Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison)]: Testimony that we had, showed

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: otherwise. Okay.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Well Will

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: the senate please come to order? That's you, miss Clarkson. Come to over. We will observe a moment of silence in lieu of a devotional. Thank you. Will you please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America Are there any announcements? Senator from Windsor.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: Thank you, mister president. I believe this is the moment that I'm supposed to do this. Oh, I'm psyching after all these years. Actually got the right moment. I would like to move that the rules be suspended and pending entry onto the notice calendar that h seven seven five an act relating to tools for housing production be committed to the committee the senate committee on natural resources and energy. With the report of the Committee on Senate Economic Development Housing and General Affairs intact.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The senator from Windsor has moved that pending entry to the notice calendar h seven seven five be committed to the committee on natural resources and energy with the report intact. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and the motion carries.

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

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: president. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Could I ask for a brief recess and that the bell be rung for senators to come to?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We will take a brief recess. The senate please come to order. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Thank you, mister president. I would ask all senators to regard the times for floor as, inviolable. So, coming in twenty minutes after we start, at this point in the session, no longer acceptable. Everyone needs to be here. We are divided by very thin margins. So my office can't be trying to run around and find senators. So please, if you have to leave the floor for some reason, there are moments during the presentations when it's clear that we're gonna be on a bill for a certain amount of time. But when we come to the floor and we're moving bills, we're doing other things best if everyone is here from the get go. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Bennington.

[Senator Seth Bongartz (Bennington)]: Mister president, I ask that the house committee I mean, I'm sorry.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: The senate committee on education be relieved of h nine fifty five and that

[Senator Seth Bongartz (Bennington)]: the same be sent to the committee on finance.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Bennington is moved that the Senate Education Committee be relieved of h nine fifty five and it be committed to the committee on finance. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Nay.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. Motion carries. Are there any further announcements? We have nine appointments which we have received from the governor and which are now being referred to the committees having jurisdiction. These appointments will appear in today's journal, which you will receive tomorrow. H seven twenty seven being on the calendar for notice and affecting the revenues of the state under rule 31 is referred to the committee on finance. H seven fifty seven being on the calendar for notice and carrying an appropriation under rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations. Seven fifty seven. Okay. Yep. Let's start over on that one. Eight seven fifty seven being on the calendar and affecting the revenue of the state under rule 31 is referred to the committee on finance. H nine fifteen being on the calendar for notice and affecting the revenues of the state under rule 31 is referred to the committee on finance. And h nine twenty eight being on the calendar for notice and affecting the revenues of the state under rule 31 is referred to finance. Someone sat on their key. H five seventy eight being on the calendar for notice and carrying an appropriation under rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Seven

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: forty being on the calendar for action and carrying an appropriation under rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations. H eight seventeen being on the calendar for notice and carrying an appropriation under rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: I'm watching this. Let's see if you want this on.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Sounds like quite a harmony out there. Everybody press their button. Yes. We have a joint resolution to take up at this time. JRS 53 joint resolution relating to Weekend adjournment on 05/15/2026, offered by senator Baruth of Chittenden Central. Listen to the reading of the resolution.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: Resolved by the senate and house of representatives that when the two houses adjourn on Friday, 05/15/2026, it'd to meet again no later than Tuesday, 05/19/2026.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: 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 in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Ayes have it, and we've adopted the resolution. We now have h nine fifty three, an act relating to approval of the amendments of the town of Hanton introduced by representative Byrong of Virgin's. It passed the house on 05/06/2026. Listen to the first reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H nine fifty three, an act relating to approval of an amendment to the charter of the town of Panton.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Now the bill's been read a first time and failing to meet the crossover deadline per temporary senate rule 44 a is referred to the committee on rules. Should we take a brief recess and try to figure out whose car is going off?

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Yeah. Might not be a bad idea. Yeah.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We'll take a brief recess.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Okay.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Will the senate please come to order? I believe we've reached the orders of the day. That is not oh, is that the third reading, John? We have h nine forty four for third reading. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? We have h nine forty four for third reading. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H nine forty four, an act relating to the fiscal year 2027 transportation program and miscellaneous changes to laws related to transportation.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Okay. The question is, shall the bill pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. No. Nope. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and we've passed h nine forty four in concurrence with proposal of amendment.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Top.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Yep.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Okay. Okay.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We have s one seventy nine. It was passed by the house with proposal of amendment. The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment? Senator from Chittenden North.

[Senator Christopher Mattos (Chittenden North)]: Thank you, mister president. F one seventy nine, senators might remember,

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: maybe a month and a half

[Senator Christopher Mattos (Chittenden North)]: ago now, is about the disclaimer of property, and that is when something is left to you, you can disclaim it. I don't want it, and it moves along in the process. The house judiciary committee had a very eagle eye on our language and found one word that we forgot to include in our in our work in senate judiciary, and you can find that at the top of twenty six one five of today's calendar. This is when a parent is disclaiming property on behalf of their minor he left out the word child. So it's claiming property on behalf of their minor child. That is all that this amendment is doing. It's adding the word child after minor. So on a vote of five zero zero stronghold of five zero zero in the senate judiciary, we ask for the senate support.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and we have concurred with the house proposal of amendment.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Okay.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: 79.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Are we passing over two thirty? Okay.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We have on the calendar for action h six sixty. Pass the house. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: I'm just wondering, where h six sixty is coming.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: H six sixty is

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Might just ask for it very briefly.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We'll take a brief recess. Will senate please come to order? We are passing over several bills, which brings us to h six sixty. We have on the calendar for action h six sixty, which was passed by the house on 05/01/2026. Was referred to the committee on health and welfare, which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that the senate proposed to the house that bill be amended as it appears starting on page twenty six twenty seven of today's calendar. And that was such proposal of amendment, the bill ought to pass. Affecting the appropriations of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on appropriations, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on health and welfare. With further proposal of amendment as found in your calendar on page twenty six thirty three. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H six sixty, an act relating to fiscal year twenty twenty seven opioid abatement special fund appropriations.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Chittenden Southeast, senator Lyons, for the report of the committee on health and welfare.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. As you may recall, the state benefits from a settlement fund with some of the pharmaceutical industry regarding to opioid addiction and the liability of those companies. So the state each year receives, funding as a result of the agreement, the the settlement. Vermont has benefited for several years from for a fund called the Opioid Abatement Special Fund. And we also, during, as we learned about this fund a few years ago, we put in place an advisory committee working with the Department of Health to make recommendations about how to utilize that money in understood that there's guidance document from, that comes to us with the settlement. So h six sixty is another opportunity to utilize, opioid abatement special funds to reduce the the addiction and how improve improve the outcomes for folks with addiction, reduce harm have harm reduction in the state, to establish programs to help people who are addicted to, opiates. The advisory committee this year, they testified in our committee, and this year, they have set up a quite a an effective system for evaluating, requests for the use of the monies that the state receives in the special fund. I believe they reviewed 67 different applications this year. And as we heard from the reporter from the house, they meet, they review, they meet again, they decide, they make recommendations to the Department of Health. The Department of Health might also have its own separate recommendations, so we received a memo both from the advisory committee as well as from the Department of Health regarding the use of the special opioid abatement special fund. It's it's very complicated, and it's complicated simply because as we have made progress in our, work on recovery centers and offering support for those with opioid addiction, we've we've developed new programs, and we've developed projects across the state. So as recommendations are made, then that needs to be integrated in with what is happening in our committees in the legislature. So overall, what this bill does, it it appropriates money from the opioid abatement fund, and I will I'm happy to give you details about the fund. Current in January or February of this year, there was $11,800,000 in the fund. And then with the with the appropriations and allocations included in this bill, that has been reduced. We have spent, about we have left we have spent $6,710,000, with, the appropriations that are included in this bill. And then the bill also includes some reversions or money that's come back to the fund from projects that have been completed or nearly completed and haven't needed the rest of the funding. So as you look at the bill, I'll give you a brief overview, and then we can go through it section by section. Within the bill, there are appropriations for existing ongoing projects, and those projects are in section one with some subsections subsections of section one, and they're in subsections 1a, 2a, 3a, four, and five. And those appropriations are include outreach case management positions. They include recovery residences. They include syringe services. They include peer recovery center coaches and correctional facilities and probational probation and parole officers. They include support recovery programs at emergency shelters. So that's the existing ongoing projects. So the projects that have previously been funded and now have received additional funding to continue their work. Then there's also proposed new funding in subsection six a six b seven eight nine ten eleven and twelve a, the subsections of section one where all the appropriations are for the opioid abatement special fund. And those those new funding proposals were new recovery beds at level three or higher for recovery residences and opioid use disorder residential treatment beds at the American Society of Addiction Medicine at a level 3.1. And there's a difference between what we call the NAR, the National Alliance Recovery Residence, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine for those different levels. There's also money in this section of the bill for prehospital Vermont emergency medicine, buprenorphine treatment prevent program, to expand training for emergency service providers and caring and administering buprenorphine, a very, important program. Section the other other section eight, subsection eight includes a subsidy for room and board in the Rutland Mental Health Services transitional housing program, money for the Springfield project action to support public safety enhancement team coordinator positions in various town cities across the state, section 10, recovery center appropriations, section 11, expanding public safety enhancement teams, harm reduction, and strategic community intervention, and 12 a grants to the city of Burlington for their overdose prevention center, which is an ongoing project. And so we're continuing that funding. There are also reversions in the bill that I mentioned earlier, that, come from programs like that were enacted previously in 2023 and 2024. So there's money that's come back to the state as a result and into the opioid abatement, fund. So though that's kind of the highlight overview of the bill, and I will go through the bill briefly with you, and I'm happy to respond to questions afterwards. So as it passed out of the senate health and welfare committee, we looked at section one, section one a. We realized that there's a there is carryforward money in section, one a for the preferred provider network. They needed $1,960,000. They did have some money, so we, put in place $455,000 to make that program go forward. In section b, the intent we also have put intent in the bill about which programs would be supported by the opioid abatement fund going forward. So our intent to continue the the support of some of these programs until and unless there's insufficient funding. Section two a is the Department of Health for, recovery residences and the Vermont Alliance of Recovery Residences. Now as we go through the bill, the some of the recommendations that are in here resonate and are consistent with what the opioid special OSAC, Opioids Special Fund Committee Advisory Committee recommended, and then Department of Health is recommended. And so, for example, in this case, the OSAC, the advisory committee, recommended 1.75, million, and the Department of Health recommended 1.4, and the House recommended 1.6. So some of these numbers are compromised numbers, some that we agree with the other with the House and some that we have put in place. I won't give you all of the details on each of those, but I wanted you to know that there were some changes made as the funding was debated both in the in the process with the Advisory Committee, the Department of Health, and then the committees of jurisdiction. Then the Section 3A subsection 3A of Section one. Again, this is for the Syringe Services Program, the HIV program, which is a very robust program with mobile delivery, with counseling, and with help for folks who originally started to prevent HIV and have clean syringes in place. And this will, this is funded through the opioid abatement, fund. Section subsection four is to the Department of Corrections to provide peer recovery center coaches in Vermont correctional facilities and in probation and parole offices to provide group and individual coaching, reentry support, and so on. This is I mean, think about how important this is to get people on the right track and transition out of, correction. Sex subsection five, department of of children and families, office of economic, opportunity, good support of long term programs at shelters for individuals experiencing homelessness, including harm reduction supports and transportation to recovery meetings and appointments. So, adding in an opportunity for people to meet, to get to their appointments for counseling or medical treat clinical treatment. Subsection six a, 500 $600,000 to the Department of Health for the creation of new recovery residence beds, and this is the level three or above for National Alliance of Recovery Residences. These type of residences provide for peer support and perhaps some additional counseling. They are not intense clinical it's not an intense clinical environment, but it is rather, support services for folks with opioid, addiction. There's also a section b of six b, $600,000 for the use of for opioid use disorder residential treatment beds at American Society of Addiction Medicine level 3.1. This means that these folks are eligible to receive medical treatment and that receive prescription drugs, for example, that will help them in the recovery process. So there's clinical treatment included in that level of treatment facility. Subsection seven, this is the Department of Health prevent program giving training to our EMS folks on the use of buprenorphine to stabilize and help people when they after they've been administered naloxone. Subsection eight is $35,000 to the Department of Health to subsidize room and board at the Rutland Mental Health Services transitional housing program. And and this is the case in this in this particular case as as well as in subsection seven subsection eight and subsection nine that we look at next, there was full agreement between the OSAC, the advisory committee, the Department of Health, and, the House and the Senate. So subsection nine is, money for distribution to the Springfield project act action to support public safety enhancement, teamwork coordinator positions in a number of cities across Vermont. Subsection 10, we added this in the Senate Health and Welfare, $800,000 for distribution to recovery centers for improving peer support services, places like the Turning Point Center where people go in for daytime support, learn about employment opportunities, and can return into their home and a town environment, community environment. Subsection 11, money give $287,000 to the Department of Public Safety for the, Public Safety Enhancement Team's harm reduction community intervention, work. This is a local work to help people in in in difficulty with opioid addiction. Subsection 12 a, $1,100,000 to the city of Burlington. This is an ongoing commitment to the city of Burlington. It began a cup a couple of years ago. There's a huge discussion about whether or not to commit this money since the previous appropriation has not yet been spent. And what we understand is that if this money is not utilized, then it will revert. But in the meantime, we need to have a cost accounting of what, has been put into our legislation. So that that's that one. And then Section 14 is oh, this the section 14 is really a technical correction, to to take out specificity and to allow for redistribution of funds that were appropriated in 2023. So to allow for and instead of identifying a specific clinical location, to allow for a satellite location in Northwestern Vermont. Then there's language about the, that's the appropriation through the, opioid settlement fund. Then there is language directing the advisory committee to establish some do some thinking about the work that they've been doing. They've been doing an amazing amount of work and a and a good job and to look at funding proposals and how those funding proposals might be sustainable. So asking for the advisory committee to look at those ongoing funded projects and ask for a sustainability plan, to help move things along and to know when when they need funds, when the funds should be stopped. But one of the reasons for this is that the opioid settlement is not ongoing forever. It can it it can be over encumbered very quickly. In fact, if you look at, if you look at the fund out to 2020, 2035, you can see that it will be overexpended by, over a million dollars. So to look at how to utilize the funds effectively over time, it's an important important role for both the advisory committee and the Department of Health. Then the in section four of the bill, we've asked for a hiatus in new appropriations and to look at the continue to look at the annual funding that we have for those ongoing projects, as I said earlier. But then also to take some time out and to understand what what do we need to do in the future. If funds are available, how do we how do we use these funds going forward to do some thinking about the best use of that settlement? Also, that we're going to see more money coming into the state from other settlements. So this would be an opportunity to measure the best use over time. And the advisory committee, along with the Department of Health, is a good a good place to do this. Section five are reports that would come in to us, quarterly reports from the Department of Health about how the money is being distributed and appropriated. We did hear from some folks that the while the money had been put into our appropriation in this building, that the money hadn't actually reached its destination. So we wanted to get a report back about that money. Where where is it going? How how is it being utilized? If it's being utilized, we heard from at least one, organization that they had not received the money that they had promised, and still hadn't gotten it this year. Then there's a section six on reversions, and you can see the amount of money that comes back from the different, groups that are there. That's money that was not used, but is now back into the fund and will be available for future future projects. Section seven. Well, one of the discussions that we had, and that the both the house and the senate had, committees of jurisdiction was that proper use of the opioid settlement fund dollars as compared with the substance misuse prevention special fund. We know that special fund comes from excise tax tax for cannabis. And so that has a very specific definition of how it's utilized. The money for the opioid, special fund also has its own little definition. And the guidance from the settlement papers clearly indicate, at least from our perspective and from what we heard from the AG's office, is that that money in the opioid settlement fund belongs for opioid settle prevention. The substance misuse prevention fund is a little broader, goes to nicotine, tobacco, healthy life lifestyle, all those things that we think of when we think about youth prevention, for example. So there were some projects proposed that came to us from the, advisory committee and Department of Health that wanted to dip into the substance misuse prevention fund. We wanted to really define the difference between these two funds and and and make sure that projects that were being used were being funded were being funded from the appropriate place. Section seven is really looks at some projects that were included in the bill as it came over to us from the house And that and actually, I think with agreement from the from that committee to include money for the elevate youth services, the Greater Falls Connections to enhance youth engagement, distribution to the Friends for Change to increase access to community based therapy, housing, crisis, medical recovery, and so on for for youth in Wyndham County, and then, for the Winooski partnership. Those four, we felt were best placed, best funded through the substance misuse prevention fund. So it's a delicate balance. And then going forward, we're going to have to really evaluate, each of these funds and how they're utilized. And then the section eight is looks at the budget presentation from the department to our, talking about how the fund is going to be used for the coming year. And then the bill takes effect on July 1. We heard from rep McGuire, sponsor of the bill, who's also on the advisory committee. I did talk with our member of the advisory committee as well. We heard from joint fiscal. We heard from the Department of Health. We heard from various advocates. We we heard from Department of Health couple of times to different several different people, and then we heard from, Action Circle. We heard from Ledge Council. We heard from the National Association Recovery, residents, and we heard from Recovery Residences of Vermont. So a number of folks weighed in on the bill, with us. That's the report from senate health and welfare, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: If you would like to stand and not sit back down, I understand you're also the reporter for appropriations.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I am, mister president. And as appropriations looked at this bill, and the question about how the opioid settlement fund is used. The senate committee on appropriations approved of the appropriations that were there, thought that had done a a good job given all the work that the advisory committee, Department of Health, House Human Services, and our committee had done. But we did make, some recommendations in the first instance of amendment, adding some language that each ongoing funding proposal considered by the advisory committee shall include a sustainability plan that's consistent with the bill that we had passed out of our committee. And then there were other recommendations made by, the committee, and that was to ensure that when the opioid abatement special fund, is utilized, that it there be some consultation or with the attorney office of the attorney general, both by the, advisory committee and by the Department of Health, simply because the guidance documents are those that are held in, the attorney general's office, and they're responsible for ensuring, the legality of the work that we do with respect to that fund. Then there's a final, amendment on the at the end, was a a correction, a request, that we put in the last sentence that we were talking about harm reduction services, co occurring mental health conditions, and co occurring substance use disorders. So the co occurring piece being important, it wasn't included, in the, underlying language. So the the, appropriations committee voted, I think it was seven zero zero. The health care committee voted five zero zero, and we ask for your, support of the bill and the amendment. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Orleans.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: I believe the amendment vote was six one.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Of course. Decent. Six one. Oh, six one. Are

