Meetings
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[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senate will come to order. We will begin with a moment of silence in lieu of a devotional. Good morning. Good morning. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Are there any announcements? Seeing none. Sorry. Bennington. Oh, senator from Rutland. Thank you, mister president. I move that the Senate Government Operations Committee be relieved of h nine forty one and it be committed to the Senate Agriculture Committee. Senator From Rutland has moved that h nine forty one be transferred to the committee on agriculture from the committee on government operations. Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. Aye. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. And you have moved H941 to the Committee on Agriculture. We have a joint resolution. Sorry. We have a rule 31 referral and that is H five forty nine being on the calendar for notice and affecting the revenues of the state under rule 31 is referred to the committee on finance. Have a joint resolution to take up at this time, JRS 48, relating to weekend adjournment offered by senator Baruth of Chittenden Central. Please listen to the reading of the resolution.
[John H. Bloomer Jr., Secretary of the Senate]: Resolved by the senate and house of representatives that when the two houses adjourn on Friday, 04/10/2026, they'd be to meet again no later than Tuesday, 04/14/2026.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Now you've heard the reading of the resolution. The question is, shall the senate adopt the resolution on its part? Are you ready for the question? If so, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and you have adopted the resolution. We have two appointments to be referred to their committees of jurisdiction. We have received these from the governor, and they are now being referred to their committees of jurisdiction. The appointments will appear in today's journal, which you will receive tomorrow. Brings us to the orders of the day. We will be passing over h two thirty seven and h seven thirty three. And so we will move to H508. We have on the calendar for action h five zero eight, which was referred to the committee on government operations, which reports that it should pass. Please listen to the second reading of the bill.
[John H. Bloomer Jr., Secretary of the Senate]: H five zero eight, an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the city of Burlington.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: For the report on h five zero eight, I would look to the senator from Chittenden Central, senator Vyhovsky.
[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: Thank you, mister president. H five zero eight came to us from the city of Burlington. Many years ago, the city of Burlington codified into its charter, its the bounds of its wards and districts, believing that they would never have to change them. Obviously, that is not the case and things have changed. In fact, the city of Burlington has realized that they sometimes need to change those words and districts outside of the decennial census because of the shifting population in the city. The city of Burlington sent us language to make it so they did not need to have a charter change to change their districts and wards and that they could do it every as frequently as every five years. However, as we dug into this, we realized that due to the changing in the population of Burlington, it might happen that they need to do it more frequently than every five years, and so we worked with the city attorney and our legislative council to craft language that accomplished what the city of Burlington was trying to do without a limit on only being able to change their charter every five years. What the city of Burlington wanted to do is to be able to adjust the lines of their wards and districts if the census data, which does come out yearly, it is a little less robust than the decennial census, but there is still data every year. Wanted to be able to change those if the deviation was outside of the constitutional bounds, but what they didn't want is for the city to be able to change those bounds just because they feel like it. So we worked with legislative council to draft language that allows the city of Burlington to do their wards and districts with the decennial census as is standard, as well as outside of that should the deviation be unconstitutional. The city attorney has approved the language that is in your calendar as accomplishing what the city was trying to do without limiting them should it not be within that five year bound. We had a lot of conversation about building and housing in Burlington and how quickly those districts can shift and change. And they believe that the language in front of you does accomplish what they are hoping to do. It limits their ability to just change the districts because they feel like it or an election didn't go the way someone wanted, but it does allow them to change them should the bounds of those wards and districts be outside of the constitutional deviation. The vote in your committee on this charter was five zero zero, and we ask for the chamber support.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Question is, shall the bill be read the third time? Oh, there is an amendment. Wait.
[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Oh,
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Okay. Senator from Chittenden Central.
[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: The amendment actually does what I just said it did. Thank you.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Okay. And Question is, shall the bill be amended as recommended by the committee on government operations? Are you ready for that question? Wait. Senator Point
[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: of clarification,
[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: is the
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: amendment the one that's in the calendar, or is there a separate amendment that that the report is in the calendar? It is in calendar. Okay. Thank you. Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. The ayes have it. And you have ordered third reading of h have the amendment to h five zero eight. Now the question is shall the bill be read the third time? Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, nay. Nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. And you have ordered third reading of h five zero eight. That completes the orders of the day. And I would look to the senior senator from Chittenden Southeast for a motion.
