Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Alright. So live. Alright, everyone. Welcome back to House Government Operations and Military Affairs. It is still the February 4, Wednesday. And we are doing an introduction walkthrough on h eight one one, and act relating to election of adjutant adjutant and inspector general of the Vermont National Guard. It has me as the lead sponsor, but I'm also sponsor of this bill with represent Hango. So she had closer contact to this bill than I did, so I'll let her speak to it.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Do you want me to just tell how it came about really quickly during this preparation for the election of the adjutant general, which is on February 19, the candidates discovered that to figure out how they needed to be listed on the ballot with the Secretary of State's office, they had to go to the general elections statute for state employees, I believe it is. Is that correct?

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: It's under Title II, which is, I think, under the legislature.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Oh, right. Okay. So then there was nothing under the adjutant general statute about the election of and how you get your name on the ballot as a candidate. So we thought it would be great to cross reference that So, anybody usually looking for it would find it right there under the Adjutant General Statute. But I will turn this over to counsel, who is much better at the description of the bill. Thank you.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Alright, so Sophie Sedatney for the Office of Legislative Council. Anne, is it okay if I share my screen?

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Please do.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: So, as representative Hango said, this is a pretty straightforward short form bill. It would really just involve adding a cross reference to Title II, which sets the date, time and place election of the adjutant general, the full name is adjutant and inspector general, but it is the adjutant general, into title 20, which is where the language is around the biennial election of the adjutant general. And so it's just connecting the dots. So if somebody is interested and they are looking, which makes perfect sense, in title 20 for information about the election of the adjutant general, they would just have the connection back to title two, which tells them the date, the time, and how that works. So that's essentially what the short form is, and again, it would be a very short bill. It would probably be as long as

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: the short form is how long

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: the bill would be. But yeah, if there's any questions on that, and I think I have It's helpful, I could

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Yes, representative. So it was decided that they go in alphabetical order, like, all

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Are you talking about the introduced by?

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Oh, on the ballot themselves.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Oh, thought you were talking about Sorry.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Oh, on the ballot themselves. Is that addressed in here?

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: No, the statute just simply so under title two, it just provides at 10:00 and thirty minutes before noon. On the seventh Thursday of the second year of the biennial session, the senate and house of representatives shall meet and join the assembly and proceed therein to elect the state officers, and it's the two legislative trustees for the Vermont State Colleges and the adjutant general. It doesn't it doesn't there's nothing about what the ballot looks like in state law.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: So I guess that leads me to believe, I'm just questioning as to why we list everything in alphabetical order if it doesn't say you have to. We don't list them by party, in alphabetical order by party. Always listed all candidates for any office on a ballot in alphabetical order. Are you talking about state election? General elections.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Like the ones you administer as a town clerk versus legislative elections?

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Talking about general elections, state elections, federal elections. They're all gonna

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: have them. Correct me if I'm wrong, counsel, but this statute is specifically for legislative elections, not general elections or local elections. Is that correct? Yeah, this is just under

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: I can pull it up. I had it a moment ago. How to get to where I want to get to. Oh, here we go.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: What can I ask? We'll talk while she's still putting that up. So, do we not vote by ballot for these people? We do. We do.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: But it's its own separate process. So, will they be enough? Question is, will they have no idea.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: That's what I'm just trying to figure out, if they're by us in the court or not.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Right, so this is the current language that it's entitled to, and then C is the language here on the Agate and Inspector General, and it just sets the date and the Senate and House of Representatives meet in joint assembly, and proceed therein to elect the officers. It doesn't say anything about what the order on the ballot is.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: I was having trouble finding that again just now.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: It's under legislature general assembly, I think it's under general provisions, it's right at the start of Title II.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: And I can't recall. Like, judicial retention, the adjunct general, things of that nature, like, directly speaks to how to, like, enumerate the candidates go.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: And you said Section 10, right? Yeah. And then it's C, it's the language that deals specifically with the budget in general.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: But it's completely separate from any statutes that deal with a general election. And when that cross reference appears, will it appear, I'm not sure where it appears, at the bottom of that section of statute? The way it's

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: currently drafted is it would appear in the other statute. It would appear in title 20, which talks about a biennial election for the adjutant general. That's where all the adjutant general stuff is, and the National Guard stuff, so it makes sense people would look there. So then the question is, how would they know that this is the time and place of when it occurs?