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: you ready for the question? Senator from Essex.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Thank you, mister president. There's probably, nothing that I'm more passionate about silently other than in my actions than drug addiction. I've probably gone silently. I don't wish to publicize it. It's my battle that I do. I probably have dropped off and picked up more people at recovery houses than anybody combined in this room. I have worked hard to get mental health areas into my community. I have worked hard to get sober living places into my community because I do believe that we owe it that every community ought to take care of their own and then that's what I do. When I was in high school, the bus used to take a circular route and I used to jump off about two and a half miles from my home because I just didn't wanna go on down that bumpy road and take that bus ride and I'd walk home. I used to play the game of why was I walked out through account cigarette butts? How many steps could I take to count cigarette butts? And I was pretty phenomenal how at that time, in my life about how many people smoked and how many cigarette butts that, I would count. We don't do that anymore. People don't smoke but we count needles now. We count needles as we walk down through an orange caps and and and all of that. So I'd I'd think I'd rather count cigarette butts than than dirty needles side the road waiting to cause harm. And I can't imagine in today's world that we would be funding anything to support illegal drugs, legal nowhere in the world. But we want to, fund a drug house so that people can go there and use drugs illegally under the guise of harm reduction. Well, I've got a ex wife that lives in a harm reduction place called a drug hotel. She's there. She's been an addict for a long time and that's what's caused our divorce. But worse than that, I've got a stepson that would be 43 this Friday who chose to hang himself other than keep on doing the harm reduction type of drug work that's being proposed in this bill. And, and that was a little bit less than six months ago. There's a lot of good in this bill. But there's about $2,000,000 worth of monies that shouldn't go anywhere other than go to help people to get off of opioids or whatever drug that they're addicted to. We don't go to AA and just have a little small drink and share around and tip-off and say that it's all good. We don't go anywhere to have just a little bit. You don't quit smoking by taking a puff here and a puff there. You don't quit anything that you're addicted to by just having a little bit more and then calling it great. You just don't do that. If you wanna quit, you quit. I get it that addiction's hard. Addiction's tough, and everybody suffers in their own way with it. But nothing nothing is cured until you stop using drugs, alcohol, or whatever you're addicted to. There are already places of places where, being proposed in this bill to keep on funding, something that is just a hellhole. You look at the videos around the world where it's worked nowhere successfully. Nowhere successfully. Yes. I know that there are places that have them. But you see the videos online about these people laying around and all drugged out and just they might as well be dead because they are dead and they don't even know it. Well, we have those places already. We have them called the drug hotels. We have drug houses. We used to have opioid opioid dens and all of that. I'll be doing an amendment before third reading on this bill to strip out these dollars to keep on causing harm to our people in Vermont. We lost a hundred and seventy people last year on because of opioid addiction. That's down, which is nice. It is I'm thankful that it is down. Thank God for Narcan because we probably would be one, five, six, eight, 10. Who knows how much higher we would be if we didn't have that drug. But there is no way at all that anyone in this building should be supporting furthering people's addictions by putting money into it to just help them along. Could I ask a few questions about the presenter of the bill, please?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The presenter of the bill is interrogated.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Mister president,

