Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Will senate please come to

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: order. We

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: will observe a moment of silence in lieu of a devotional this morning. Thank you. Will you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? Are there any announcements? Seeing none. We have senate bill s one fifty seven being on the calendar for notice and affecting the revenues of the state under rule 31 is referred to the committee on finance. We have Senate Bill s one seventy three being on the calendar for notice and affecting on appropriation under rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations. We have a joint resolution to take up at this time. JRS 42 joint result resolution condemning the Russian Federation's military and political actions in Ukraine, and especially their impact on Ukrainian children offered by senator Vyhovsky. Listen to the reading of the resolution.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate)]: JRS 42, joint resolution condemning the Russian military and political actions in Ukraine and especially their impact on Ukrainian children.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Now you've heard the reading of the resolution, and it will be referred to the committee on economic development. Orders of the day. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: Thank you, mister president. As our conference committee has come back with a very, relatively simple committee report, I would move that the Senate suspend its rules in order to take up h seven ninety and act relating to fiscal year twenty twenty six budget adjustments for immediate action.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the rules be suspended and that h seven ninety appearing on the calendar for notice be taken up for immediate consideration. Are you ready for that question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and we will take up h seven ninety. H seven ninety, an act relating to fiscal year twenty twenty six budget adjustments. The committee of conference has submitted the report. It's found in the calendar today, and the question is, shall the senate accept and adopt the report of the committee on conference? I recognize the senator from Washington, senator Perchlik.

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: Thank you, mister president. Members of the senate, this is a pretty quick conference committee, and we did a little differently than we have done in the past due to the suggestion of the secretary of the senate. There are six instances of amendments that are doing a strike call and giving you the full budget adjustment again and finding these small changes, there you'll find just six instances of amendments. So the house basically acceded to the senate position, which the agency of administration in their letter said there was a they agreed with the wisdom of the senate. So the the house also agreed except for six instances, and three of those are dealing with one change to the how much money we get from deals on deals. So there's really only four changes. So this starts on page 196, today's calendar if you

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: want to fall in, but it's pretty, pretty quick.

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: The first instance of amendment section 37, which deals with section B330 of the budget. This is just a $25,000 difference for the Meals on Wheels. If you remember, the house had proposed a 100,000 extra dollars for Meals on Wheels and $400,000 for monitors feeding for monitors. We wanted to give some more money to Meals on Wheels so we had $80,000 for Meals on Wheels and $360 for Vermonters feeding Vermonters. We ended up kind of in the middle with $55,000 for Meals on Wheels and $385 for Vermonters feeding Vermonters. And that's additional money. We had 500,000 for Vermonters feeding Vermonters in the '26 budget. So it's all the way up to 885,000 total. So the first instance amendment is those numbers you see change are just to add that the difference of that 25,000. The second instance of amendment also is just the grand totals for the for the whole agency. So it's just also doing the $25,000 difference and that's in section 44. The third instance of amendment is dealing with the change in appropriations to the agency of agriculture for the Vermontress feeding Vermontress program. That's that that difference of whatever it is, the $50,000 difference. That's making that appropriation to the Food Bank, not to Agency of Ag, I just said,

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: through the the Ag, but it'll go to the food bank

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: for that program. The fourth instance of amendment is the housing program or what we were calling the section eight changes. And this is mainly cleanup of that language, which I think on the on the floor, people found a little confusing. One of the main differences of the cleanup was to make sure that the basically the work from the housing authorities to apply for the money, whether the money goes out will happen before we adjourn for the session. If we want to make any changes, the legislature still be here to do that instead of leaving it for the e board after we're out. It still makes the money available from that $50,000,000 pot that we had set aside for the FY '26 budget. So that that's still there, but it it also puts more kind of responsibility on the housing authorities to apply for one of the funding that they might might get from that $50,000,000 they have to provide written approval from HUD that shows that it's it's allowed. So there was some concern that we what we might be asking them to do would be allowed under HUD regulations, and we didn't wanna risk a clawback from HUD later on. So we we want them to

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: get this written approval.

