Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: General, thank you for joining us, and I look forward to your testimony.

[Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight (Adjutant General, Vermont National Guard)]: Thank you, mister chair. I appreciate the opportunity. Apologies again for being a little bit late. It's been busy, but we're I do appreciate the opportunity and thanks to the committee for giving me the opportunity to to speak Specifically on this bill, one, I appreciate that the bill is being proposed and I certainly appreciate the diligence and depth of thought and experience that went in through the working group. I was certainly honored and privileged to be a part of that conversation. In the end, this is a logical extension of our state partnership program. That I would hold up as an example across the National Guard. There are 116 partnerships across the world right now with guard states, states, territories, Washington DC. And one of the challenges is taking our mission, which at the foundation is military to military, and then growing it beyond that into a military to civilian, facilitating of of relationships, and more importantly, getting to what this bill does, which is facilitating much more than mill to mill. My time in this job and probably before, in my experience with the state partnership program, one thing I keep coming back to is that primary focus being regional stability and security. That is not just a military construct, and I think building this bill properly and the program takes us so much further into that world of regional stability and security. It is commerce, is trade, is food and fuel security, it is environmental stewardship. All of those things where Vermont can provide some expertise, and I would argue derive some mutual benefits and learn from our partner states. So I'm just very encouraged by this. Happy to be a part of it, and and we'll see how the process goes. As to the second part of the bill, the the partnership or agreement we have with Ireland, I I guess, I'm a structure person. It's the military. We have instructions for everything, but they're all codified under one place. And it seems to make sense if we're going to have international partnerships, why would we not reside it under an owning agency with a responsible committee of jurisdiction as opposed to having separate and distinct programs. That doesn't make any sense to me. But that's just my initial reading of it. It seems to make sense to me to put it under the umbrella. Makes it easier to manage, I think would identify some efficiencies there. Certainly Ireland can apply for partnership with the state of Vermont, which would be, I think, a more appropriate formalization of the relationship. But that's what I've got for you today, Mr. Chair. Bennington, any questions from the committee?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Discussion for General Nye? General, thank you. Thank you for your participation as well. Absolutely. Brought a whole lot to the table.

[Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight (Adjutant General, Vermont National Guard)]: Thank you, sir.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you.

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper]: I'm sorry, I think the room mic has been muted.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: We're back, Jonathan. Sorry about that.

[Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight (Adjutant General, Vermont National Guard)]: Okay, sorry.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: Thank you.

[Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight (Adjutant General, Vermont National Guard)]: Thank you, Kevin. Okay, all the best. And we'll see you the nineteenth.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: You bet.

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: Were you yelling at me?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Ben, would you like to respond to the second piece?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Yeah. I mean, I guess I'm gonna talk about representative Casey's, what he's testifying about. And I I just think it just kinda brings up a good point where in my division at Economic Development, we were overseeing trade and and diplomacy. I think a lot of this and the these contacts that he was talking about, it's the first I've heard of them that there's someone coming here from the European Union, I believe he said, but also shows that a separate commission going to be almost like it's going to either like be repetitive or it's going to be divisive or it's going to be one hand as what the other was doing or it's going to be in counteracting of what we're working on and developing as well. For instance, I have funds to take Vermont companies over to Ireland for a trade mission through the state trade expansion program. And I feel like I would spend the first year that I might even be on the trade commission, but at one point, I'd have to go educate a trade commission about what what we do for trade, what's the history of our trade, who are all the players that are out there in the trade world or diplomacy world, and how we're interacting with them. So it just feels like it's duplicative, I guess, is the the thing. And then, again, it's one nation that we're focusing on where markets tend to open up. And Ireland is a key priority for the reasons they stated, but so is The UK, so is Scandinavia, so is Austria, so is Germany. I mean, we you know, there's a lot of different countries out there, and the markets change and relationships change. But it's just interesting that it's one commission is just focused on one nation. And and I right. We're all we all want to further that. I mean, Ireland is a key player. I mean, my name is Tierney. My mother was a Harrington, and her mother was a Conley, her mother was a Murphy, and keeps going. Right? Know, Irish as you get. But that is one tie we all have here in New England. But it's about economy. And I think those relationships we can build. If we have an interested we have a cadre of people that want to actually focus in Ireland and make it a priority and there's resources, let's go. But it's a lot of it comes out of the business world too. Right? We have to go see what sectors and clusters have an interest in the Ireland market or and vice versa. I mean, we need to build that, and I don't think we need a I I personally don't think we need a separate trade commission to do that. So

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Questions for Tim?