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: we've already given $2,200,000 to a certain place in a certain community. How much of the, the monies that we the legislature has given do does this whoever's holding those dollars, how much of those monies are still available?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I'm I'm trying to understand the community that you're talking about. Well, if you could.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: There's a community I believe I think it's gonna happen in Burlington. I'm not sure, but there's a a place where they're thinking about having a place where people can go use illegal drugs. And they we've I think we've given up to 2,200,000, I believe, pretty close to that, but I could be wrong. And I I wouldn't stand to be corrected. But I would just be curious about how much of that those dollars are still available to the to the people that are trying to set up such a program.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. So the overdose protection center that is, to be developed in the city of Burlington, has already expended about $400,000. So there's $700,000 left. Once, the venue is, established, then and they begin to fit up their programs, which include clinical and treatment counseling and other things besides allowing for site use of specific drugs. Once that happens, they'll need the full appropriation that was passed a few years ago.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Mister President, I've I've read just recently in the paper that the site that they're proposing wouldn't have any clinical people, that they didn't they couldn't afford to have anybody in there to have any of, any of those types of services. Is am I misinformed with the reporting, mister president, of what I read in the in the paper?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I don't understand what you have read in the paper or which paper. I do know that when we debated this issue and passed it as a separate bill and the OPC was approved, it was approved to be a full OPC project. And that would include other things beside going to a safe injection site.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Mister president, have they the people that are trying to set this home up, do they have a location yet picked out to where the community would accept such a place?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Mister president, I can't answer that effectively because they could well have a location. They have looked at different locations, and they are working hard to, make a determination about how to move forward.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Mister president, did they ask for the additional $1,100,000?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Yes, mister president.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Is there mister president, is there a clawback in there if they don't if they don't have to use those dollars and and a a certain amount of time to where we could use this money to, to help, more helpful in other areas?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: So, mister president, knowing that Burlington has a very high number of folks who are using substances inappropriately, knowing that they could use that money very much. So this isn't a debate about whether or not they can use the money, but I will direct you to the bill itself before us that asked the opioid advisory committee to look at the current programs that are being funded through the opioid settlement fund and to make a recommendation about that. Certainly, as time goes on, we would want to know that this project is going to go forward. And if it doesn't, I would think that the city of Burlington would take up it upon itself to reevaluate or perhaps seek of the advisory committee or the legislature, a a different use of the funds. But I can't answer any of those questions, mister president. That's really integral to the, work that the city of Burlington is, doing right now.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Mister president, on the needle exchange of $850,000, I think I heard the reporter say that that wasn't asked for that it was added into the committee, but where did that number come from in that need, of that $850,000?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. This is the harm reduction program for AIDS AIDS services organizations. And so the harm harm reduction programs provide low barrier community based services to people who use drugs. Through mobile outreach, they provide syringes. They provide sharps container containers for disposal. They provide naloxone distribution, overdose prevention education, drug testing, HIV and hepatitis C testing, wound care supplies, basic needs supports, including food, and services are delivered in a nonjudgmental way, for for folks. This is, this is an important program. I understand that people are very concerned about, what they find when they're walking down the street. This program is also very much concerned about that and which is why the sharps containers are included within the program. They also have overdose response trainings for community folks, drug checking services, fentanyl and xylazine test strips, and a number of other, things, wound care, set kits, and so on. So it's not just a syringe program. It is much, more. That's much broader than that.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Well, mister president, it wasn't asked for. It was just, it was just offered to these to the folks?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: It was asked for, mister president. Okay.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: I I apologize. I misheard, during the reporting. Thank I thank the reporter. I just I'm sorry that I'm a little bit passionate about this, but when you have and you've been fighting on something for this your whole life and you've been affected by it and your life personally has been affected by it. It is very personal to me and I just don't think that this bill is being very serious on some parts of it as far as really trying to get people not to be affected by addiction. And I just think that we could find a better use for about almost $2,000,000 worth of dollars to actually work to fight addiction, to cure people, to save lives in that way so that they can be productive. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Thank you, Mr. President. And I I sympathize with the senator, and his history. I sympathize with all of the people who have been affected by the opioid epidemic. One thing I would point out is that we are in the midst of a decline in fatalities. They are down for the third year in a row. To my mind, three is a pattern and that suggests that we're on the right track. That what our health and welfare committee and appropriations committees have done over the last number of years has been affected. So if we were here seeing three years of rising death statistics, I would be, much more concerned than I am. I don't think anyone should be celebrating. People are still dying. Over a hundred, around a hundred and seventy people died last year from this affliction. But what I would say is that we have gone at it in good faith as a legislature. We have tried things because we were out of solutions. Those things appear to be working. So I do wanna congratulate, the senator, the chair of health and welfare for some success on her efforts. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. I am the senate's, representative on the opioid settlement advisory committee and have been since the start of the fund. I do want to underscore some of the things that we just heard from the Pro Tem and also from the chair of the Committee on Health and Welfare. I too share in your grief, Senator, about all of the Senator from Essex about all of the people who have been impacted by this horrible epidemic, and I'm sorry for the losses in your family. And I would agree that with this Senator from Chittenden Central that we have been successful in appropriating funds and supporting programs around the state that have led to a reduction in the deaths from opioid overdoses. For three years running, we've had seen a decline, and that has been during the time when we have started to really use these funds and to use these funds in a strategic way. I can tell you, as the Senator who reported the bill said, the Opioid Settlement Committee heard from, I think, 67 of proposals. We went through every single one. The opioid settlement committee includes two legislators, and, members from law enforcement, members from lived experience with, drug addiction, members from the judiciary, members from social services, and members from our municipalities. So it's a broad group of people, who are, reviewing these applications and coming to an agreement on which ones to prioritize. And this bill largely follows the recommendations of the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee that spent months, we spend months going through these proposals to try to make sure that we're spending this money strategically and to try to make sure that we're spending this money throughout the state to target it to programs and communities that need it the most. I'm especially appreciative that the committees, both in the House and the Senate, found, ways to fund the, youth prevention programs and using special fund, the other special fund for these. These are programs throughout the state that really target prevention services to young people, starting at an early age to prevent them from ever getting, into using drugs. And they've been very effective and they and they cover communities throughout our state. I just want to highlight that as something. The other thing that we heard of over and over again that that is necessary is recovery housing. And this bill does a really good job of putting money toward recovery housing, level three recovery housing, which is the highest level, but also supporting existing programs. We heard that over and over again that that is a need, and this bill covers that. I will point out that there is in this bill and in the future, there is a basic there is a mechanism for reversions to the fund, so if this funding is not used for something we've appropriated it to in the past, it can be reverted back to the fund and reappropriated for things in the future. So if the money for the opioid overdose prevention center is not used, it can be reverted back to the fund. And we did hear of the need for the syringe services and the prevention services that the senators have discussed. That is something that is incredibly important throughout our state to make sure that we have effective services to deal with syringes and to prevent HIV and other other diseases. And I also just want to point out one thing that's really important in the bill and I appreciate the appropriations and Senate Health and Welfare Committee for putting this in, which is about the Department of Health actually appropriating these or allocating these funds and sending out these funds in a timely manner. These funds for this current fiscal year for some of the programs were not sent until March. That is nine months into our fiscal year and that is one of the reasons why some of these programs have been struggling is that the Department of Health has not been getting them the funds in a timely manner so that they have not been able to expend them during the fiscal year, and this bill has a mechanism for making sure that those funds are delivered to programs in a more timely manner. And I really appreciate that, because these community these community based organizations in particular are small, and they can't make up for it if they don't get the funds in a timely manner. So overall, I just, ask the Senate to support this bill, to support the work of the Opioid Settlement, Advisory Committee, and, the the good work that we as a state have been doing to reduce the opioid deaths in our state, mister president. The data shows that we've been doing it effectively. This bill continues along that path and provides mechanisms for check ins if if there are funds that are not used. So I hope the senate will support this effort. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Addison.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. May I acquire for the presenter of the bill?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Presenter is interrogated.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. A question I have, it's a concerning question that once we have a safe injection site house that we can use, that if a minor comes in, Mr. President and the parents don't know that child abuse and dies there is the state or community that the child used the drugs at who's going to be held responsible for that?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Mister president, that's a great question, and I guess I'd have to turn to my, judiciary committee to respond to that and answer the question.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: No. Nope. Nope. So you're still you're still being interrogated, senator.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. If if the senator would like to yield to judiciary, I

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: I The senator cannot yield to the other senator. But if you were done questioning the senator from Chittenden Southeast, you can say thank you, senator.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, senator.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: And you could ask to interrogate the chair of judiciary, but it would be a he's interrogated if he so chooses.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. Mister president, could I interrogate?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The senator from Windham is interrogated if he so chooses.

[Senator Nader Hashim (Windham)]: Thank you. I briefly spoke with legislative council. I can come back with a solid answer before a third reading, and that's that's really the best that I can provide at the moment. I don't have the answer on my fingertips.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. I appreciate that.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Rutland.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Yeah. I have a point

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: of order, mister president. What is your point of order?

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: The vote that we are about to take on the amendment from the appropriations committee and then a subsequent vote to follow on the underlying bill.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: That is a point of inquiry, and I believe that is correct.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Thank you.

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: Yep. Yep.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Just just so everyone is clear, we vote on the appropriations amendment first, the health and welfare amendment second, and then the bill. The question is, shall the recommendation of proposal of amendment of the committee on health and welfare be amended as recommended by the committee on appropriations? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. No. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. And you have amended the recommendation of proposal of amendment of the committee on health and welfare as recommended by the committee on appropriations. The question now is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare as amended? Senator from Franklin.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Thank you, mister president. I wanna thank the chair of health and welfare along with the committee under five o vote. Most of this bill, in my opinion, is a is a good bill. The chair and I have had several conversations about this. My concern would be on page three, Line one $850,000. We took testimony that over the past three years, there's been $2,700,000 appropriated towards this this fund to the opioid recovery funds. It's great that we've saved. We've gone down 25% as far as losing license state of Vermont. We'd like to get to zero. I don't know if we ever will. But having said that, my concern with this $2,700,000 or even 3.1 over the past four years is we're only addressing one end of this pandemic. The other end concerns our playgrounds, our little league fields, football fields, where each year in St. Albans and Franklin County, there's a group of folks who walk through the parks, walk through the the little league fields, whatever that may, picking up syringes and and orange caps and so on and so forth. And although we're saving lives on one end, which is a good thing, we're endangering our kids, our grandkids, the neighbors' kids, and everybody else on the other end of the spectrum. We're doing nothing to address that. We've been told that, well, the Howard Center in Burlington is going out picking up syringes in in in in and throughout that area there, but that doesn't help San Almas or any many other allied communities here. So you probably going to see another amendment to this. I would just like to see us slow this down a little bit till we have the opportunity to address maybe some concerns with those agencies that receive the syringes as what they may be doing to alleviate this problem as far as endangering our children on our ball fields and and throughout I found a purse on my lawn and my driveways so over the course of $2,700,000 it's working the syringes are out there but they're not under control to be found all over the place and I think that we're endangering a certain portion of our public here. Once again I thank the committee, I thank the chair, I don't think we're that far apart, I've discussed this with the chair, but, you'll probably see another amendment but thank you Mr. President.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Oh, thank you, mister president. This is such a difficult, issue. There's just no question about it, And people have passions all over the place. It's just and it won't end. But what we are seeing is I and I really thank, the senator from Chittenden Center Central for pointing out the recent report from the Department of Health about the decline in opiate deaths. However, we're seeing a transition now to new drugs, to stimulants, fentanyl. That's that's where it's going. And so we need to be on our toes. And we also need to appreciate the work that people are doing. And and and thank you, senator from Franklin for pointing out the our discussions because, we are not far apart. No one wants to find syringes walking down the street. Nobody. We all know that. And we've had people attempt programs to correct that, and it's tough. I mean, it would be great to see a community put together a proposal for the Rural Health Transformation Grant to say, we're gonna go out and collect all the syringes, but you pick one up and the next day there's another one. And but if we don't have these programs, people are gonna even die. It'll they'll die. They'll contract AIDS. They'll contract other diseases because of dirty syringes. So it's a rock and a hard place. We get that. But the work that we're doing here in this bill is critical. And one piece of the bill that I think is is really important, a couple of places. One, we're separating out those substance misuse prevention fund. That's a separate fund. That does go to the kids. It does go to younger people. Don't ever do anything that gets you into addiction. And then we're separating out the opioid abatement fund, which says, we're treating you. We're intervening where you are. We're helping you as much as we can. We are trying different things. Some of those things aren't gonna work, and we're taking a hiatus next year to look at those to look at the overall process within the opioid advisory committee. And I I wager to say I would think that both house and senate committees will be looking again at all of this because that's our job. We have to do this. So I have a lot of empathy for all the comments that have been made today. There's no question about it. We did pass a bill for the OPC in Burlington. We have to allow for it to go forward with the time remaining for the funding that was dedicated. We can't just stop it in its tracks because we don't like it, or we think it's not working, or we haven't found a place. All these things are true, but it takes time sometimes, and maybe things change. So, you know, I I always tell my committee, let's move with alacrity, but this is a place where I say, let's slow down a little bit and think about what we're doing. And I think the bill allows for us to do that, and I think the bill is doing a great deal of work for folks who are in dire need, whether they're going into Jenna's promise or they're going into the local turning point or they're receiving the services that they need elsewhere. So I would say, please vote for the bill, mister president.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Senator from Essex.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: I think before we start high fiving and belly bumping everyone about the successes that we're having in Vermont that we ought to really look at nationally that we're actually, doing a better job, reducing the deaths on opioid uses and everywhere, and they're not passing out free needles and setting up drug houses. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Franklin.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: May I interrogate the presenter of the bill?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The presenter is interrogated.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: It's really good that we're saving lives and we're preventing HIV and AIDS and so on and so forth. But does does the chair know mister president has to move the syringe lays roadside. How long that will be before, the the possibility of getting age or, like, some child walk along picking up and sticking himself. Is there is there an expiration date as we don't have to worry about this or is it forever because we're saving one end of it? What what about on the other end?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I I think it it's a difficult question. I don't think you can answer that question, president. Really.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Mister president, is that an answer we could get before third reading?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Can you repeat the question?

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: I'd like to know the life the life of of a needle lying roadside because we're we're we're putting clean syringes out there so that they're not contracting AIDS, HIVs, whatever that may be. But that needle's been used as placed roadside. Is there an expiration as to when a child can pick us up and actually get pricked with it as to, they won't contract, AIDS or HIV? Does it expire at some point in time? That risk?

