Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Welcome back, to the zoo that we call the committee on general. It's lucky Friday the thirteenth twenty twenty six, and it is this afternoon, and what we're taking up is H eight sixty one involving the creation of an ADA coordinator, And we have with us our esteemed legislative counsel to walk us through what is draft 2.1 of this bill, which is the result of a markup which occurred two days ago, I believe, and we're scheduled for a potential vote.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: So, Katie, welcome. Thank you, happy crossover. Yes, take it away. Amy Lynn, Office of Legislative Counsel. Okay, so here is your new draft 2.1, and the changes are highlighted in yellow.

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Not a whole lot of changes, so we are still creating this moot section with the position being created in section A, in the agency administration. Subsection B talks about the requirements for the person who is going to serve in that position. And then in subsection C, you are requesting language that certain entities are to nominate potential candidates and that the secretary of administration would select the coordinator from among those candidates. So this language is that in hiring for the coordinator position, the secretary of administration shall consider only those candidates nominated by the following entities. We had a much longer list in a previous draft of what those entities were. And now we have four entities, the Human Rights Commission, Disability Rights Vermont, the Vermont Coalition for Disability Rights, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Is it the intention that all four of them have to nominate a person before they can be considered?

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: This language is very, it's not very specific, so I think there is a lot of flexibility in the process.

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: Yes, it doesn't have to

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: be all four of them.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: So should that and be an or?

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: So it'll be, Could be Wait, let me think about it. I think you should say the way it is, so that

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Leave it the way it is.

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: By all of them.

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: I think the and doesn't mean that they collectively are.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Okay. You know what? I don't wanna rock the boat. Let's go on. Right. There

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: were some changes to the list. Some of the items were removed, and that's the renumbering that you're seeing In terms of the ones that are the duties that are remaining, there have been some changes within them. So subdivision three, ensure communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as those with individuals without disabilities, giving primary considerations of the individual's preferred method of education. Educate state employees on their legal obligations, disability access requirements, ableism, and prevention initiatives. And then we just have renumbering until we get to 10. And new duty, facilitate partnerships among governmental departments and disability advocacy organizations to align policies, programs, and implementation strategies that support compliance with the ADA in accessible services. Same appropriation, language, and an effective date of July '26. Questions

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: or Katie? Other than Katie, thank you Any for your quick questions of Katie before we let her go?

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: I don't have a question for Katie. I was going to make a motion, but I didn't know if Elizabeth wanted to say anything.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Questions of Katie. Going to be a speech. Yeah, just questions of Katie.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Gratitude for Katie. Thank you Katie, have

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: other pressing things you need

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: to do. I have two committees waiting on your crossover. Thank you. You. From start to finish,

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: you've been a true champ.

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Thank you. Yeah, no problem. You're welcome. If you decide to vote this out, maybe Miriam could send me an email. I will send you the clean copy and just let me know who the reporter will be. Okay?

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: I think I know who the reporter will be.

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Okay. I think

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: we all

[Amy Lynn (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: know. Okay, great, thank you. Well, a good afternoon.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Thank you. You. Alright, do we have a motion? I just wanted to ask a question. Well, I want to put something on the floor, then let's have discussion, questions, etcetera. Do we have a motion?

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: I have a motion

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: to ask

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: eight sixty one version 1.2. 2.1. Favorable. I'll second.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Alright.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: So we

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: have a motion on the floor, Debbie. Well, I've heard some testimony from Big and she's talking about how the money amount isn't gonna cover what needs to be done. I was just cons you know, I was just concerned that that we'll be able to do it with that money now, or we is that just to get our foot in the door, so to speak? Elizabeth?

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: My my thought is that it gets our foot in the door, and then the person is able to prioritize all the stuff, start the reports, start the the evaluations. And then after they do the evaluations, they can ask for more staff and support and whatever, but this is just to get it. Also,

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: have reduced somewhat the role of a coordinator. We took out the individual

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: public facing Yeah. Part of the role, which having discussed it with several other people, it'll still happen. But not having it be an not having it be an official part of the role means that, the person who directs that individual doesn't get to choose how if they if the person above that person directs how they prioritize things, having responsiveness to individual Vermonters or public facing role isn't on that list.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: So we've reduced somewhat in draft 2.1 as opposed to 1.1. We've reduced the role somewhat. Yes. Isn't there appropriations? Yes, 150.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: One and fifty. But That's a

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: good foot in the Yeah, that's a foot in the door. Comments, thoughts, yes? I just want to

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: take the time, and thank you, Elizabeth, for working so hard and diligently, and just always being one of the loudest advocates in the room for anything you believe in. But I think this bill is a really, it's a toe in the door. And so I just, I appreciate it, and I appreciate our emotional voice. Thank you.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Of course. I want to say that I second those remarks.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Copycat! I

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: just think it's amazing. I mean, I'm aware of the perseverance, and I'm really glad we're at this point, at least, right now.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Thank you. Thought Wait, wait, wait, I gotta say my 2¢. Okay.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: And anyone else?

