Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Good morning, all staffs. Decorations Committee. It is Friday, 03/27/2026. It's just after 9AM. And we are here to hear another amendment to the budget, which we often have in the budget, but we often have it before the budget goes out. So everybody's running a little later this year. The transportation bill was later, the yield bill was later, on and on. So now we have the capital bill, and I'm sure that chairmans is relieved to have that. So we have a piece of paper either on your desk or on the website. You can, it's going to be proposed to come into the budget. We'll have John, the former pledge counsel, give us a brief overview, and then

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Chair Emmons can explain what's happening. Thank you.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: So, good morning, everyone. John Gray, office of legislative council.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Representative Alice Emmons, chair that's correct. It's some institutions.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: It's got more directors for office. So I'm gonna screen share with you the proposed amendment from representative Emmons. I think the chair already framed this pretty clearly that there's a standard process for dealing with the cash pieces that go into the capital bill. Typically, And, the sequencing of actions is such that we wouldn't be arriving on third reading to present that, but that's what's happening today. So this just sets out in the same typical style of budget, the cash appropriations. In the capital bill, you can see we have 23,000,000 that includes money is currently in the fund plus interest, and then reallocations. And then we set out for each entity, and I don't know if the chair would like to go into any of these, but it really is just the line item we're pulling from the capital build. I'm happy to run through them, but expect they're not especially interesting. Well, I think what

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: we want to know is,

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Terri, I was wondering if you explain how this works, so everybody understands the cash fund and why we're doing all this. Please. Well, to lay the groundwork right now, we have not voted out the capital bill yet. We anticipate doing that today. But this section has been finalized, as have all the other sections. We just need to see the final draft, do the final read through. Our spreadsheet is complete. And we really, as your chair said, this usually is always in our bill as well as in your bill. So we wanna get it in your bill while it's still on the house side. What this pertains to, our capital budget has both bonded dollars and cash from the cash fund. We we allocate where those dollars from the cash fund go. We don't appropriate it. That is in your world. And these items here are where we are targeting the cash. Some of these items also do have funded dollars, either in other capital bills or in his current capital bill. The other piece that's new this year is the administration is about $5,000,000 a little bit more than $5,000,000 of cash in the cash fund that was allocated and appropriated towards some capital projects. And in the statute for the cash fund, if it's unencumbered or hasn't been spent in the three year mark, then it can be reallocated. So this is the first time, because we're starting to hit that three year mark, that projects, some projects either are not going forward or they're being delayed a little, so they don't need the money in this fiscal year, they are reallocating that back, keeping it in the cash fund, and then we're expending those dollars again. So what we have in our spreadsheet that's new cash is around $17,000,000 And then the balance to reach the $23,400,000 and change is that chunk that is being, in our world, reallocated, and we're putting those dollars towards these projects that you see in the amendment as well. So there's a total of $23,400,000 in change that's going towards these projects. So, the amendment, would be for this particular section. We will also have this section in our capital bill as well. We do it in both bills because for the public, if they're looking at a construction project, a state construction project, they don't think to go to the appropriations, the big bill. They go to the capital bill. So that's why we make sure it's in both spaces, because you appropriate and we allocate this.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Great. So, do you want to just tell us quickly what the projects are, because we're going to need to know it sooner or later? Not in great detail, but quick. A lot of them,