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: You know, viruses, like like the HIV will live on environmental services for a short period of time. If it rains, it might eliminate it. I don't know the exact time for HIV. Most of the COVID virus can last for several days, and some of our cold viruses will last for a couple of days. HIV, probably similarly.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Well, I think it's an important question. If possible, I'd surely like the the answer to that third reading, mister president.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I'm happy to look that one up for you, mister president.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Thank you. Thank you, Central.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare as amended? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: aye. Aye.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: All opposed, nay. No. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and you have proposed to the house to amend the bill as proposed by the committee on health and welfare as amended. The question now 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. No. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and you've ordered third reading of h six sixty. We will be passing over s three twenty seven. That brings us to h six thirty five. We have on the calendar for action h six thirty five introduced on 01/09/2026. It was referred to the committee on institutions which reports it has considered the bill and recommends that it ought to pass in concurrence. Affecting the revenue of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on finance, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H six thirty five, an act relating to eliminating Department of Corrections supervisory fees.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Bennington, senator Plunkett, for the report of the committee on institutions.

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: And thank you, mister president. H six thirty five, not for the title of the bill, and it does pretty much exactly what the title says. It eliminates, department of corrections supervisory keys. So just to be clear, so the chamber knows, the department of corrections has responsibility for essentially two groups of people. There are those that are incarcerated. No. We do not charge people for their own jail time. And then there are folks that are under community supervision. It's the community supervision folks that we're talking about here. That's probation, parole, furlough, a couple of others. And so what the bill does, it eliminates the authority of the Department of Corrections to assess, collect, or bill supervisory fees from those individuals. It also forgives outstanding supervisory fees and also prohibits the grounds of violating supervision. That's not the case now anyway, but it is in the bill. So the history of supervisory fees is a little

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

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: unclear. Vermont tried to do it in the 70s and early 70s there were supervisory fees got rid of it towards the end of the 70s and the 90s it was added again. The current program has been in effect since rules were adopted in about 2008 and what it is is the Department of Corrections can charge up to $30 per month for individuals on community supervision. In practice, it's $15 a month and there are a number of exemptions from that program. Department of Corrections collects it in various ways, which I won't go into, but this bill primarily is not a policy bill, it's a finance bill, but there is a little bit about a supervisory fees and the purpose of community supervision. We heard a little bit about how there is some accountability aspects to collecting fees from those on community supervision. But mostly we heard that this other cost on top of all of the other fees that folks on supervision have to pay as well as the indirect costs of simply being on probation. Getting to the probation office or perhaps not being able to work during

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: that

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: time is something that on balance doesn't support the purpose of community supervision. But mostly we heard about the cost of the program. So just so folks know, there's approximately 600,000 that could be collected each year from supervisees and roughly half of that is actually collected and the overall cost of the program as we heard from the Department of Corrections costs about $200,000 more than what comes in. So simply put, the state loses money from administering these supervisory fees. The other aspect of this is that there are is of course outstanding debt and this is debt that essentially is is unable to be collected and that's about $3,500,000 right now. So that is an amount that will be forgiven. So just to step through the bill. Section one, it amends the powers of the Commissioner of Corrections in '28 VSA 102. It strikes out the the subsection that allows for collection of $30 per month fees. The section two, it tells the Department of Corrections to cease all assessment and collection of the supervisory fees and that's where it also puts in that it cannot be a violation to supervise the fees and that is also the forgiveness section of the bill. Section three technically not necessary but it does indicate that the Department of Corrections will notify the Secretary of State of any rules or policies that are now in place that are struck out from the loss of this authority. That happens by aspect of the law anyway, but we do we have put that in there as a backstop for that. Section four is the effective date. Now this is going to go into effect 07/01/2027. So not this year, another year later, and that's essentially to allow the Department of Corrections to calculate this into their budget. So the committee heard from the reporter from the house. We heard from the deputy deputy commissioner of corrections, pledge counsel, heard from joint fiscal office, and we also heard from the deputy director of field services for the department of corrections. And the committee vote was four zero one, and we ask for the chamber support.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize Senator from Caledonia, Senator Beck for the report of the committee on finance.

[Senator Scott Beck (Caledonia)]: Thank you, Mr. President. This was we found this to be an interesting bill, your finance committee. I think, you know, you learn something new every day and I don't think many of us understood that we actually have been charging, trying to charge fees to our formerly incarcerated population as they go through probation and parole. The Senator from Bennington made the point that this is a program that is costing the state money. A lot of debt has piled up. In many cases, the fees aren't collected or they're only partially collected and the Department of Corrections recommends that we we end the program. Your finance committee agreed with that. And in the just to make sure there isn't any hit to the general fund budget for FY '27, this would take effect in 07/01/2027 for FY '28, and it would eliminate all debt. We heard from JFO, we heard from legislative council, and the vote was seven zero zero in your finance committee, and we recommend that the bill ought to pass.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Thank you. The question is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it. You've ordered third reading of h six thirty five. We have s two thirty nine, and it was passed by the house with proposal of amendment. The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment? Senator from Chittenden,

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. I would ask for a brief recess and health and welfare to meet briefly in the corner.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We'll take a brief recess. Will senate please come to order. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Alright. Thank you, mister president. Senate Health and Welfare has reviewed the language as it came back to us from the house. This is recall, this is the bill on child abuse and neglect reporting working group, and, the language that returned to us is very much intact. It's there are actually some improvements in in the language, but and the biggest change was the addition of, one additional member from on the working group itself, and that would be number 11, the agency of education. So the committee by straw poll unanimously supports, this proposal, and we ask for the senate to concur. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment? 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 concurred in the house proposal of amendment. Yep. We will be skipping over s two eighteen and moving on to we've already done the third reading of h nine forty four, so we're now on to h one seventy one. We have in the calendar for action h one seventy one introduced on 02/07/2025. It was referred to the committee on judiciary, which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that it ought to pass in concurrence. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H one seventy one, an act relating to criminal justice agency protocols for an officer involved shooting.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: I recognize the senator from Franklin, senator Norris, for the report of the committee on judiciary.

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: Thank you, mister president. OIS officer involved shooting. A term you don't want to hear or be involved in. Having said that, unfortunately, we do deal with this in Vermont. I can assure you this is a strain both emotionally and psychologically on all parties involved. But sometimes during the investigation time lapse, we may not be a well organized team or well oiled machine. H one seventy one is an attempt to address this issue for all individuals who may be involved one way or the other. Inoculating the criminal justice agencies protocols for an officer involved shooting. The senate committee on judiciary voted five zero favorably on h one seventy one as passed by the house without amendment. The intent of this bill is to facilitate cooperation amongst the entities responsible for investigating an officer involved shooting, OIS. So there's a well understood protocol for addressing such incidents that instills public trust in investigations and resolves investigations in a timely manner to provide certainty to all parties involved. The bill directs the attorney general's office, the the the Department of State's attorneys and sheriffs, the the the Department of Public Safety, excuse me, and the Vermont Association of Chiefs of Police to work collaboratively collaboratively to identify a protocol and best practices for independent investigations of an OIS. Subsection c identifies the issues to be addressed by protocol. One, define officer involved shooting and what types of incidents trigger an investigation. Two, to define conflict of interest and identify the appropriate steps to manage any conflicts for law enforcement and prosecutors. Three, delineate the process for informing the AGO, the DSAS of an o s OIS. Describe the process for number five, describe the process for cross prosecutorial assessment of the investigative materials, including dual and independent assessments. Sixth, evaluate the process of investigation and prosecutorial review of an OIS to ensure timely criminal charging determinations and identify and address existing barriers with timely criminal charges determining. And number seven, outline the final outcome of the investigation and assessment of an officer involved shooting, such as clearing a law enforcement officer or filing criminal charges. To inform their efforts to develop a protocol, the entities are to examine other jurisdiction protocol protocols for an officer involved shooting investigation to determine best practices. On or before 12/01/2026, the entities are to require are required to submit one written report to the house and senate committees on judiciary detailing their work and agreed upon protocol for an officer involved shooting investigation and any legislative changes necessary, including appropriations to effectuate the protocol. This came out of your senate judiciary on a five zero zero vote, and I do not have a list of witnesses. I don't know if we've heard from too many witnesses, but I can get that before third reading if you so desire, and we ask for the senate's support.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Thank you, mister president. The

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: 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've ordered third reading of h one seventy one. That brings us to h five seventy seven. We have on the calendar for action h five seventy seven, which was passed by the house on April on 05/08/2029, was referred to the committee on health and welfare, which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that senate proposed to the house that the bill be amended as it appears starting on page twenty six sixty seven of today's calendar. And that with such proposal of amendment, the bill ought to pass. Affecting the revenues of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on finance, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on health and welfare. Affecting the expenditures of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on appropriations, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on health and welfare. Listen for

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H five seventy seven, an act relating to establishing the Vermont prescription drug discount card program.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: I recognize the senator from Chittenden, senator Lyons, for the report of the committee on health and welfare.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Your senate health and welfare brings this bill, to the full senate, with two minor, two small amendments. The bill itself will allow for Vermont to enter into an agreement with other states to negotiate and provide low cost drugs, prescription drugs to Vermonters. So it will be, the program was established by Oregon and Washington states, and now other states have joined in, Nevada, Arizona, Connecticut, and Colorado, also being a part of the system. And this, organization now is a collaborative call it's Array, work through ArrayRx, a collaborative system to provide, Vermonters with a prescription drug card. And when that card is taken to the pharmacy, the pharmacy will offer prescription drugs that are included in the program at a reduced price. And the one benefit biggest benefit, I think, for for folks beside the low cost drugs, and just as an indicator, the savings that we're seeing for out of pocket is 80% savings for generics and 20% on brand names. But, a large benefit also included within the bill is that out of pocket expenditures are counted toward, ones the the payment for the drug is counted toward out of pocket expenditures for for folks on their insurance. So, as we looked at the bill and we realized what a benefit this can be, it is something offered through the treasurer's office, and the treasurer has been working with other states to have this happen. The money that will, be paid to go for the program will go into a special fund that is already in the treasurer's office, the financial literacy and economic empowerment trust fund. And, any monies that are received by the program from transfers, gifts, grants, donations, or other sources will be placed in that fund fund to benefit the development of the of the program. So the, the two amendments that we have are to on first, first section to ask for reports to come back in honor before January 2028, understanding that it's going to take some time to set up the program. So we'll get a report back and then annually from the state treasurer on the activity of this low this prescription drug cost program and the viability of, Vermont pharmacies who are you are part of the program. The larger pharmacies, will participate, and the cost will really any savings that go to residents of Vermont will be covered by the larger, larger pharmacies. Our smaller pharmacies actually will not have to participate, but they may participate. That's part of the, that's part of the current laws for our smaller pharmacies. So but this report will look at the effect of the prescription drug program, the Vermont ArrayRx program, specifically on pharmacies in the state of Vermont. So that's the first amendment, and then a word left out after drug discount in section two, adding drug discount card before the word program. Mister President, as we took testimony on this bill, we realized what a benefit it can have for Vermonters. And it's also a benefit to the state since we will be sitting at the table making decisions about which drugs will be covered, how they'll be covered, and how we can ensure that Vermonters are saving out of pocket costs for prescription drugs that, as we all know, have reached sky high cost. The we heard from the recorder of the bill. We heard from joint fiscal. We heard from members of the office of state treasurer. We heard from Vermont Legal Aid, Department of Financial Regulation, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and AARP of Vermont, all of whom were in agreement about the bill and support the bill, going forward. This is a critical important and and a very important program for the state to establish through the treasurer's office. And so your committee on health and welfare voted five zero zero to bring our recommendation to you. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Thank you, senator. Question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare? Are you ready for that question? If so

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: Alright.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: I'd like to recognize the senator from Chittenden Central for the report of the committee on finance. Thank

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: you, Mr. President. There are fees in the ArrayRx bill h, five seventy seven. These are fees that are agreed upon by the drug collaborative, who negotiates these fees with the pharmacy benefit manager. The fee is always less than the discount and having spoken with the treasurer's office yesterday, although they can't disclose the exact amount, it's usually in a in the range of a couple of dollars. So your Senate Finance Committee who heard from the treasurer's office and ledge counsel, considered these fees to be de minimis and, part of the Beret RX program and we voted, this bill out of committee seven zero zero, and we ask that the senate concur. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Thank you, senator. I'd like to recognize senator from Chittenden Southeast to report the committee on appropriation.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Within the bill, there's $50,000 appropriation. The appropriations committee reviewed that and its purpose. The purpose is to provide education to Vermonters about the availability of the card, how to access the card, whether electronically or, in paper. And the what we understand from other states is that without having direct communication, effective communication to the populate to the citizens of Vermont, then, it won't this will not be as successful as it might be. So your appropriations committee, concurred with, the proposal from the Senate Health and Welfare Committee to appropriate $50,000 for purposes of communicating to Vermonters about, the ArrayRx program. The vote in senate appropriations was five zero two.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Please listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: Page five eighty three, an act relating to clinical decision making.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: I'd like to recognize the senator from Chittenden Southeast, senator Lyons, for the report of the committee on health and welfare.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Mister president, I would, respectfully ask if we might pass over this bill. The,

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: senate will pass over that bill. That will take us to h five eight eight, which was referred to the committee on government operations, which reports that it is considered the bill and recommends that the Senate propose to the House that the bill be amended as appears at page two six six eight in your calendar, and that with such proposal of amendment, the bill ought to pass. Affecting the revenues of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on finance, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on government operations affecting the expenditures of the state. The bill was then referred to the committee on appropriation, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on government operations. Please listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H five eighty eight, an act relating to professions and occupations regulated by the office of professional regulation.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: I'd like to recognize the senator from Chittenden Central District for the report of the committee on government operations.

