Meetings
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[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the house please come to order? In lieu of a devotional today, please join me in a moment of silence. We have one house bill for introduction today. House bill nine five seven is an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the town of Williston. Introduced by representative Burkhardt of South Burlington and others. Please listen to the first reading of the bill.
[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: H nine five seven. An act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the town of Williston.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Now the bill has been read the first time and is referred to the committee on government operations and military affairs. We have a bill on the notice calendar requiring referral to a money committee pursuant to house rule 35A. Senate bill two fifty five is an act relating to establishing a pilot law enforcement government council in Windham County, materially affecting the revenue of one or more municipalities. The bill is referred to the committee on ways and means. Members earlier today, the committee on commerce and economic development reported favorable with amendment on senate bill one nine eight, which is an act relating to the regulation of tobacco products and tobacco substitutes. With that, member from Coventry, can you please offer us a motion to suspend rules to take up senate bill 198 for immediate consideration pending its entry on the notice calendar and commit the same to the committee on human services.
[Representative Michael Marcotte (Coventry)]: Madam speaker, I move that we suspend the rules to take up senate bill one ninety eight for immediate consideration pending its note entry on the notice calendar and commit the same to the committee on human services.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: The member from Coventry moves that we suspend our rules to take up for immediate consideration pending its entry on the notice calendar senate bill one nine eight, which is an act relating to the regulation of tobacco products and tobacco substitutes and commit the same to the Committee on Human Services. Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed, please say nay. The aye appear ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. And you have suspended our rules to commit senate bill one nine eight to the committee on human services pending its entry on the notice calendar. We have a joint senate resolution to take up at this time. JRS 49 is a joint resolution relating to weekend adjournment on 04/17/2026. It was offered by senator Bartholomew and was read and adopted on the part of senate. Please listen to the reading of the resolution.
[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: JRS 49, joint resolution relating to weekend adjournment on 04/17/2026, resolved by the senate and house of representatives that when the two houses adjourn on Friday, 04/17/2026, it be to meet again no later than Tuesday, 04/21/2026.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Now you've heard the reading of the resolution and the question is, shall the house adopt the resolution in concurrence? 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 resolution is adopted in concurrence. Are there any announcements? Member from Westminster.
[Representative Michelle Bos-Lun (Westminster)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I have a guest in the gal in the balcony today who is my intern this year from UVM. Her name is Samantha Thiel. She's originally from Seattle, but her dad is from Vermont and she loves Vermont. So we're hoping she's gonna come back here for graduate school. She's a political science and environmental science student right now, but is thinking to go on to, graduate school perhaps in the field of law in the future.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the guest of the member from Westminster please rise to be recognized? Member member from Brattleboro.
[Representative Emilie Kornheiser (Brattleboro)]: Thank you, madam speaker. We have planned an art social for tomorrow in the cafeteria from four to 05:30. You've all gotten a notice about it. It's a little bit questionable whether floor will be done by then. So I will make an announcement tomorrow and if we're not done at a timely manner, we have a backup date of Thursday, April 30. So I'm not completely cutting out that possibility, but we'll make a decision tomorrow just to give you a heads up. Thank you. And I hope many people will come.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Member from Waterbury.
[Representative Theresa Wood (Waterbury)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I have a visiting family here today from Connecticut, my cousins Joanne and Sarah Burlinski. My cousin Joanne has literally raised thousands of dollars for the fight against Parkinson's disease and many other many other charitable organizations in her community and in the state of Connecticut. And my, young cousin Sarah is a political intern for a candidate in Connecticut. So please welcome them. They're sitting in the balcony.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Will the guests of the member from Waterbury please rise and be recognized? Are there any other announcements? Seeing none, orders of the day. We begin with senate bill two eighteen, which is an act relating to reducing chloride contamination of state waters. Prior to third reading, the member from Barrie City, representative Boutin, and others offer a proposal of amendment that is imprinted that is printed in today's calendar. Member from Barrie City.
[Representative Michael Boutin (Barre City)]: Madam speaker, as the bill is currently drafted, it creates what is called an affirmative defense for municipalities. However, that protection is inadequate. In order to qualify, a municipality must have proved multiple conditions, including annual training, detailed record keeping, and that the incident was caused solely by snow or ice, all while being exposed to claims of negligence. In practice, that is not a strong protection. It creates a situation where a municipality could still face significant legal exposure, and frankly, an attorney could easily drive a straight a freight train right through those, exemptions. At the same time, we're asking municipalities to reduce salt usage. While that's a worthwhile goal, I recognize we have to recognize the risk associated with that. Working with VLCT, I have drafted an amendment that would provide protections that are allowed given to the state of Vermont to apply to the municipality. And that is the amendment that is before you at this moment.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: And now, from house, environment, member from East Montpelier.
[Representative Marc Mihaly (Calais/East Montpelier)]: Madam speaker, I'd like to yield to the member from South Burlington. We first heard yes.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Member yields to the member from South Burlington.
[Representative Martin LaLonde (South Burlington)]: Thank you, madam speaker. So thank you to the representative for bringing this before us. However, we did find this unfavorable on the vote of seven three one, and I'll explain why. So this is a it may seem straightforward and simple on its face, but this is a very complicated area of law. And underlying what seems to be simple are a lot of complications. It involves tort law and decades of of jurisprudence on tort law. It involves insurance, which certainly the judiciary committee has no expertise on that, and it involves municipal liability. So there are a lot of things, a lot of moving pieces in this, and really this is not the kind of bill or the kind of amendment we should be looking at as a floor amendment. It it needs significant vetting by more than one committee to to get this right, and it's important that we get this right. Because what is at stake here is that an individual at Vermonter, through no fault of their own and through the negligence or carelessness of a municipal employee could suffer a catastrophic injury. We've had an example, where an individual, 30 year old woman because of negligence of a municipality, a rusted out lamp fell on her and she's a quadriplegic for life and needs extensive care. And and this can happen. It does not happen, thankfully, very often, but there are times when there can be negligence, carelessness on on the part of state actors or municipal employees that can lead to catastrophic consequences. And it is not clear under this amendment whether an individual in that situation will get the support that they need from primarily insurance company. And if they don't get that kind of support from insurance company, the state in one way or another is going to be stuck with the bill. We did not hear on the other hand on the other side of this equation that that this amendment is going to provide any savings for municipalities. It doesn't have a significant impact on on the type of liability that they might face. So on the one hand, we have the potential for a Vermonter from no fault of their own being seriously injured and not being able to get the compensation that they deserve on the one hand. And on the other hand, we have no evidence that there would be any savings through this amendment. So we ask the body to find this amendment unfavorable. If we need to look at it more, it needs a lot more vetting, and we have to keep in in mind what what really is at stake here. I appreciate. Thank you.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: And now the member for house environment, member from East Montpelier.
[Representative Marc Mihaly (Calais/East Montpelier)]: Thank you, madam speaker. I'll just say that our committee also heard also heard from the representative from Perry City and appreciates listening and and considering the amendment. We found that currently municipalities already are taking training to, reduce salt and are reducing salt usage based on that training with no liability protections. And this bill does support municipalities who opt into a certification program with best management practices for that salt reduction with an affirmative defense to limit their liability. So we don't we, voted to find the amendment unfavorable on a vote of ten one zero.
[Representative Jill Krowinski (Speaker of the House)]: Members, after conferring with leadership, house Democrats will be caucusing in Room 11. House Republicans and progressives will not be caucusing. And the house will stand in recess until the fall of the gavel at