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Do you I believe I

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: do believe that they actually I think it came to our agency first, and I believe but then commissioner Goldstein mentioned that this was something that not needed. I want to say then it moved over to the mean, somehow it moved over to the treasurer's office, I think.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Don't know if this would there be any benefit to somehow fast track Ireland since we've already got the trade commission that we did approve and now we're repealing? I don't know.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Well, I mean, I think we could

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Or she just answered it.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: No, mean, I think, you know, I mean, we wanted to, I mean, we could do a trade mission over there and actually go now, then recruit companies that we know that will actually benefit from a mission. And this will be pretty candid, by the way. There's two kinds of trade missions. We can bring the economic trade mission with companies over, and then you have the political trade mission. And sometimes people think you bring some politicos, it opens up some doors, but then it becomes more of a more fanfare, more pomp and circumstance, but it does open up some doors. But then there's others who just bring the companies, and they do business to business meetings, and they try to get relationships built that way. I mean, that's something that I think is sometimes fits Vermont to a better degree. I mean, I don't think we're big on pumps. But that's the kind of thing that we could get going pretty quickly. And then we just make those connections over there and bring those sectors. For instance, cybersecurity is a sector that Ireland's very strong in, and we have a growing burgeoning cybersecurity ecosystem here, too, we would bring those companies over and see what kind of relationships they could build. And that's something that we would contact the folks we know over there and set up these meetings. And it's that simple. It's going there with these companies. And that's the kind of trade that we would be doing.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: So like time wise, I mean, the outcome could be the same. Know, adopt and remove, right, the trade commission.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Time, that one of

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: the concerns is that it's already in place. Sure. But what what you're saying, it's or sounds like you could do it just as quick under the sister state.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: And we don't even need the sister state to do that. That's the whole. Right? The sister state is more of a formalizing program, and to provide trade, we don't need a sister state agreement either. So we could just it's it's a it's both self interest. Right? It's on both sides.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: I think that was one of my

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: The original question. It's

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: interesting it helps.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: Oh yeah, definitely. And we've talked about that. I've been a huge fan. I think it helps a lot, especially coming from the arts of cultural exchange and all that. But I'm wondering, do we have other Connor mentioned that there are 200,000 employees or something? I don't know.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Maybe 2,000, I don't Not 200,000.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: 2,000, but there are

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: I want to say there's 11,000 employees I know that I have. That's the number I have. Like almost 11,000 that are employed by foreign companies, foreign owned companies in Vermont. That's number I have.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: So that gets to my question. It's like, do we have these already established clusters of national groups that are doing trade, running businesses in Vermont, Vermonters?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Well, yeah. Ben and Jerry's is owned by a foreign

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: Well, this is true.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: But

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: are there multiple? Do we have, obviously, a number from Canada? Do we have a cluster from Ireland? Do we have cluster from England?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: We do have. We do. And it comes and goes. But we foreign investment in Vermont, and it's very important for Vermont's economy. And that's my job. The other part of my job is to recruit businesses and encourage investment. And it varies from people owning an aerospace manufacturer to someone owning a large operation like vendor to us to actually small little metal shops that are owned by foreign companies or conglomerates. So it's very key. But it's there's so many. It varies. We have Austrian ownership here. We have a lot of German. We have one Chinese investment in Vermont, very small. Am I answering your question?

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: You are. No, you are. You're definitely answering my question. I'm getting a better sense of what the landscape is like. I guess the thing that is maybe sticking out for me just a little bit here is International trade is such a technical side of things, but we're using this kind of soft system to get to there. Does international trade need to have more of a structure to get folks from the sister state over into there as things move along?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Well, I would say that I mean, so there really wasn't an international trade vision till, I think, five, six years ago, I think, when I kind of came on board. But the big thing is I think it's more of us you learn and you realize that where you're gonna prioritize target markets or target countries and nations that are and we're learning that. That's a big I mean, I'm not gonna pull many companies that come here from Southern Italy. If they come here right now, they will not.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: That's so bad.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Am I right? We try to find very like companies that are like to our ecosystems or growing or even burgeoning economic sectors. So obviously, the semiconductor manufacturing is very large here. So we have a representative next week actually going to Malaysia and Singapore representing Vermont because that's a semiconductor manufacturing. We would never go there to look for people to invest or expand their companies coming here because Malaysia, Singapore aren't really similar to Vermont, but the semiconductor manufacturing is the key. That's all that matters at the end of the day. And then on the other side, we do concentrate in Northern Europe. They're very similar to us. They have similar ideals, similar values, similar terrain, geography, manufacturing. So then we do focus. And I would say that's something that we do and therefore I think that might even help with sister state. But that's not I don't think that's not the biggest factor in the system. So it's interesting that trade has a different factor than the cultural educational with economic. Overall, like I said, I don't think we need to we the focus on one nation and having one commission has a bureaucratic aspect to it, I think, would I mean, it it could help, but I just don't know if it's it's now just fractured. It feels like I don't know what they're doing. They don't know what I'm doing or that kind