[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: Thank you, mister president. The annual OPR bill updates our professions that are regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation. They have a wide range of professions that they have the jurisdiction to regulate, including social workers and massage therapists and funeral directors and many more. What this bill proposes to do is explicitly enable the Office of Professional Regulation to rescind licenses in instances of administrative error, non payment, loss of a compact license, or privilege. And so we have expanded our use of compact licensure. And based on the current reading of the law, if someone were to be licensed in another state but part of a compact that can practice in Vermont and lost their compact licensure without this update to language, our office of professional regulation couldn't actually rescind that license to practice in Vermont. So this is an important protection for people who are seeking services from compact licensees. It also enables OPR to enforce against attempted fraudulent or deceptive procurement or fraudulent or deceptive use of a license. So again, this is an important protection mechanism, which is really the role of regulating through the Office of Professional Regulation is to provide protection to the public. It requires that the professional regulation board members be adults. Some of our professions are regulated by a board of peers. I'll use social work because I know that one well. The social work board is a group of social workers that are part of the regulatory process. And there are many of our professions that are that have that regulatory process using this type of board. And this would require that those members be adults. It also creates an additional combination of education and experience as prerequisites for accountants licensures. This is really aligning with what other states do and really with what current practice is. It's aligning the language in the law to allow those accountants to have the sort of typical combination of experience and education. It creates a limited academic dentist license. This is really exciting. This is, part of our project to start a dental school here in Vermont. These limited service licenses will practice under the supervision of a fully licensed Vermont dentist providing services and education at our dental school which should be opening soon. It removes the requirement for advanced practice nurse license renewal to include documentation of completion of the ARPN practice requirements. Again, is really kind of aligning with general practice. It is not really it's not changing the requirements to get to that license. It's just removing language that is not necessary. This one of the other really important parts of this bill is that it will enable pharmacists to prescribe, order or administer tests for COVID-nineteen, influenza and streptococcal pharyngitis, as well as HIV and subsequently provide treatment for those. HIV is a little different and I'll explain that in a minute, but to provide treatment to cure or treat influenza, COVID-nineteen and streptococcal pharyngitis and in the instance of an HIV test, if the person tests negative, it would allow them to provide prophylactic treatment, thus preventing the person from contracting HIV. This is part of the rural health transformation work that we have been doing. We have a lot of rural communities that might have difficult time accessing treatment to these lower level things at a primary care doctor, and they

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: might be forced to go

[Senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden Central)]: to the emergency department or urgent care, and this allows pharmacists to provide those tests, which they are already doing, and then provide the treatment for, or in the instance of HIV, to prevent contracting the illness. This enables OPR to create temporary policies to supplement psychological licensure educational requirements, notwithstanding any contrary rules. Next year, you should expect an expansive bill around how we modernize and create workforce development in the mental health fields. But I asked the Office of Professional Regulation at the beginning of the session if there was any low lying things that we could do right now knowing that there's such a crisis in that field and this is the one thing they were able to come back to us with. This also eliminates the advisory committee on midwifery that reports to OPR and the Commissioner of Health and changes the license renewal requirement for midwives. Currently they have to submit individual practice data and this practice data will now be at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Professional Regulation. That information is found elsewhere and it is redundant that they are having to report it as part of their re licensure process. And the advisory committee was really put in place as midwives came on board as a licensed profession and has been found to be again redundant and unnecessary now that they're fully a licensed profession with their own advisory board. This also modifies the definition of practice and funeral service to include the disposition of human remains by cremation alkaline hydrolysis or natural organic reduction. This requires the Office of Professional Regulation to report on any possible professional regulation of speech language pathology assistance. This is really just relooking at a previous Sunrise report that was done, I believe, in 2014, updating it for the current moment because that was quite a while ago and then moving forward. We currently license speech language pathologists and in that process we seem to have forgotten to license their assistants and so this is a step forward in that direction. This will also enable the Board of Medical Practice to conduct criminal background checks for certain professions that is in a manner similar to OPR. OPR is able to conduct background checks on mental health providers, on massage therapists, on quite a number of different professions and the medical board of medical practice needs the ability to do that same thing for professions that might be impacting the public depending on their criminal background history that it would be important for them to have that information. Walking through the section by section of the bill, section one is the one is the section allowing the Office of Professional Regulation to rescind licenses in those instances where licenses lost in another place or they didn't pay the proper administrative fees. Section two retitles the for clarity the powers of the board on those advisor professions and the rescission process. Section three enables is again more of this enabling language allowing compact license holders to have their license rescinded by OPR if they lose their compact license. Section four is really technical changes creating clarity avoid removing a double negative. Section five amends and adds a definition of what constitutes unprofessional conduct in the instances of fraudulent or deceptive procurement of a license. Section six is the section that makes all of the board members of board and advisor regulated professions be adults. Section seven is around license denials for foreign applicants. It incorporates proper cross references, really largely technical in nature. The next few sections, eight, nine, and 10, it might be eleven-two, just eight, nine, and 10 are the sections around the CPA licensure and regulation and education. Sections eleven and twelve are the sections around creating the limited service dental educator licenses. And there will be no fee for those licenses because those licensees will not be practicing full time in Vermont and will be providing services to people who might not otherwise be able to access dental services at all. Section 13 is the definitions around funeral services. Section 14 is that removal of the certain documentation for the ARPN APRN practice requirements. Section 14a through c are the sections around pharmacists and the allowance to test to treat. Section 15 the section about psychologists. Section 16 is around dissolving the midwifery advisory committee and section 17 is the section regarding speech language pathologists and section 18 an important section one that I imagine we will be revisiting yet again in a future year and many who have been here before know we've visited this many times and this is the section on massage therapists and the touch professionals. This will create a requirement that massage therapy establishments be registered. Currently, therapists and other touch professionals need to be registered with the Office of Professional Regulation. Registration does not come with any type of education requirement, but it is mandatory. This is adding to it that the establishment where two or more massage therapists or touch professionals are practicing will also need to be registered. This is in response to trying to do more to prevent human trafficking within these professions and trying to be able to respond to more quickly and more effectively practice of that type of behavior as well as the unfortunate instances of sexual abuse and assault within those professions. So it is an important section, one that we in all likelihood will get to revisit yet again. The section 19 is the allowance of the Board of medical 19 A is the allowance of the board of medical practice to do criminal background checks. Section 20 is the effective dates section one through ten, thirteen through seventeen, eighteen A and 19 A shall take effect on passage sections eleven and twelve, which is the sections on dentist, the limited service dentist licenses shall take effect on 09/01/2026 and section 18, which is the massage therapy, body works and touch professionals Section 19 and Section 19 which also is part of the body work stuff section shall take effect on 12/01/2026. Your committee on government operations heard from 19 witnesses. I'm not going to read through them all, but if there's a specific witness that you are interested to know if we heard from, I'm happy to let you know. And the vote out of committee was five zero zero, and we ask for the senate support.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Addison, senator Hardy, for the report of the committee on finance.

[Senator Ruth Hardy (Addison)]: Thank you, mister president. As, the senator from Chittenden Central noted, there are some fees in this bill. This bill will increase revenue to OPR by requiring massage and bodywork establishments to pay a standard fee of $100 at registration and $275 to renew their license biannually. Solitary practice practitioners who just work alone would be exempt from this requirement, and establishments with just two professionals would pay registration fee of $50 and a renewal of $75 OPR indicates that this could result in approximately $15,000 revenue in FY twenty seven and forty thousand in FY '29 and in odd fiscal years thereafter because this is a biennial, renewal process. Even numbered years would see minimal increases if there are new establishments entering the profession. The remaining provisions of the bill have a minimal impact, fiscal impact. OPR estimates that six dentists would take advantage of the new $0, academic license fee for dentists. Current fees for dentists in Vermont are $655 However, some of these dentists could be currently licensed out of state and not pay fees in Vermont. We did have a discussion in the finance committee about why would we would set a fee of $0 in, in statute and OPR asked that we do this so there's not confuse it confusion about what the fee is. They didn't wouldn't didn't wanna get a lot of questions about what is this fee and so putting it at zero makes it clear. It also encourages these dentists to come train dentists in Vermont so setting it at zero helps encourage folks to come into the state. Overall, this is a fairly minimal impact on the revenues of the state, mister president, and the finance committee voted zero seven to zero to, support the bill. Thank you.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Lamoille, senator Westman, for the report of the committee on appropriations.

[Speaker 17]: The appropriations committee reviewed the bill, and we also, went through the same fiscal note that that, committee on finance went through. We reviewed the sections with massage and body works. We also spent some time talking about the dentist school and the training of dentists here because we've had such a shortage and we found minimal impact on the appropriations of the state, and we voted seven zero zero.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on government operations? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Ayes have it. And you've proposed to the house to amend the bill as proposed by the committee on government operations. The question now is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for the question? So all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Ayes have it. You've ordered third reading of h five eighty eight. We have on the calendar for action h six zero six, which was passed, senator, from

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Mister Christopher, if we might pass over six zero six and move to h six eleven. We

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: will pass over six zero six. We have on the calendar for action h six eleven, which was passed by the house on 05/08/2026. It was referred to the committee on health and welfare, which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that the senate proposed to the house that the bill be amended as it appears starting on page twenty seven zero two of today's calendar, and that with such proposal of amendment, the bill ought to pass. Affecting expenditures of the state, the bill was referred to the committee on appropriations, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on health and welfare. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: H six eleven, an act relating to miscellaneous provisions affecting the Department of Vermont Health Access.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Chittenden, senator Gulick, the report of the committee on health and welfare.

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: Thank you, mister president. Indeed, h six eleven is an act relating to miscellaneous provisions affecting the Department of Vermont Health Access, also known as DIVA. This is the DIVA housekeeping bill for 2026. For those of you who may not know, DIVA is not an opera singer. DIVA is part of the agency of human services, and it is responsible for administering the Vermont Medical Health Insurance Program and Vermont state based exchange for health insurance. I'm gonna go through the underlying bill, and then I'll proceed to the amendment if that is okay with us.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: With

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: Mr. President. Section one of the bill amends 18 BSA forty six thirty five. This part of statute requires health insurers with over 5,000 covered lives to produce and share a list of prescription drugs whose costs have significantly increased. The idea for this was to flag, those drugs that were going up in price and have the Attorney General post them and then get relevant info from the manufacturers. It's been hard to get this information from manufacturers so this work has not been completely successful. This provision in the bill would eliminate having DEVA require the list. Because drug pricing and Medicaid are different, it makes sense to take DEVA out of this process. Health insurers have to provide the list of drugs that have gone up more than 50% over five years or 15% over the last calendar year, and DIVA is federally prohibited from sharing drug specific net costs. So we believe this move makes sense and certainly support it. Section two, you may recall last year we had a four thirty drug pricing bill. This, provision in section two repeals that language because there are things happening at the federal level that may might actually make the four thirty b pricing not something that the states can decide on. It's being done at the federal level. So it's a repeal of that language. Section three aligns Vermont statute with federal rule make some changes to the exchange and the Medicaid advisory committee. Must be no fewer than 22 members on this Exchange and Medicare Advisory Committee and the new federal law requires that the committee include individuals who are also members of the beneficiary Advisory Committee and it takes out language that the commissioner may reappoint. There's also a language change and that's on page seven lines 10 through 13. Section four makes a change to the reflective health benefit plans when the federal government was discontinuing cost sharing reductions. Vermont created these plans and so that they could load up on the silver plans to reduce costs. This changes the language to individuals only and it removes and employees of small employers. Section five is cleanup language in the statute that amends curb membership 33 BSA chapter 2,031, which is the, clinical utilization review board. Section six.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: This is a change to

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: the V farm eligibility. It's a minor change. They've always been using 225% of the federal poverty level to calculate eligibility. So this is a conforming change. Section seven: Certain funds are set aside to cover future burial costs and they could be excluded from Medicaid financial eligibility. Eva is proposing with the support from the Vermont Funeral Directors Association an increase to the burial fund exclusion amount. This amount has not been increased since 2002 and it would increase the $10,000 cap on irrevocable prepaid burial arrangements to $15,000 and implement the use of Medicaid payback requirements in the agreement with the funeral home to the extent that the funds are not fully utilized. And this, if you're interested, is titled 26 chapter twelve seventy one, which is the funeral director chapter. Section eight and nine, These sections delay for one year the date by which DEBA has to seek a state plan amendment for doula services. They need longer to seek the plan amendment. Every state has a state plan and this will be an amendment to our state plan and it will take some time, but we are feeling optimistic that someday soon DIVAS will be covered by Medicaid. Section 10 is the effective date which is 07/01/2026 and now I will proceed to the Senate amendment.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: You may.