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: some of it is just some continuation of what we've been doing. Major maintenance is also a big, big piece of BGS. Security within all of our buildings, that's our, card passes, that could be cameras, that could be panic buttons, that's what that goes to. Yacovloomers in Rutland, we've been doing work there with the roof replacement and sewer projects, so there's also money in the capital bill bonded for that. The same with the Rutland Multimodal Garage. 32 Cherry Parking Garage, we've been taking care of that parking garage forever. There's a big chunk that's going to DOC, well, it's going to BGS for DOC to put air conditioning within our facilities. There is, on the bonded side, over 9,000,000 on the bonded side for this, this year, as well as 6,000,000. And the goal is to have the Southern State facility finished by the end of this calendar year. And then the Newport facility will also be started, and that won't be finished for at least till the '7, possibly 'twenty eight. And then starting, the next one would be the Chittenden. There's St. Albans and Chittenden. Chittenden already is conditioned, I think. Well, Robin, I can't remember which is which on that offhand. It's a big expense. They have to order the air handlers. And then when we get in there and do the work, sometimes they have to relocate a living wing a little bit. They have to relocate where the offenders are for the time being. So there's a lot of cost. And we've been really working on this for about five years. So now it's finally coming to fruition. Correctional facilities with security upgrades as well as door controls, That is for the whole system. Security upgrades could again be cameras. It could be lit ligature items that need to be put in. It could be, like, door controls. It's for the whole mechanical and electronic systems within a facility, for not just the cells, but for the sally ports, for the administrative offices, for the gym, for visiting rooms, all of that's really aging out in our system. There's bonded dollars for that as well. A boiler replacement up in Newport, we've been working on this for three years now. That's to replace the boiler, but that's also tied in with a three acre compliance up there because there's storm, ponds that need to be changed. They need to be relocated, which then impacts where the road is. And the road is needed for the trucks to deliver the wood chips. So, they kind of have to go hand in hand. We've been moving money around with this for a number of years because it's a chicken and egg situation. And we do have bonded dollars for this as well. Jay, this is for the replacement of Woodside. And you had language in your bill about halting, any construction or any going forward with any beds in the whole system, until you folks and human services really knows from DCF what the cost will be to contract out for services. We're gonna have the same language in our capital, but, this We're in the crosshairs. My committee and BGS are in the crosshairs of this right now. BGS has gone out to RFP for a design build for our new facility, it'd be about a 14 bed facility for our juniors. We're not gonna be owning the building, we are not gonna be building the building, so it takes the pressure off the capital bill. But once the developer bills the facility on the developer's land that they own, we will be paying through DCF the lease payment for that building for about twenty years. So right now, there's about 330 doll 330,000, 350,000 that we've put in last year and the year before to allow BGS to enter into negotiations. They are in the middle of negotiations right now with a potential developer. This 700,000 would backfill some of that 300,000 to continue those negotiations right now. So if we put a freeze on this going forward in April or May, we have stopped this project. So we need to figure out what the operating costs will be, because it really puts this in jeopardy for BTS.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: I'm going pause for just a second, change the subject. Has the amendment been sent to Nigel?

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: No, I've given him my heads up.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: So the budget is going to be first up on the floor. So as quickly as that can get sent to Nigel, I just wanted to interrupt him. The committee know that we're going to be first before.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: I gave him a heads up that something was coming. We were hoping to do this last night and get it in the calendar, but we had some.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Right. But they, yeah, I think that just my point is letting the body know that so Nigel can put out an amendment, you know, can put it out to everybody that this is, yeah.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: So let me quickly just keep going. Public safety, they're really looking for a facility for search and rescue. This allows them to go forward with that. We are also putting some cash, because we had some money on the bottom line, that was some of the other adjustments we made. We're putting in we already have about $14,000,000 put aside for the replacement of the women's facility. That's going to be a very expensive project. So we put in the 1.25 in that account to start building that up. DEC, this is a federal match for our drinking water state revolving loan fund. It's a five to one match with the feds. Waterbury Dam, this is a huge project that we're doing with the Army Corps of Engineer, but this is doing dealing with some cost overruns. They had to get in there and clean some of the penstocks this past summer. And then that just when they had to get in there, it was time delayed because of the drought, the flooding, all of that. So this has increased the cost for that project. Forest and parks, this is what we always do for their infrastructure and rehab. This augments what we also do with bonded dollars. And the same with Fish and Wildlife. For dam maintenance and safety planning, they do have a couple dams that they own. We do fund dams for Department of Environmental Conservation. This is new. So we've agreed to that. Judiciary, this is half 1,000,000 for the Essex County Courthouse. This is up in Guildhall. See Is plenty for the water? It's sprinkler system. Okay, fine. The water system.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: All right, that's all we need. That's what it is.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Okay. Historical Marty, you had a question with that? Well, up above, you have to the judiciary for White River Junction forecast. Is that because it's going to BGS and this one's going somewhere Yes.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Routing for the funds is project specific. So I think you're just asking if it's under the correct letter.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: 1.6 for the old battery for White River Court. So that's going to It's going through BGS. Right. And that is they finished the, they finished the work at the courthouse. It's, the folks have moved back through and there was a cost overrun and they're also need to do some work behind the courthouse for flood mitigation. Okay. And they needed the water pressure. Okay. Sorry, I missed that. From my historical society, they have moisture control issues within their facility in Barrie, and there's a lot of historical documents there. We don't wanna lose that. So we're gonna provide them with some climate control units. And then seven is an addition that we put in. We've been working with DOC and our energy committee last year, as well as ADS, trying to get Wi Fi into our correctional facilities. It is a very expensive proposal. During the COVID years, we had federal money that came in through COVID in 2021, and we targeted some of that money for DOC to start looking where the hotspots would be in each of the facilities for the implementation of Wi Fi. Our facilities do not really have Wi Fi. And it's really impacting DOC's operation, the administrative operation of her facility, correctional officers being able to communicate, as well as providing services to folks who are incarcerated.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: What do you think? Is 3,000,000 just the beginning? We don't have a

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: clue because we've been working with the ADS, and they have not been willing to come forward with some money or information. They are saying, well, they've been in the planning stages. Well, they've been in the planning stages for three years, or two years.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Okay.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: We just can't so we're saying, we're gonna put some money here to get this project going. We also have language in the bill, in another piece, in our bill, that we're gonna have report backs on this off session. Great. Because we really wanna start working on this. John, did you have

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: a question?