[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Pending announcements, I move that the senate stand in adjournment until Wednesday, April 8 at 1PM. And if
[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: I may make the first announcement
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: You may.
[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate health and welfare will meet ten minutes after the fall of the gavel. And, also, just, to let the chamber know that this week is public health week. And as we know, public health is about evaluating the effects, whether it's environmental, epidemiological, demographic, geographic, and others on, cohorts of people in the state of Vermont and how we can improve their lives as a group and the group improvement then demonstrating outcomes for groups of individuals, whether it's predisposition to disease, whether it is, substance use disorder, whether it's in the prevention of social determinants of health. And so, I'm just alerting folks to that. This is an important week for people who are in the area of public health, particularly for the senate health and welfare department, but for all of us because we know health is under underlies everything that we do in this chamber. So thank you, mister president.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Windsor.
[Senator Rebecca "Becca" White (Windsor)]: Thank you, mister president. First of all, thank you to everyone who came to mini truck day. Greatly appreciated. I left with no cupcakes, so that was a success. This week, the Climate Solutions Caucus is meeting on Thursday again. We have a special demonstration that's being held throughout the day hosted by VEEP, the Vermont Energy Education Program. They will be in Room 10 where we normally have our meetings from ten a. To one p. M. With a display that you can control that shows how electric grids work and what happens when one line goes down and how generation works. So if you've ever wondered how the grid works and you want a deeper hands on understanding this is like a seventh grade level education on the grid hosted by Veep 10AM to 1PM in Room 10. And then if you can't get enough, twelve to one is free pizza where they'll be doing just a full display explanation of the kinetic features. So please join us.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Senator from Windham. Senator judiciary will meet at 09:55. Senator from Rutland.
[Senator Brian Collamore (Rutland)]: Thank you, Mr. President. Each year there are a few resolutions that both chambers sign on to unanimously. One of those is to recognize Vermont's Eagle Scouts. Party lines never blur the accomplishments of our youth. In that spirit, the Vermont Eagle Scout celebration will be held Friday, April 24 in the State House with a house resolution. Welcoming remarks, lunch program, and tour. Some facts about Vermont's Eagle Scout class of twenty twenty five. A total of 46 Vermonters achieved scouting's highest rank. Williston produced the most Eagle Scouts with seven, followed by Jericho with four, Manchester with three, Swanton with three. 33 cities and towns celebrated at least one Eagle Scout last year. 29 of Vermont's 61 troops celebrated at least one Eagle Scout last year. And in 2025, scouts contributed eighteen thousand hours of community service with 11,000 of those directly related to Eagle Scout leadership projects. According to Vermont's League of Cities and Towns, the total economic benefit from Eagle Scout projects provided to communities and nonprofits amounted to almost $400,000 last year. The resolution is complete and ready for co sponsors. The resolution and a list of Eagle Scouts will be emailed to each of you. You are encouraged to review the scouts, a list of scouts in your districts. Should you want their home address or a congratulatory note, please see me. To sign on to the resolutions, I have a sheet and I will also email you for your support. Thank you, mister president.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Thank you, senator. Senator from Essex. Thank you, mister president. Agricultural meeting fifteen minutes after the fall again. Senator from Windsor. Thank you. Senate Economic Development Housing and General Affairs will meet at 10:00. And the senator from Lamoille.
[Senator Richard Westman (Lamoille)]: Transportation at ten.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Are there any further Senator from Washington. Thank you. Are there any further announcements? Senator from Rutland. Government operations at 01:15. Any further announcements? Senator from Bennington. President of the, senate education committee will meet at 01:15. Now. And the senior senator from Washington.
[Senator Ann Cummings (Washington)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate Finance will meet at 01:30.
[Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman (President of the Senate)]: Any further announcements? Seeing none, the senior senator from Chittenden Southeast has moved that the Senate stand in adjournment until 1PM Wednesday, 04/08/2026. Are you ready for that question? If so, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed nay. The ayes have it. And we stand in adjournment until 1PM, Wednesday, 04/08/2026.