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: If I may. Thank you Mr. President. The age six eleven amendment can be found starting on the bottom of page 2,702 in the calendar. The first amendment instance of amendment has to do with discrimination against three forty drugs. It prohibits discrimination against a three forty covered entity by requiring data unless that data are required by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The second instance of amendment has to do with OPR's duties with regard to the laws. Neglected to align the OPR rule making with the state plan amendment. So this is just aligning the dates and again we remain confident that we will get Medicaid coverage for doulas, but that date has been moved to 2027. The third instance of amendment before I get into it, I'm going to give you a little bit of information. I'm not sure if everyone knows what PEP and PrEP are. These are HIV drugs. PrEP, which pre exposure prophylaxis, is a highly effective evidence based HIV prevention medication. And when taken consistently, it reduces the risk of HIV by approximately ninety nine percent. PEP is an HIV post exposure prophylaxis and it must be taken within seventy two hours of being exposed to HIV. A little bit of information in 2022, the CDC reported thirty eight thousand new HIV diagnoses across the country. And in Vermont, over the course between two thousand and eight and 2017, VDH, the Vermont Department of Health, reported over a hundred new cases in Vermont. These numbers should be zero. We actually now have the tools in our toolbox to have zero HIV infections. So, access to HIV prevention medications, including PrEP and PEP, is a proven health strategy that delivers significant cost savings. Preventing one HIV infection can save the healthcare system approximately $554,000 of lifetime medical expenses. In June there was a federal rollback of HIV prevention strategies in June 2025 the US Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy versus Braidwood gave the Secretary of Health and Human Services authority to reject preventative care recommendations, putting future PrEP coverage at risk. And, federal guidance currently prohibits prior authorization for PrEP, but these protections can be reversed. And Vermont cannot rely on unstable federal policy to protect access to lifesaving HIV prevention. Barriers such as cost sharing, prior authorization, and limited prescribing access continue to delay or prevent care for people at risk of HIV. So what does our amendment do? This third instance of amendment has to do with these HIV prevention drugs. Here we struck out section 10, we added a new section 10 and then we changed the effective date section to section 11. In this new section 10 we start with defining HIV prevention drugs, which I just did, PrEP and PEP or PEP and PrEP, and supportive health service. We then added that coverage be required by any health insurance plan and Medicaid without any deductible, coinsurance, copay, or other cost sharing requirements, except if it would disqualify a high deductible health plan from eligibility for an HSA. We want everyone to have access to these life saving prevention drugs. And we also require coverage by all healthcare professionals issuing the prescription for any HIV HIV prevention drug for which Medicaid does not require prior authorization as long as the healthcare professional is acting within their scope of practice and is, enrolled as a participating provider in Vermont Medicaid. So that is the bill and that is the amendment. And we heard from many many people, I'll name a few of them, not by name but by organization. Office of Legislative Counsel, the Social Worker of Washington County Mental Health Services, Vermont Legal Aid, Diva of course, Agency of Human Services, Bi State Primary Care, Compass Pathways, HIV and HCV Resource Center, Vermont Pharmacists Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and OPR. And the vote in your health and welfare committee was five zero zero, and we asked that the senate

[Senator Robert Norris (Franklin)]: would be heard.

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick (Chittenden Central)]: Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Chittenden Southeast, Senator Lyons, for the report of the committee on appropriations.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate appropriations reviewed the bill and found that there is a de minimis effect on the appropriations for the state. Thank you, mister president. The vote was seven zero zero.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare? Are you ready for the question? So all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it. You've proposed to the house to amend the bill as proposed by the committee on health and welfare. Question now 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. Ayes have it. You boarded third reading of h six eleven. That brings us oh, that's a handful. We have on the calendar for action h six fifty seven, which was passed by the house on 05/08/2026, was referred to the committee on health and welfare, which reports it is considered the bill and recommends that the senate proposed to the house that bill be amended as it appears starting on page twenty seven zero four of today's calendar. And that with such proposal of amendment, the bill ought to pass affecting the revenues of the state. The bill was referred to the committee on finance, which recommends that the bill ought to pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment as recommended by the committee on health and welfare. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer Jr. (Secretary of the Senate/Clerk)]: Page six fifty seven, an act relating to enabling unaccompanied homeless youth to obtain certain services without parental consent.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Recognize the senator from Orleans, senator Morley, for the report of the committee on health and welfare.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Thank you, mister president. There's two things I can promise you about this bill right now. A, as I'm not an expert in all these fields, probably not even one, and this is gonna take a

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: little bit. So

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: you may wanna sit down. Section one of the bill looks at reach out and limiting or getting rid of the asset test and I'm sure I'll get more questions about that later. You can see it was $9,000 and that has now been lifted in the department on the underneath that section, the department shall not impose an asset limit for the purpose of initial and continuing eligibility for the prejudged program. Section two are definitions for the Social Security benefits for youth in foster care. And then it goes through and just list all the the definitions. One that kinda intrigued me was number five, qualified ABLE account. I never heard of that before so I ended up looking it up. The ABLE account is for savings accounts for people with disabilities which you're going hear about later on in this bill. Section three, foster care social security benefits. I wanna talk about this because there was a lot of discussion in this. Most states right now allow people individuals in foster care to receive their benefits from Social Security. Right now, the state of Vermont is not doing that. And what happens is those individuals that are in foster care, and there's around 80 of them right now, it goes and DCF takes the money and offsets their budget with those dollars. And so that was a big deal. It's been discussed a lot, and this bill would look at removing that so that those children actually get that money so that when they leave foster care, they actually have some money for transportation which is a big, big issue for young individuals and the like. Then you have A and B. A, the department shall not use any portion of child's social Security benefits to offset the state's cost. I just mentioned that. And upon the request of the child or the child's foster care provider, the department in its capacity as a representative payee for a child may use the child's Social Security benefits for the child's unmet needs beyond the amount that the state is obligated. Under C, in this capacity as a representative payee for a child and with the assistance of the state treasurer, the department shall establish a trust account for the child which shall be a qualified ABLE account as I just identified for the child receiving SSI benefits. Two, monitor any federal asset or resource limits for the child's SSI benefits. Three, ensure that the child's best interests are served by using the child's social security benefits for the child's unmet needs or conserving the child's social security benefits in a way that avoids violating any federal assets or resource limits. Four, I'm going move on to five, they need to provide an annual accounting of this use and application for these benefits for the child, the child's parent, legal guardian or counsel. Section four, unaccompanied youth, another big issue. I actually refer to this bill as the DCF omnibus bill because there's a lot happening in this bill and it's all basically pertaining to DCF. Legislative intent in instances in which severe family dysfunction such as abuse, neglect, child abandonment or lack of financial support has left a youth who is 16 or 17 years of age homeless and other supports such as foster care are deemed inappropriate. It is the intent of this general assembly to provide an unoccupied youth, unaccompanied youth with the resources necessary to obtain services and benefits that the unaccompanied youth's peers can obtain with the consent of a parent or a guardian. Section B are definitions And it goes through and just defines homeless child or youth and then under that, there's a b all the way down to g. Under two, school district homeless liaison. Number three is unaccompanied youth and what it means. Then under c, the certification. This is a big one too. An unaccompanied youth may become certified if the youth is found by a school district homeless liaison or the appropriate staff person to be an unaccompanied youth. Two, believed to qualify as an unaccompanied youth by a, the director of emergency shelter program, b, the director of a runaway homeless youth

