sections 37, 44, fifty one and eighty six just do a couple of things. We increased the appropriation to the Vermont Center for Independent Living which provides meals on wheels for individuals with disabilities who are under the age of 60 from the $30,000 to $55,000 because they have a waiting list of people who would not otherwise receive these services. 10,000 of this $25,000 increase comes from additional general fund that the House left on the bottom line and the other $15,000 comes from a like reduction in the Vermonters Feeding Vermonters program found in section 51. So, the Center for Independent Living will receive $55,000 and Vermonters Feeding Vermonters will receive $385,000 Second in section 79, we have a revised version to the section eight housing program as we received additional information after the budget adjustment left the house. It now appears that HUD will allocate funds to the public housing authorities accounts sometime in March. The PHAs are asked to send a letter of intent to the Department for Children and Families by April 15 so that DCF can get a sense of the need with regard to potential reductions in housing vouchers. We will have this information before the FY '27 budget is completed so we can either act through the budget while the General Assembly is still in session or if we have adjourned, the Emergency Board can appropriate funds. Funds for this appropriation would still come out of the $50,000,000 we set aside last year for responding to federal funds changes. Section 83 relates to the Developmental Disabilities Services Payment Reform implementation. The house had put placeholder language in here, to address this. The senate worked on it further and then we additionally revised some things, such as dates for various reports to be due or meetings to be held so that the issue could be resolved while the general assembly is still in session and all parties involved have agreed to the changes. Finally, not in the instances of amendment but a point I wanted to just note is that the House agreed with the Senate to slightly expand the allowable uses for the aforementioned $50,000,000 that we set aside for federal funds changes to include support for municipalities for extra protection or other services as the result of federal actions. So as a reminder, the committee of conference consists of six members, three from the house and three from the senate. The vote of the committee was unanimous at six, four and zero against. So I hope you will support the committee by voting yes on this report. Thank you.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The question is, shall the house adopt the report of the committee of conference on its part? 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 the report of the committee of conference is adopted. Members, that completes the orders of the day. Are there any announcements? Member from Cambridge.

[Representative Lucy Boyden]: Thank you, madam speaker. Royal caucus Royal caucus members, excuse me, will be receiving an email with multiple resources and opportunities. Please reach out if you have any questions or need any additional information. Thank you.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Are there any further announcements? Seeing none. Member from Pulte, can you please offer us a motion to adjourn until Friday, February 27 at 09:30AM?

[Representative Patricia McCoy]: Madam speaker, I make a motion this body stand in adjournment until Friday, 02/27/2026 at 09:30AM.

[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: 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 a