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: And interestingly enough, Title 20 is titled Internal Security and Public Safety. Or am I looking in the wrong place?

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Nope, you're in the wrong place. Well, yeah, I guess the natural part is internal security. You At its core. I mean, I'm just trying to think through how they thought about it. They built this title, right?

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: And then you

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: have to go

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: to

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: the Because there's the evolution of Russia into the National Guard, internal security, I can see that axis.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: And then chapter 23 is the adjutant and inspector general. So, anticipation is this is the language that would, that under A1, where it says the General Assembly should pay into the electorate and inspector general for a term of two years, that the reference would then go in there, pursuant to VSA, and

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: the copy.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Okay. Chapter 21, not 23. Okay.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Anybody have questions? So, if we went to the elections statute, does it list the general assembly under all elections to ballots, how they are to be printed? We reference that.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Not sure where you're going.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah, I don't understand.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: We still don't know how we're

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: going print the ballots. Well,

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: they know how to print the ballots. Well, that's what

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: I'm saying. Is it cross referenced into does it state in statute? Are they enough to be listed?

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: It wouldn't be in the election statute.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: It would be in this

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: It's in the legislature statute

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: currently. Could be in elections under ballot printing and then it could enlisted all of the different types of ballots. I just want to make sure that we're not printing them, but if that's not up to us then.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: No, the clerk's office prints them.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Yeah.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah. It's a less formal process than election at the municipal, county, or statewide Yes.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: I'm assuming they're going be out of the border.

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: It's been a long time since we've had a contested election, and I can't remember eight years ago how they were listed. But the House clerk will now show up in instant. Would like to ask her.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: That might be something that includes in House rules on how to do this, because we also do the same practice for attention, when we elect members to be on the board of trustees for the college university system. Oh, wow. Did you hear your Wait, did you

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: just hear?

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Did you just hear your name? We were just talking about you. Talking about the Oh, join. Please I didn't have a seat right at the big table.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: No. I didn't. What's going on?

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Could you identify yourself in there?

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: That's the Ann Raskin back in the house.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Thank you very much.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: So my question is, when you do the ballot for the general assembly, or for the election of the adjutant, will they be listed in alphabetical order? I believe so. Actually, we have it in our calendar. Let's take a look.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Is that covered by rules

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: or statute? It would be rules, and I actually think this is just our custom and by hour I'm referring really to the Senate because the Senate administers joint assemblies. But if we go to the back of our House calendar, we have our informational notices. So Five part

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: of the year. Someone that knows what they're talking about.

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: So here's our joint assembly notice. It starts at the bottom of page three seventy six of today's House calendar. All nominations for these opposites, the nominations will present in alphabetical order prior to voting. I'm nearly certain that it's represented as well, but it would be the candidates within alphabetical order. Thank you. Yeah. But what dictates that it lives in rules and not Not exact. Right.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: That was also another component of the question. You glad you stuck your

[BetsyAnn Wrask (House Clerk)]: hand in? Yeah, thank you. Thank you, nice to see you. Okay,

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: I'll tell her later.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Any other questions? We love all this out. No. No?

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: You did not put it up for a for a vote within a twenty four hour period. I appreciate these things. Okay, this is now clear, I feel like we've educated ourselves beyond the scope of the bill's purpose.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Absolutely. As to Dartney, I definitely think there should be some thought given to not always doing it alphabetically.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Just not fair. Forever at the end.

[Sophie Sedatney (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Always easy to find my name at a conference, though. It's like, I'm the last one.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Alright. So, we're still continuing some conversations with other military relevant bills. So, does the committee identify this as one of the things for potential inclusion?

[Rep. Lisa Hango (Vice Chair)]: Jeremy, yeah.

[Rep. Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Alright. That gets us promptly to 02:45. Perfect timing. Anything else for next? We are online, but we are gonna wait for mister Devlin to arrive. So if you could take us off and we'll be back as soon as counsel for the next matter arrives.

[Rep. Sandra "Sandy" Pinsonault (Member)]: Thank you.