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: program,

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: C, a Continuum of Care Lead Agency. I had to look that one up too and that they play a crucial role in addressing homelessness. They provide oversight and coordination. They perform an assessment referral, funding and resources, and community engagement. The chief juvenile defender and e, the Vermont Network against domestic and sexual violence. The proof of certification. The department shall contract with a community organization that serves homeless runaway youth in Vermont to build a standardized form that shall be used by the entities specified in subsection c of this section. Then it talks about what's going be on the front and the back of that form. B, the department shall post a certification form and information about the section on its website including who is eligible for certification, which individual entities can complete the certification from a form pursuant to this section. Two, without the consent of a parent or guardian, certified unaccompanied youth may use the completed form two. There's quite a few things here. Apply at no charge for a non driver identification card, a learner's permit, operator's license or operator's privilege card. B, obtaining vital event certificate at no charge. Consent to care by health care professionals licensed or certified in Vermont. D, enter into a contract for housing. E, obtain employment, f, purchase an automobile and obtain an automobile liability policy, g, apply for a student loan, h, obtain admission to high school or post secondary school, I, open an account at a state or federally chartered bank or credit union, j, receive services for victims of domestic or sexual violence as appropriate, and k, participate in a court diversion program. Moving on e, use of certification form. A healthcare professional shall accept the completed form as proof of the use status as a certified unaccompanied youth. F, consent of a parent or guardian. This section shall authorize an accompany youth to obtain benefits and services listed in subsection D of this section which we just went through. A person, provider or healthcare professional shall not require the consent of a parent or guardian as condition providing a benefit or service authorized under subsection D of this section. Two, the Commissioner of Financial Regulation shall ensure that minimum use certification requirements are met for the purpose of making it legally permissible for a bank credit union or insurance company to contract with an unaccompanied youth. G, immunity for liability and this is important. Any entity provider or healthcare professional who relies in good faith on a certification form presented by a person who claims to be a certified unaccompanied youth pursuant to the section shall be immune from liability for such reliance unless the entity provider or healthcare professional act in gross negligence. H, applicability of compact. I had to look that one up too. Nothing in this section shall be construed as altering the interstate compact for juveniles. And basically they created it federal law in 1955 and as a framework to address the safe safety needs of juveniles and interstate movement. Section four a, unlawful sheltering aiding a runaway child. What you're gonna find here under number three, you're gonna see a person providing assistance pursuant to 33 BSA section forty nine zero eight and that's what we just went through. That was section four of this bill. So you're gonna hear me referencing back to 33 VSA forty nine zero eight and it's updating a lot of existing law is what's going on in certain sections. As an example under section five, if you go down to number three b three, it says an accompany an unaccompanied youth who has obtained a certification pursuant to 33 v s a forty nine zero eight and that's dealing with fees for copies. You're gonna see the same thing as section six, non driver identification cards where we down under three c. Once again, note 33 v s a forty nine zero eight. Section seven under fees, same thing under e one. An unaccompanied youth who has obtained a certification pursuant to 33 v s a forty nine zero eight shall be provided with operator's licenses or operator privilege cards at no charge. Number two e two, no additional fee shall be due for a motorcycle endorsement for any accompanying youth who has obtained a certification pursuant to, you guessed it, 33 b s a forty nine zero eight. Section eight is doing the exact same thing, which is learner's permits. And under two under that section, motorcycle endorsement. Also, 33 b s a forty nine zero eight, motorcycle learner's permit, same thing. Also, obtaining certification pursuant an unaccompanied use shuttle who has obtained a certification pursuant to thirty three forty nine zero eight, an applicant under 23 years of age who was in care and custody of the commissioner for children and families pursuant to 33 b s a forty nine zero three and from all after attaining 14 years of age shall not be charged a fee for a learner's permit or a duplicate or renewal thereof. Moving on to section nine transportation of children. Under a one, you will see least restrictive which has the same meaning as in section five thousand one thirty of this chapter you're going to see that under section 12. So I just kind of explained one thing and now this is going to section 12 of this bill as well. So you'll see number one, meaning as section fifty one thirty two's, fifty one thirty three's, fifty one thirty. So you can also see those those definitions on on fifty one thirty in section 12. And then we discuss secure transport, soft restraint, waste shackles. And under b of this section, the commissioner of children and family shall ensure that all reasonable and appropriate measures consistent with public safety are made to transport or escort a child subject to this chapter in a manner that was saying reasonably avoids physical and psychological trauma. We struck reasonably avoids and and put in prep prevents physical and psychological trauma. The commissioner for children and families shall have the authority to designate the professional or law enforcement officers transporting children and shall authorize a method of transport. A contract for transportation services shall include requirements in this section. Transportation services with non contracted law enforcement officer shall only be authorized in emergency situations or by court order. The commissioner shall provide education materials complying with this section that outline the legal requirements for the secure transportation of children to individuals designated pursuant to subsection C of this section and shall obtain verification that all designated individuals have reviewed the educational materials. So there's a lot going on here making sure that when you are transforming youth that really really well looked at looked into. Under e, secure transport shall only be used when the department determines and documents why it is necessary to prevent the risk of serious physical harm to the child or others based upon the individualized risk. I've also learned going through this was transporting adults is one thing. There's rules and regulations around it. Children really didn't have anything. So this bill is looking to put into statute protections for children being transported. F, soft restraint shall be the first option for restraint and other mechanical restraint shall not be utilized as a substitute for soft restraints if the soft restraints are deemed adequate for safety. G, an entity contracted pursuant to subsection c of this section shall provide documentation to the department for the use of restraints when one, the entity believes the risk of serious physical harm to the child or others requires the use of soft restraints before or during the transport. Including a description as to why less restrictive interventions could not reasonably be attempted or why the attempted use of less restrictive interventions was unsuccessful. Two, the entity believes that the risk of serious physical harm to the child or others was such that soft restraints were not adequate for safety. Three, the use of wake shackles was determined to be the sole means of preventing serious physical harm to the child or others. H, documentation for the use of restraint shall be completed prior to transport unless the circumstances that required the use occurred during the course of the transport. I, the use of waste shackles shall be prohibited on children 12 years of age or younger. The use of waste shackles on children 13 years age or older shall be assessed and determined to be the sole means of preventing serious physical harm to the child or others and documented accordingly. Only designated law law enforcement agencies shall use the way shackles on a child transported pursuant to this section. We're on the working, just so everyone knows. Jay, the commissioner shall ensure supervisory review by the department all documentation required by this section K one annually on or before January 15, DCF shall submit a written report to the House Committee on Human Services, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, the Office of Child Youth and Family Advocate addressing the number of secure transport of children during the previous year, including for those transported with restraints. We heard a lot of testimony on there wasn't great date data on really understanding how much how many transfers were were done and I felt comfortable. Have a pretty good handle on it but and what capacity, age, and all of that. So we're gonna be looking to get more and more information from them as you're gonna see through a through f for transport transported over the streets. Two, once the department has upgraded its technological capacity in the manner that enables it to collect responsive data, Information specific to these subdivisions of this subsection shall be collected and included in the annual report with regard to all secure transforms. Annually on or before January 15, the Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs shall submit a written report to the House Committee on Human Services, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, DCF, the Office of Child Youth and Family Advocate, addressing the number of court ordered transports of minors conducted by the state, transport duties pursuant to 24 VSA. They shall include one, the date of birth of transported minors, whether restraint was used during transport, Three, if restraint was used and the type of restraint that was used, whether the minor minor's case was a delinquency, youthful offender, or criminal proceeding. And five, the purpose of the transport which is fairly obvious in my mind. Section 10, report restraint and transportation of children on or before 12/15/2027. DCF shall submit a written report to the House Committee on Human Services the Committee on Health and Welfare addressing how the department is effectuating the policy set forth in 33 b s a, including contracting law enforcement or private agencies for the transport of children, departmental oversight, and supervisory review of the secure transport of children, including transport provided by private agencies or law enforcement officers. Three, the mechanism used by the department to collect and review data on the application of mechanical restraints during the transport of children in compliance with 33 DSA. Four, materials and requirements for designated contractors. Five, written policies used to effectuate the law. Six, other information the department deems relevant. Section 11, the use of force policy. The Vermont Criminal Justice Council in consultation with the Department of Vermont State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, the Office of the Child Youth and Family Advocate Disability rights department for children, families, and of disabilities, aging, and independent living shall conduct a formal review to determine whether its use of the force policy should include an appendix to adequately address the transportation by law enforcement of children 18 years of age. That is in alignment with the public policy considered for the transport of children in custody of DCF. Section 12, non transport related restraint and seclusion. Seclusion is a big deal on younger individuals when they're taken into a room and secluded for a period of time. It really, your testimony, really can be impactful on those young individuals. So fifty one thirty a has used in this section in full. There were some of the ones I discussed earlier on fifty one thirty, that's where those definitions come from. I'm going to move over to restraints and care residential. K. D b, the department shall not use or authorize authorize the use of prone restraints, mechanical restraints, chemical restraints, or strip searches on a child which was just defined. C. Seclusion or physical restraints shall not be used for punishment, disciplinary purposes, the protection of property or any other reason other than as a safety measure of last resort prevent a serious and immediate risk of harm to the child or others. DA staff members shall use other less restrictive interventions unless less restrictive interventions have failed or be ineffective in stopping imminent danger of physical injury or property damage. C, after attempting to use less restrictive interventions, a staff member training in accordance with this rule a physically restraining child or placing child to seclusion if the staff member this is important. One, determines that the child's behavior poses a serious immediate risk of physical harm to the child or others. Two, conducts the physical restraint or seclusion in a manner that respects the child's privacy and limits physical and psychological trauma. Three, after initiation of the intervention explains the child the reasons for the physical restraint or seclusion and informs the child of circumstances that allow release from physical restraint or seclusion. F, if a child is placed in physical restraint or seclusion pursuant to subsection e of this section, the child shall be released immediately when there's no longer a serious immediate risk of physical harm to the child or others. G, restraint or seclusion lasting more than ten minutes shall require supervisory approval and oversight. Restraint or seclusion lasting more than thirty minutes shall require clinical and administrative consultation, approval, oversight. A child shall not be held for more than one hour in restraint or seclusion without an in person assessment by clinician authorized by the administrator on duty. So I just want to stop there for a minute and say that we heard some testimony that I considered reporting on. But after giving it some deference and thinking about it, over the weekend, I I decided not to. It was too intense and I'm not going to talk about it, it's about a young girl and some of the situations that she had to endure and go through. And this bill is going to help protect. So it meant a lot and it really had an impact on me as well as other committee members as well but I'm not going to mention that. Two, a child of seclusion shall be provided constant uninterrupted supervision by qualified staff member employed by the program who is familiar to the child. H, nothing in this section shall be construed to include a locked bedroom during regular sleeping hours in a secure residence or seclusion or to conflict with any law providing greater or additional protections to binders. Notice of the use of restraint or seclusion on a child in the department's custody shall be provided to the department, the child's parent or guardian, the child's guardian, Addison District, the child's attorney, if applicable, within twenty four hours. I'm not a lawyer like a secretary of the Senate, I had to look up Addison and that actually means a court appointed individual who represents the best interest of a child. J, the program or staff member using seclusion restraint shall document its use in providing copy of each recorded use of seclusion or restraint including copy of any audio or visual recording to the commissioner. Upon request, the audio or video shall be provided through secure means of transmission shall include boring to protect the identity of any child in the program who are not in custody of the department. K, the department shall collect the following data on the use of seclusion and physical restraint by placement type, program name, the age, gender and the racial background of the child. The specific types of the seclusion or physical restraint used, two, the length of time a child was secluded or physically restrained as applicable. L one, prior to contracting with any program for the child of the care in the department's custody, the department shall conduct a review of any records from the prior five years regarding the safety of children in the program's care including any violations of the program's licensing status and any resulting remediation. Two, the department shall remove any remote child from risk of harm and shall initiate a search for alternative providers if an out of state residential provider is determined to be in a violation of the standards in the contract regarding restraint, seclusion, or violation of the state's licensing entity. Some children aren't just taking care of here in the state of the law but there are also other states that provide some services for our child children. M, notwithstanding subsection b of this section, a child detained in a secure residential program may be restrained with mechanical restraints for a momentary initial hold to enable relocation of a child to a less restrictive method of intervention if necessitated to prevent serious and immediate harm to the child or others. Except that under no circumstances shall a garment adjacent to the child's body that restricts freedom or movement or immobilizes or reduces the ability of the child to move that child's arms, legs, body, or head freely to be utilized. The procedure, the standards established under this section including notice and reporting requirements shall apply. Under a, notwithstanding subsection b of this section, a child detained in a secure residential program may be subjected to a strip search if a cat search has led to a probable cause to believe that the child is possession of contraband that poses a threat or serious bodily harm to the child or others and the child has refused to voluntarily turn over the contraband. O, the department shall post on the family's division scorecard or another prominent location on its website, the rates of restraint and seclusion used on children in license programs and the number of uses of secure transport restraint used during transport. The department shall update the information at least annually. So it's important that we continue to look at the data and develop and see what's happening to the children. P, the department shall develop and adopt rules in collaboration with the office of the child, youth, and family advocate and in consultation with stakeholders implementing the section including requirements for staff training, standards for supervisory oversight, record keeping, and reporting by residential programs, oversight responsibilities of the department, and any other necessary standards. Section 13, I'm going go down to LL one down to two. When contracting with an out of state program, the department shall include a requirement that the program adhere to the provisions of this section. There was some discussions on whether or not all of our existing facilities out of state could do this, were willing to do this and the cost associated with it. So we're going to do it. Think they've reached out to them. I'm hopeful that cost won't skyrocket on because of that going forward. Second 14, report children in correctional facilities on or before 01/01/2027, Department of DCF shall submit a written report to the House Committees on Human Services Corrections Institutions, the Senate Committees on Health and Welfare on Institutions regarding the use of restraint, seclusion the on minors detained in Department of Corrections facilities and potential means for reducing physical and psychological trauma from restraint and seclusion. Preparing the required report, the department shall consult with a work group composed of the office. Lists all of them which you folks can read. The members of the work group who are not participating in a professional capacity that entitled to per diem compensation, and you'll hear from that amendment. I imagine from appropriations later. Section 15, proposal to extend supports for children over 17 years of age and this basically is listing out 11/01/2026 DCF shall submit a written report in consultation with the judicial branch to the House Committee on Human Services Senate Committee on Health and Welfare and recommendations for court oversight processes that meet federal requirements to allow access to federal funds for programs that may support youth up 21 years of age and that ensures sustainable use of judicial resources. The report shall include recommendations to the legislature for action. Section 16, prenatal engagement and family support working group. Creation, there is created the prenatal engagement and family support working group to examine the Department of Children's and Family's current practice of using a pregnancy calendar to monitor and track certain pregnant individuals in Vermont and provide recommendations on alternatives to our pregnancy calendar ways to support pregnant individuals in need of services. B, membership, the work group shall be composed of the following members. You have Department of Commissioner of Family Services Division of DC Gap, Vermont Child, youth and family advocate or designee, executive director of Vermont Family Network, designee, executive director of legal aid or designee, the president of Planned Parenthood or Northern New England or or designee. Then on the next it it continues down and lists a whole bunch more. And then under c, the powers and duties, the working group shall study the study the department for children and families current practice of using pregnancy calendar to monitor and track certain pregnant individuals in Vermont and provide recommendations alternatives to a pregnancy calendar for ways to support pregnant individuals in need of services. And there's the assistance on d for the purpose of scheduling meetings providing administrative assistance, e the report, f the meetings, then one Vermont Child and Youth Family Advocate or Destiny shall call the first meeting, the working group shall select a chair among its members in the first meeting. Three, a majority of the membership shall constitute a quorum. The working group shall cease to exist on 02/01/2027. Compensation and reimbursement members of the working group who are not otherwise compensated for a 20% gain shall be entitled to per diem compensation under their q b s a ten ten. I've heard that statute quite a bit. So number two, members of the working group who are not participating in their professional capacity shall be entitled to per diem compensation, same thing. These payments shall be made for monies appropriated to the Department of Children and Families. I wanna talk a little bit about that section. I I guess it was discovered a while ago about the pregnancy calendar, which I didn't really know anything about. So he started I started looking into it a little bit more, and it's it's a tough situation. It it it is going on. Everyone knows it's going on and this study group is going to take a look at the best ways to work with those individuals that may need some additional help. The Moss Pregnancy Calendar is a tool used by DCF to monitor pregnancies deemed high risk. This calendar tracks certain pregnant individuals, including their expected due dates and other identifying information to assess potential risk related to parenting suitability. And so there's there's been, over the years, I think there's actually an article in the paper December or January on this issue as well. Hopefully this report and this group will be able to get together and help us move forward. Heard for oh, I'm not done. Section 17, the effective dates, the section section 10, section eleven fourteen fifteen shall take effect on passage. The section nine section 12 shall take effect on 01/01/2027. C section two and three shall take effect on 07/01/2027. D sections 13 shall take effect on 07/01/2028. And e, all remaining sections shall take effect on 07/01/2026. And there's amendment later that I'll be talking about the effective dates as well. The committee vote was five zero on this and some of the people we heard from in testimony was a joint fiscal office, the Office of Legislative Council, the bill sponsor, DCF, Office of Child Youth and Family Advocate, Vermont Youth Council, Youth Advocate, Voices for Vermont's Children, Spectrum Youth and Family Services, Vermont Family Alliance, Attorney General's Office, Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs, Vermont Sheriffs Association, Department of Mental Health. So those are the individuals that testified or organizations that testified on behalf of this bill and I hope that the Senate concurs this bill. Thank you.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator wasn't kidding when he said it was gonna be a long way. Senator from Chittenden for the report of the committee on finance.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden (Chittenden)]: Thank you, mister president. Your senate finance committee reviewed this bill and found six sections with de minimis impacts on state revenues, two with material impact and one with unknown impact. Section one is the one with material impact in fiscal year twenty twenty seven. This would eliminate the assets limits for families, asset limits, not income thresholds. For the purposes of determining initial and continuing eligibility for the Reach Up program, currently the asset limit is about $9,000 Current law excludes certain types of assets, including BHEIP plans, IRAs, 403Bs, and so on. According to DCF, the fiscal impact impact is difficult to determine as eliminating the asset in limit could potentially expand the program by qualifying an unknown additional number of individuals. But looking at fiscal year twenty twenty five, there were a total of 18 cases where people were denied because their assets, not their income, their income level still met the requirements, but their assets were over that resource limit. That can be for a variety of reasons, as I've heard in the hallways and when we heard about the bill, they're saving up for a down payment, they're saving up for what you need to secure an apartment, or also just to have a certain amount of resources on hand, it's sometimes necessary. So that would be the average cost per case would be about $646 using the fiscal year 2025 as a proxy. Based on that, the 18 cases that were denied, the fiscal impact removing these asset limits could be as much as $140,000 fiscal year 2027. Section three has revenue impacts and appropriations impacts for years out, not this fiscal year. So this would prohibit DCF from using any portion of a child's Social Security benefits to offset the state's cost for child's maintenance. My understanding is this is in response to a directive from the feds. And so it's just aligning and you're gonna hear more about this in an amendment momentarily, if I'm not mistaken. So you can't use it for child's maintenance except to maintain a child's eligibility for supplemental Social Security income benefits and to avoid a violation of federal assets or resource limits. Currently DCF uses this money to cover the cost of care for youth in custody. Since the section would not take effect until 07/01/2027, which again I think you'll hear more about that in the amendment. It would not impact this fiscal year. However, it would have an approximately, years out, a $700,000 impact in fiscal year twenty twenty eight or further. The sections five and six had de minimis impact. It's waiving a $10 fee for copies of vital event certificates, birth, death, marriage, civil unions, and so on. Similarly, section seven and eight also de minimis. That's waiving driver's license and permit fees and motor license fees for unaccompanied youth. Section twelve and thirteen has an unknown potential impact on future budgets. These additional standards that you just heard so eloquently in an enthralling floor report that we're on a very sensitive topic that I think we all have a great deal of sympathies for. As we apply more restraint and seclusion restrictions on our out of state providers, it could force renegotiations for more expensive contracts, but JFO was unable to estimate the potential impacts of that in years out. Section 14, again, de minimis, just the working group, so nothing to expand upon there. And also with the prenatal engagement and family supporting work group, there was de minimis impact on state revenues. Your vote in senate finance was six zero one to support the bill as it was presented to us, and we encourage the senate to concur. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: I recognize the senator from Chittenden, senator Lyons, for an amendment.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: I'll yield to the senator from Orleans. Thank you.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Orleans for an amendment.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Yes. There there are two amendments. The first one in section three three three b s a in Subdivision C 1. All it's doing is getting striking out the word a trust account and making it an account. The treasurer didn't like the word trust account and it really didn't fit what we were trying to do as defined. We're eliminating trust account and putting in account. The second amendment, section two, section three, and section 13 shall take effect on 07/01/2028. And d, all remaining sections shall take effect on 07/01/2026. What is we heard testimony from DCF that pushing out this date would help them implement this legislation. Obviously, there's a lot going on here, and so that's what that amendment two does. Thank you, mister president.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Question is, shall the recommendation of proposal of amendment committee on health and welfare be amended as moved by the senator from Orleans? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it. You further amended and you have further amended the recommendation of proposal amendment of the Committee on Health and Welfare. The question now is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the Committee on Health and Welfare as amended. Are you ready for the question? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. I know it was a long, report, and it has a tendency for us to glaze over when we listen to reports like this. But I'd like to remind us of the importance of the bill that we're looking at. It was just a few years ago when we were reading about abuse of a child in one of our facilities in the state. We're also reading about and hearing about the death of a of an infant due to abuse and neglect, and we have come a long way. One of the things that we did a few years ago was establish the Vermont Child Youth and Family Advocate Office who worked very closely with the Department of Children and Families and other organizations that support children in our state. This is a really important bill. It continues important work. I hope we're