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: And we also clarify that it's to the Department of Children and Families, and we changed some of the dates. Then we also added a report to the Joint Fiscal Committee in September and then a report back to the committees on appropriations next year in twenty seventh January. So that's the fourth instance of amendment. The fifth instance amendment is the payment reform for the development disability services or people often call the DAs. The language that the House had had was kind of just placeholder to deal with this. The Senate position is largely here. We just really changed again some dates. Just on page 198 in section 83, The B section, there's a date in there, April 1, we we have here was March 15. There was a June date and the next section C, we changed that to April 15. Again, to kind of move things up why we're still here and see how that's happening. On the next page on 199, there was a date that was April 15. We changed that to May 1. In the last section e, we also had to make a change to not withstand another part of statute so that's just kind of a technical correction. Sections that I mean the sixth instance of amendment also deals with Meals on Wheel, the Meals on Wheels program that we're funding specifically is to Dale because this is Meals on Wheels specifically for those that are, 60 years of age and that are individuals with disabilities. So we specifically say in that section 86 where that $55,000 difference is going for Meals on Wheels. So those are the six instances of amendment from the committee on committees report.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: The question is shall the Senate accept and adopt the report of the committee of conference. Are you ready for the question? Senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: Thank you Mr. President. I just wanted to extend my gratitude to the chair of appropriations for fixing the section about the designated agencies and making the dates be in order. It is very helpful to see it and also just scratches the itch for me to make sure our our language is logical in our statute. So thank you, mister Kesha.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and the Senate has accepted and adopted the report of the committee of conference on h seven ninety. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: Thank you, Mr. President. I would move that the Senate suspend its rules in order to message h seven ninety to the house forthwith.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: The senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the rules be suspended and that h seven ninety be messaged to the house forthwith. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and we will message our actions on h seven ninety two, the house forthwith. Yes. We are passing over to 10, which brings us to third reading of h five forty five, an act relating to issuing immunization recommendations. Listen to the third. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate)]: H five forty five, an act relating to issuing immunization recommendations.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Question is shall the bill pass? Are you ready for the question? If so all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Ayes have it and we have passed s two ten. We now have Sorry. We have passed h five forty five. We now have on the calendar for action h five sixteen, an act relating to approval of amendments of the charter of the town of Essex. Senator from Orleans. Oh, wait. We're supposed are we supposed to? No. No. I'm just lost here. Which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that it ought to pass in concurrence. Now senator from no. Now second reading.

[Senator Ann Cummings (Washington District)]: Point of order. Can I just ask? I did follow what just happened, and I have some confusion about what bill we just passed.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Yes.

[Senator Ann Cummings (Washington District)]: So just so I understand, we did pass h five four five. Yes. And we also passed s two ten.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: No. We passed over s two ten.

[Senator Ann Cummings (Washington District)]: Okay.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Thank you. We're now on h five sixteen. And now we have the report of the second reading, and then we will have the report. It's Monday.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor District, Majority Leader)]: It feels