[Rep. Herb Olson]: of thing.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: Do you want to go first?

[Rep. Herb Olson]: Go ahead, senator. What is the I missed this in the testimony, I think. The Camp for World Affairs. What is that?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: The Vermont Council on World Affairs is a nonprofit here in Vermont. They're very active, but they're also they have a lot of help from the State Department. They bring they have brought a lot of different groups from all parts of the world here. They show them Vermont. A lot of times they're on tours of other states as well. Sometimes they're just focused on Vermont. Some have very long lengthy stays here. I've I've I've spoken to a lot of their groups they bring in, and a lot of them are leaders from either, say, Central America or, Western Africa or just particular countries. But their whole thing is exposing the world to Vermont, and I believe it goes the other way. I mean, where they're taking they're going to certain countries and bringing Vermont to them. Great organization, very well run. Patricia Preston was our co chair. So yeah.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: Two questions, and one is just clarification. Did you say that you weren't even aware of the visitors that are coming in?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Yeah, I was not aware.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: So that's a missed opportunity to having the two separate organizations. Having the sister state and the trade organization in the same agency helps us to use fewer resources to get a bigger impact. Is that

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: I would say from where I'm sitting, yes, that would be right.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: And then one of the other arguments that has been made numerous times is that we had a big opportunity from Ireland to leave the state. Were you able to interact with them?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Our whole department interacted with that company in Georgia and it was a big thing and there was many reasons they were leaving and you know, mean they laid out the reasons why and it was varied and a lot of it had to do with facilities and it was Wisconsin on Indiana they were going to. I mean obviously something like that with a large employer like that in that part of the state, our department was all in and we're still talking to them and And now our job is for me to go find someone that might move into that facility when they're done, because it's a decent facility in that dairy sector.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: When argument that this Ireland Trade Commission could have kept them here

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Right. Mean, course, we tried everything to try to keep them here and what are the opportunities. Yeah, so I mean, of these are corporate decisions made over and we're still in I

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: I'd

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: say that that relationship is we built our relationship with those folks in Ireland right now. And they basically would not want the same type of company moving in. And I think that we've, like, by the way, if that opportunity comes, they would consider it now. So at least that's something that we can continue to talk about. But it because it is about keeping those jobs and keeping that facility. But as you know, we have a shortage of facilities here. People coming in looking for them like, oh. I hate to say it like, oh, yeah, someone's going. But that's the kind of So yeah, it's been not only us but Department of Labor. I mean, it's the Agency of Agriculture. We've all been involved with that. The Regional Development Corporation there, everyone. So it's I don't know if the Irish Trade Commission would have made it. So yeah.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Tim, could you envision

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: a sort of assuming the Irish Trade Commission is removed, sort of a seamless integration of their efforts into the sister state program and its relationship to the work that you do specifically in trade?

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Yes. Think we're not even having say it wasn't a formalized sister state agreement, but those folks that are involved. My job, I think, is to connect and involve. And the more people that I can and make those ties, the easier it is going to be for us to further those relationships or create better ones. I mean, yeah, I think it's as simple. The two folks who have been appointed right now, if they have connections there, that's what we want to know. Who do they know and how can we connect and where does it fit in well, right? So yeah, like I said, it's, you know, going to Ireland, I mean, I am I've been to my great grandfather's farm in Ireland and stood under the tree that he planted the day he left. Right? So I didn't have my daughters under there, the family tree really. And so strong ties there. And that's one thing you have the ties, but then it's like, where's the how's our economy fit in? Right? We have Irish butter in our stores here, which is crazy. And it's really good. You ever tried Kerrygold?