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Yeah. Just really quick here. The the urban search and rescue facility, is that an add on to what we currently have? It's kinda

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: It's it's a

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: help keep their their stuff under out of the weather.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Yes. We're keeping some of it now, it's kinda scattered. Gotcha. And we tried to address this two years ago. They were hoping to find land and maybe do a design build. Last year, they put a halt to that. And this year, they're kind of looking at the current old Williston Old Barracks possibly. So this is all for planning

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Is that bacon?

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Yes. Because we built a new one. Right. So we still own the old so they're looking at possibility of using that. It may be a little too small.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Just curious.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: They wanna put everything, the hazmat, the search and rescue They've

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: had a lot of that stuff over time here. Yeah. And the Willis And Barracks is close to the interstate. It's close to Lake Champlain, where their rescue's there. Need to Is there federal money there, too? Is it a match for the federal government?

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Oh, it's over a $70,000,000 project. We have to put up a 7% match, and we already have, for planning. It's a long term project, and it's probably not going to be completed until probably about five years from now.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: So what this bill, what the amendment does, is transfer this money into the appropriations and identify specific appropriations. So there's no new money for our budget, and this is what will be in the capital bill as well. So we normally do this, and usually, Chair Emmons comes down before we finalize the bill, like, a week ago. But this is where we are. So questions, Lynn? Yeah. So this is money you don't have to bond.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Is General, save money. Percent for the next thirty years. We save 3% or whatever it's going to

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: be Saved by not bonded.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: And not so this

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: is essentially what the governor put more or less in the capital bill, in the budget. So we have that line about cash fund or whatever, and then this is it. This is now further saying, instead of just cash fund for $23,000,000 it's like, no, here's how it's going be spent. And that's what else committee is doing.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: And we did not increase what the governor proposed for cash. We just allocated it a little So

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: this is an amendment from Chair Emmons, so we don't have to report it.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: But the state has asked if we can get this

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: to Nigel ASAP. I'll

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: send it. Yes.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: You send it? Yes. Okay, great. I don't have an email from anyone.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: I will not go into details on the floor.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Go. Because you'll get to the end of the capital bill. All right, so is there a motion to accept this amendment from chair Amenden?

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Ziff and Wayne? Any further discussion? Seeing none,

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: when the clerk is ready, this is a straw.

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: Doesn't matter. I I always do a roll call system.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: We always do a roll call. I'm just trying to let people know we don't have to bill, obviously. So we're just voting on the amendment. Okay.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Representative Globeley?

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Yes.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Representative Dickinson?

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Yes.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Representative Feltus?

[Representative Martha Feltus (Vice Chair)]: Yes. Kimberly.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Representative Laroche? Feltus? Yes. Representative Raulicki? Yes.

[Representative Michael Nigro]: Representative Nigro? Yes. Ms. Sparrow, yes. Representative Yacovone?

[Representative David Yacovone]: Representative Yacovone? Yes. Good shot. Bennington?

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Wait. We've got representative Stevens in. Maybe you'd like to vote?

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: We're just voting on

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: the capital bill. It's it's all money that they you know, it's what we should do. They it's from the cash fund. It's an exact amount. And that they are Corrections and Institutions appropriates it.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Is it the committee's opinion that this is a good bill?

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: So far, it's ten zero one. Yeah. Okay. So

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: I am also glad to win. Alright.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Perfect timing. I can't ask you whether it's a good bill because I know it. Okay.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: So so we don't have to report this. Chair Ramos is

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: gonna report on the floor because

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: it's her amendment. The speaker knows about it. Tom, our bill is first up this morning.

[John Gray (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Good for you.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Good for all of us. Anyway, one more long day. Committee, we are not meeting on Mondays anymore, but next week we will talk, we will be on the floor at 10:00 on Tuesday. That's the first time that I know of that you all have to be here. It's nice to be here. But we will then talk about various field trips to see

[Representative Alice Emmons (Chair, Corrections & Institutions)]: We'll have the capital bill next week.

[Representative Robin Scheu (Chair)]: Oh, we will be meeting for the capital bill next week. So we're not done yet, but we will occasionally have bills. But I'll just keep you posted as I know what things are. But we should probably get together informally to chat about places we want to go see so we can get those things organized. I'll try to get some information. Okay, that would be great. Anybody who'd like to get information. So in the meantime, let's