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: like Monday

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: to me.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate)]: H five sixteen, an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the town of Essex.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Orleans.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: Thank you, mister president. H five six is the act relating to the approval amendments to the charter of the town of Essex. So as everyone knows, most municipalities have charters, and they need to be updated and changed once in a while, and that's what this is pertaining to. So the first section is the general assembly approves the amendments to the charter of the town of Essex as set forth in this act. We'll just approve the proposals of amendment on 03/04/2025. You're also going to see a lot of cleanup language here in this. As an example, under one zero one corporate existence retained at the line 18 at the bottom, it strikes states of the state of and includes Vermont statutes annotated. You're gonna see that throughout this bill. Powers of the town, they now include town ordinances, bylaws, and regulations. Again, below there, they got rid of stat statutes of the state, put statutes annotated. And then another one under two zero four organization, you're also gonna see where they changed, board to select board. More cleanup information. And going on, the event of the death, resignation, change of residence outside the town, or incapacity of the select board member. The remaining members of the select board may appoint a person eligible to fill that position until the next annual or special meeting. And then the next section, not the next section, but down on line 14. This is where there was some discussion. Its incapacity shall include the failure by any member of the select board to attend at least 50% of the meetings of the select board in any calendar year. So there's some questions by the committee to testifiers about whether or not 50% is the right number. And they said that they thought so because they took it very seriously that if somebody got elected, you don't just, take them to the wayside, so to speak, that, they were elected. They should stand there. But if you if they're not going to pertain or attend 50% of the meetings that they thought that they may be good to go. The town moderator shall perform duties as prescribed by law, shall shall preside at all town meetings, but in the moderates absence, the town clerk shall call the meeting to order and the first order of business shall be the election of the moderator pro tempore, the president, to preside over the duration of the meeting. The moderator shall conduct every meeting according to his charter the laws of the state of the law. That happens in a lot of charters already currently. The moderator shall preserve order in the conduct of the business of the meeting and in all things shall preserve the principles of fairness and openness to town government. In the event of the death, resignation, or change of residence to a location outside the town, the select board may appoint a person eligible to fill that position until the next annual or special town meeting. The select board is unable to agree upon that and term replacement till the next next annual special meeting. A special election shall be held forth with to fill that position. That also happens in a lot of terms currently. Again, cleanup from board to select board, couple places there. Moving on. But the minutes of each meeting shall be approved by the select board as soon as is reasonably possible if there's a copy authenticated by the seat of the clerk of the select board. More cleanup language. In 02/2008, appointments by select board, they added appointment to the of cemetery commission. Moving on. Another one, section four zero two, officials appointed by the manager. Currently, the manager the town manager appoints several folks in this. But what we did was we ended up striking some of them because they're no longer relevant or pertinent. Grand juror, cemetery commissioners, fire wardens, fence viewers, inspectors of lumber and shingles, and but they did add fire chief. So that's one thing that they decided to do there. And an interesting twist here was if after forty five days, those appointments haven't been made, the town manager points. Though I don't think we don't think that's gonna be a big deal. We think that the that that they will be appointed, but if not, then the town manager points at forty five days. Annual under 06/2002, the annual town report. The town selector shall employ by contract a public accountant to examine the financial statements of the funds of the town. I think that's good. The annual auditors report shall be made available by the voters of the town to the voters of the towns not later than thirty days prior to the annual meeting. Notification of the availability of the annual auditor's report shall be distributed by mail to the all Essex households at least thirty days prior to the meeting. That doesn't mean that the whole audit report is actually mailed to the town. It'd be cost prohibitive. That means that basically you post it on the website and a notice will also be mailed. Time of holding under 06:04. Let's eliminate charter specific town meeting provisions instead cross reference from all statutes governing the use of Australian ballot in the local elections. More cleanup language. Oh, and under one zero one, creation of department. This department of they struck real estate appraisal, and now it's called the department of assessment. Next one. The purpose of the Department of Assessment is to provide for appointment of a qualified real estate appraiser rather than the election of. The town should be governed by and each taxpayer shall have rights granted by the applicable default state statutes annotated. This is also happening throughout other communities and towns as well. Appraisal of property, the Department of assessment shall trace all real property for the purpose of establishing a grand list. And then, they added the department shall review or cost to be reviewed the appraisals of all real property in the town and the subject to taxation. The courts with the standards for phrasing established by from a by state law.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: The

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: department assessment goes on under one, 10 o five. The department assessment shall have the same power, discharge the same duties, and proceed in the discharge of duties in the same manner and be subject to the same liabilities as listers pursuant to the Roth statutes annotated in this charter. Then finally, repeals section three, repeals a sector related to the town meeting. This section is no longer necessary because the charter has been updated to reference remote statutes governing local elections held by Australian ballot. So as as you can see, fairly basic bill that passed the house government operations committee eleven zero zero. It was