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: I

[Rep. Herb Olson]: always

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: But keep

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: there are opportunities and it's through different channels that you create these opportunities, and it can be in a variety of ways. And I think sometimes it's finding for instance, I think Vermont going to Dublin, it's a large city. We're not gonna but there's smaller cities outside of Dublin. Cork or Galway, May. I mean, up in I mean, that get us, and we would get them. And they sometimes aren't getting the attention that Dublin's like. Like, we don't get the attention that Boston and New York gets. So we get each other, and I think we can create economy that way. Those those are the kind of things that I would be looking for for connections. That makes sense. No more has to do with your question.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Other questions for Tim? Okay. Thank you, Tim.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: I was in a mute all the time. Right?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Cooper would've let us

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: know. Yeah.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: Jonathan. Hey, Tim. Rick. Rick

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: has 2.2 period, and he talked something. Here has it.

[Rick Segal (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Rick Segal, office of legislative council. And going to, as the chair said, show you a small amendment as I was sitting there looking through the bill. I read through the amendment, and I think something needs to be clarified. I'm gonna tell you all what I saw, and maybe you agree. So only one change from the amendment, and it's highlighted in yellow. It's the same language that was highlighted yellow last time. It is this page five subdivision three b. The previous 2.1, the way it was worded read that the committee would approve an application. That's not really what's going on. What's happening is, and maybe let's take a couple steps back. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development receives an application. They're kind of the gatekeepers, right? They do their preliminary work. Then they submit it to the committee, the sister state committee, after the agency gives their preliminary approval, that kind of thing. The committee reviews the application, and they recommend that it be approved to the governor. They don't approve it. They recommend that it be approved. So, the language, I think, has been clarified. So, subdivision B, and you can read A if you wanna have kind of the lead in that they receive an application from the agency. B, if the committee recommends that an application reviewed pursuant to A, right above, be approved, the committee shall submit its recommendation to the governor along with a copy of the application not later in thirty days. So it's the same idea, but I just think that I had it worded incorrectly the first time. I think I cleared it up, but maybe I'm overthinking it.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: No, think it

[Rick Segal (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Yeah, that's the only change I made, the draft 2.2.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: Any questions? Hello? Just to clarify, the recommendation is coming from the committee, not from ACCD, or is it coming from the committee and ACCD?

[Rick Segal (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: So the ACCD initially gets the application. They do their initial work. They send it to the committee. Committee then sends it to the governor.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We go back and look at line eight, talking about preliminary approval, Would it be a preliminary recommendation?

[Rick Segal (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: The the agency does their I can go back up here because it's kind of a timeline, right? So two a, the agency has their initial things to check for. Does it meet the minimum qualifications? Does it meet their confidential internal review? Those are the preliminary approvals.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: All right. Oh, yeah.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Gotcha. Yeah. Anyway questions? Everybody good? So any further discussion? We're ready to vote this thing out.

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: Do you want a motion?

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I wanna make sure that people are good. They don't I just on the record, I just like to state I I'm going to vote to support, but I don't really like how all of this went down necessarily. I just wanna say that.

[Rep. Herb Olson]: So

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: let's see.

[Rep. Herb Olson]: I'm not always a big fan of consolidating tasks, really depends on circumstances, what the function is, I guess, especially at the local and regional levels. However, from my experience with state government, there's only so many people. I know it seems like there's a lot sometimes, but there's only so many people in state government. And I have seen where tasks get bifurcated between different agencies, and it's not always the best idea. It's helpful to create structures where you can get the answer or work on something from a sort of consolidated from getting everybody together as opposed to being in distinct regions, whether it's a separate line of agency. I support that overall structure. I do hope that something can be worked out in terms of existing relationships that have been, even if temporarily built, that it

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: could somehow fit into the assisted state program.

[Tim Tierney (Director of Business Recruitment & International Trade, Vermont ACCD)]: I think

[Rep. Herb Olson]: that would be a good idea.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: Yeah, just

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: add my 2¢. I also do support this. I think it's an important program for the state of Vermont. I do wanna find some way for the Irish Trade Commission to be able to find its way into the program. I understand that they're welcome to apply, but I think given that they have a little bit of a deeper relationship, there might be a need for more conversation there.