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Yes, Thank go you, Elizabeth. And I feel like committee for even taking the time, again, I will say it again, because what echoes and resounds in this building and society and the world is that people with disabilities are an afterthought, and that they're not prioritized when they require care, assistance and accommodations. And so, for us to take this time to have this conversation at a time in the world when I, a person with so many intersecting identities that are being harmed simultaneously, This just feels like a small little thing,

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: but back me out of this.

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: Yes. Sorry, I wanted to just take a beat because that was really important, but I think I just want to make sure that we also it's gonna be so meaningful if this makes it through appropriations. I'm not convinced that it will right now. It's, like, the bittersweet thing about voting this and all the work that you've done. And so, by no means is this like the celebration yet.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: So,

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: the easy thing for me is to vote, but the tougher thing is to commit to joining U2 in keeping up the pressure, because when we put our money where our mouth is, is when we actually make a difference, sadly, most of the time. And those are tough choices that we will all be facing. It's very easy to ignore the price that vulnerable people pay for when stronger people decide that they want to hold on to the money that they could distribute.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Yes, I think it is a celebration to have it passed out of our committee.

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: You have been incredible

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: and you should be so proud. We're ready to call that role. I want to say something.

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Oh, right. Sorry. I just want to say that I am one person, but there are I represent 90,000 people and an increasing number of Vermonters who are aging and who I put in a dozen ADA related state codifications of what's already in federal law this session, because of the degree to which we ignore the rights that people with disabilities do have. I am a person who grew up I was talking with my mother about this film yesterday. I'm a person who grew up not being able to walk hands free, and I grew up before the ADA was passed. And I had to work my way backwards up the stairs, go backwards up the stairs to the school every day on my hands. And my mother always said how proud she was of that. And it is only in hindsight that I could realize how kind of It's weird to have humiliation in hindsight, but to realize how normalized that was, that how nobody ever, ever thought that there was something wrong with that. And now, you know, then we got the ADA pass to have really very basic provisions put into it. And so the moving part for me is getting to hear. And I apologize to people for having been relentless, and I'm not going to stop being relentless.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Don't have you any other way?

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: But also, also, the benefit of this bill, the actual benefit of this bill is that we will have somebody who can see what can be connected together, and it will create efficiencies that we're not throwing money and time and effort away. To watch some of these efforts be duplicated is really hard when you And you know you can't legislate cooperation. So to be able to facilitate a position that would enable that cooperation is also really awesome. And so thank you. Thank you all for being here with all of us on this. Thank you. Thank Thank you for bringing us on. Thank you. Senator Bartley.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Yeah. Representative

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Burrows. Yes. Great.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Representative. Senator Dodge. Yeah. Representative. Representative Howard votes. Yeah. Representative Krasnow. Yes. Representative Lamoille. Yes.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Representative Parsons is absent. Representative Pezzo. Yes.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Representative

[Saudia LaMont (Member)]: Mihaly? Yes. Okay. Ten

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: zero, one. And who is the reporter?

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: What a beautiful vote. Had a photos the whole weekend.

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Order? Yes or no. You didn't want it to be the reporter. You're the reporter, madam. Think I heard a yes. To it. Send

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: the necessary information so she can report it. Also, would you, very importantly, make sure you let her know, but also the rest of the committee know exactly when it's going to be heard

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: appropriate in patient. So, it'll go on the notice calendar and then they'll refer it.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Right, yeah. It'll be sometime And

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: next then we'll all reps

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: them and

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: we'll get to go out and talk them. We did it. We actually did it. So excited. The hope of our party is joining us on the bright side of history.

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Like, let's do this.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Small things. Small step word. Move, word.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Whatever we can do. Happy.

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Slide. We are. I feel

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: nothing else on the agenda. Ladies and gentlemen, we're convening Tuesday. Have a good weekend. Tuesday morning is the floor. We are not convening before the floor. And then we're gonna slowly start getting first of all, we have our bills in other committees or on the floor, and in fact, next week, three of our bills, for sure, will be on the floor, and possibly four.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: One on Tuesday, one we're going to postpone.

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Two on Tuesday.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: We're going

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: to postpone.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: What's that?

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Yeah, well we'll see.

[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Appropriate changes?

[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Yes. So, we can,

[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: ladies and gentlemen,