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: a voice vote on the house floor,

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: and it passed out of our senate government operations five zero zero. We asked the senate to concur. Thank you, mister president.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: The question is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and you'd ordered third reading of h five one six. That completes the orders of the day. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: Thank you, mister president. Pending announcements, I move that the senate stand in the adjournment until 1PM, Wednesday, 02/25/2026.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are there any announcements? Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central District)]: Thank you, mister president. I rise on a point of personal privilege. It has been four years since the full scale invasion of Ukraine. Four years of Ukrainian resistance, resilience, and trauma. Four years of air raid sirens, sleepless nights, cold winters without heat or electricity because of constant attacks on civilian infrastructure. Four years of children going to school in bomb shelters. Four years of waking up exhausted and yet continuing on even though the sky is actually falling. I spent just twelve days in Ukraine in August experiencing daily life, and I was struck by both the inhumanity of what was happening and the strong resilience and resolve of the people who have been living with these conditions for four years. 500,000 to 600,000 combat casualties with a hundred thousand to a hundred and forty thousand combat deaths. Streets filled with injured soldiers. Fifteen thousand to 400,000 civilians deaths with the potential for much higher numbers because we do not know how many died in the massacres at Bucha or Mariupol. We don't know how many have died in occupied Crimea, Kherson, Donetsk, or Donbas, and we don't know how many of the more than 20,000 children who have been kidnapped and sent to camps have died. Four years of terror and heartache. As Ukraine enters year five of fighting for its freedom, its independence, and sovereignty, I ask that we remember that we all must fight for each other. We all must stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable and oppressed across our globe. In the fight for freedom from imperialism and authoritarianism, we are all in this together. Slava Ukraine.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: You, senator. And by way of announcement, from the chair, I was going to recognize the four year anniversary as well because The US, Great Britain, and Russia all signed a treaty who and and none of us have lived up to that treaty. Russia violated it by invading a sovereign nation, and the US and Great Britain violated it by not coming to their defense when they gave up nuclear weapons, something we should all be doing around the world, and they had an agreement that has not been lived up to. Are there any further announcements? Senator from Windham.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: Senator Dictionary will meet at 10AM.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Windsor.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor District, Majority Leader)]: Thank you. May I first, ask mister president to have, the remarks of the senator from Chittenden Central journalized?

[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Washington District)]: The senator

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: If I might withdraw my motion.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Motion will be considered withdrawn. The senator from Windsor is moved that the senator from Chittenden Central's remarks be journalized. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and you've moved to journalize the remarks of the senator from Chittenden Central. Senator from Windsor.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor District, Majority Leader)]: Thank you. Senate Economic Development and Housing and General Affairs will be addressing this resolution at 11:30 if anybody is interested in joining us at that time. Until then we'll be dealing with housing and we will gather at ten after ten to give everyone a little bit of a break. Thank you.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are there further announcements? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central District)]: Senate Health and Welfare will meet ten minutes after the fall of the gavel.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Essex

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: District Agriculture will meet ten minutes after the fall of the gavel. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Lamoille.

[Senator Richard Westman (Lamoille District)]: Transportation will meet in ten minutes.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Rutland.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex–Orleans District)]: Government operations will meet at 01:15.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Windham.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor District, Majority Leader)]: Senate institutions will meet at one.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Bennington.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: Mister president, the Senate Education Committee will meet at 01:15.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Ann Cummings (Washington District)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate finance will meet at 01:30.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor District, Majority Leader)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate Natural

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison District)]: Resources will meet at ten.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central District, President Pro Tempore)]: Pending any further announcements, I would move that the senate stand in adjournment until 1PM, Wednesday, 02/25/2026.

[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are there any further announcements? Seeing none, the senator from Chittenden Central is moved that the senate stand in adjournment until 1PM on Wednesday, 02/25/2026. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and we'll stand in adjournment until 1PM, Wednesday, 02/25/2026.