[Rep. Dave Bosch]: It's my recollection from last year's testimony that Ireland actually approached us. So, yeah, we need to make it clear we're not throwing the baby out with the bathwater here. We're just standardizing our approach and broadening its scope in order to be all things to all nations and not just have this one thing that is tailored specifically to them.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: And I think that last year when we authorized the Irish but we did put it off for a year in order to give the task force the ability to do its work. I think in accomplishing its work, it's clear that we need one system under which all of these things happen. I think Tim, it was pretty clear that Tim had no clue that somebody from EU Parliament was coming in to speak Thursday and Friday of this week, which is unfortunate. Think that they should have known that. And those are the types of things that we need to make sure that these things are going through the proper agencies. John?

[Rep. Jonathan Cooper]: Thanks so much. I do think that by putting it off for a year, we raise the likelihood that such a miscommunication might occur. But I just want to sort of add that point just while we're discussing the matter. Thank you.

[Unidentified Committee Member]: I guess, I'll chime in. Do support this bill. You know, I think certainly the formalization, anything that can improve government efficiency and standardize is always good for everyone. I think we should prioritize, find some way, it's my hope that we will prioritize iron as being one of the first countries to be in the system. To your point, Mike, about the about this this person who's coming as ambassador. I I find myself wondering, have there been good communication? Would we have been able to really capitalize on that better if we had had a more formal system and more people? So what I see there is potentially there might have been a miss there's there's there could it's a missed opportunity. And I think that this bill will allow us to really take advantage of opportunities that we may have otherwise been missing, because it's all under one roof and it's all formalized and structuralized.

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: I'll weigh in. The reason why I asked Tim that question was precisely this concern about, I feel like that the trade commission has done some work and probably some very good work. It's the backdoor from integrated with the rest of the system. And that's why I asked the question, how easily would it be for them to integrate it? And it sounded that Tim sort of gave the answer that it could be integrated almost instantly. Because the trade part already falls under his purview. So all he has to do is reach out to the two people that have been appointed to the committee, and now it's already in process. And if they wanted to do a formal application to his sister body, presumably they already have a bunch of people that are motivated and organized to do that. So I don't see that they are at a disadvantage, even if we don't make some special mechanism for them to be the first application, I think. They're already sort of positioned in that place.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: I'll just weigh in. Since the Sister State Task Force did have so much time to work on it, They actually have an application just about ready to go. They have rules and procedures ready to go. So once the appointments happen, that task force will be ready to set deadlines for application, post applications, do all of that very quickly. And so that also is an exciting opportunity for the state.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Right. No. K. So I'd entertain a motion to report favorably on h six seven four. Six seventy four, graph 2.2. Take that function. L second. It's between a representative Newton, seconded by representative Micklus. Is there any further discussion?

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: If not, court can call the roll. Representative Bosch?

[Rep. Dave Bosch]: Yes.

[Committee Assistant (Staff, Roll Caller)]: Representative Button? Yes. Representative Carris Duncan? Yes. Representative Cooper?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Yes.

[Committee Assistant (Staff, Roll Caller)]: Representative Duke? Yes. Representative Micklus? Yes. Representative Olson?

[Rep. Herb Olson]: Yes. Representative Priestley? Yes. Representative White? Yes.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Representative Granting? Yes. Representative Marcotte? Yes.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: If you wanna do it, that's fine. I don't I don't mind doing it if

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: if I need to fulfill my obligations.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Zero

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: I'm fine with that one as well. Oh.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We're gonna have a fight off by the end.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: It's one of the three that I feel comfortable. If you don't mean I can understand this is your baby. Was asked to put on

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: the task force. I did the work.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: What did you say? Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Okay. Michael, we can so we're going to send you the clean copy, let Nigel know in the clerk's office, and send him over a copy in a PDF.

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: Yeah. What?

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: In a PDF, right?

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: Yeah, would say.

[Rep. Emily Carris Duncan]: The House does it a little bit differently to send it,

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: but I think that's correct. I

[Rep. Michael Boutin]: just sent him, when I did mine, I just emailed the document and told him who was

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: the reporter and what the vote was. So I'm telling you you're the reporter of the bill, the vote, the strike on amendment, vote was the other. And it's probably going to approach. We can we'll have to do you have to send anything to your office?

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: I don't think so, but I'll have

[Rep. Kirk White (Ranking Member)]: to check.

[Rep. Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: I'll make sure I'll have everything.

[Rep. Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: All right, committee, thank you for good work on this bill, and we appreciate every effort of the passports and everyone that's worked on it. So we have someone coming in at three to talk to us about 05:12. So we can go offline and we'll back at three.