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: not

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: immune to the importance of this and that we do not forget the reason, that began all of the work that underlies a bill like this. But so, mister president, I ask for your support on on the bill as presented. Thank you.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Windsor.

[Speaker 19]: Thank you, mister president. I rise fully in support of six five seven, but I do have a question related to a section and I would ask to inquire the presenter.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Reporters interrogated.

[Speaker 19]: Thank you, Mr. President. And let me start by saying I appreciate your coverage of this difficult and disturbing topic with real empathy and decorum. So thank you very much for that. I have one question and it comes from a constituent and that's related to the non transportation related restraint and seclusion section section 12. It was brought to our attention on the Windsor delegation that there has been the use of a space and I don't know what the correct terminology is but the constituent referred to it as a rubber room which is a I believe a padded windowless space within either DCF office complexes or in a place where a child would receive protective services and this constituent was extremely disturbed by the use of these facilities, and I just want to understand how this bill would cover that and if you discuss the topic.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: Mister president, I apologize. We did receive testimony on seclusion. I I I don't remember hearing or reading about anything dealing with a rubber room in the state of Vermont. So I apologize I can try to look into it more sounds like you know more about it than me, Mr. President.

[Speaker 19]: Yes we would like to hear more about this. The constituent was concerned and had images that they provided to us that they felt should be addressed. And I believe based on the bill that you have proposed that it would cover any kind of specialized space, but it would be nice before third reading to just get confirmation that there's not a separate designation for a different kind of location for that child. So I will inquire of the presenter no further and thank them for their floor report.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Question is shall the senate senator from Windsor.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: Thank you, mister president. I'd like to thank the senator for a terrific report, albeit disturbing. I would just also like to comment that when we know we're hearing drumbeats out in the front lawn, spring really has arrived. I would like to know, you talked about data, and I appreciate whatever data is being brought to bear on this subject. But the number of times you used the word shackle just had me just, you know, deeply concerned. And so I you know?

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator, would you like to inquire of

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: something? Very much like to inquire.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: The reporter of the bill is interrogated. And, senator, I would ask you to not use the word you because it sounds like you're directing it at the senator.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: I am, but I won't. Which

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: is a violation of the rules. I

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: live to violate the rules. What can I tell you? I apologize. I would like to ask the senator, if we collect data on the number of times shackles are used on our Vermont youth a year? And if we do, is that going up or down? We didn't really hear the context of some of the issues that we're addressing, whether we're doing better, whether we're doing worse. I mean, we obviously, we can always do better. So I would I would just my inquiry, I guess, is on do we collect data on the number of times shackles are actually used on Vermont youth a year?

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: There is some data, mister president, and it is disturbing, in my opinion. And I think we're just getting more and more data. And after this report, after this bill passes, you're gonna receive even more data. And But it has been on the rise.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: That's even more disturbing. Is there an effort to so we are tracking the amount of shackle use in our youth per year? It's on the rise. Do you have any notion

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: That's exactly, mister president, what we're we wanna delve into with some of these reports and get more information on. Okay. I I do have some testimonial material that I could provide to the senator that will give her some of that information.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: Right. Thank you very much. I used you. In fact, I thank the senator very much.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Very good senator. Are you ready for the question? The question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare as amended? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. You've proposed to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on health and welfare as amended. The question now 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. Ayes have it. You've ordered third reading of h six fifty seven.

[Senator John Benson (Addison)]: We

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: are

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: passing over the next couple and going on to h seven seven

[Speaker 19]: eight. Point of inquiry.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: What is your point of inquiry?

[Speaker 19]: I respectfully request that the presiding officer list the bills that they're passing over. It's become difficult throughout today's floor to catch which ones. So I'm wondering if the presiding officer could please list which bills they are passing over.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We are passing over s two zero two and s two two three. House proposal of amendment to the senate proposal of amendment. The house has considered the senate proposal of amendment to h seven seven eight and has concurred therein with a further proposal of amendment. The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment to the senate proposal of amendment? Senator from Washington.

[Senator Anne Watson (Washington)]: Thank you, mister president. I would request a thirty second recess to meet with the members of the senate natural resources and energy committee over in this corner.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: We'll take a brief recess.

[Senator John Morley III (Orleans)]: 13 total.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Anne Watson (Washington)]: Thank you, mister president. We the senate of natural resource and energy did take a look at the recommendation from the other body, and it is a very simple change. Are just their amendment changes one word, with the a a phrase, a whole community that would be inundated if a dam were fail. It changes that to the whole community that would be affected if the dam were to fail, and it's about the the the pilot coordinating and collecting input from those those in that community. So it seemed like a very straightforward, change to us. It's more inclusive. And, so on a recommendation of, three zero two, we ask, the senate to concur.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment to the senate proposal of amendment? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and the senate has concurred in the house proposal of amendment to the senate proposal of amendment. That completes the orders of the day. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: Thank you, mister president. Before I make an adjournment motion, I just would like to remind senators of a couple of procedural things. Again as we come into the end game the calendar fills up things are moving quickly chairs are trying to balance lots of things at once. I understand all of that. With that said, people do have a right when they look at the Senate calendar and they see that something is up for action that barring some strange circumstance, it will come up for action in a predictable order. So today, we did good work, but we passed over nearly half of the items on the count. So I would just ask chairs, along with senators generally, please check the calendar for what's on action that day. If you have a bill, the idea is you're going to report it and it comes up for action. Now granted in terms of the house proposal of amendment, you need, maybe a longer committee time to decide how to respond to that perfectly fine to ask that it be passed over for a day in order to do that. What I would like to avoid is passing over a bill because you just didn't get to it. I I suppose my advice would be short and to the point, please get to it. Make sure you are ready when your bill comes up for action. The other thing that I would say is the procedure if a bill is gonna be passed over is that you come to the protem, you explain the reason why, and we talk about it. I note it. I create a little list, and then I go to the lieutenant governor and the secretary, and we work all of that out. So the senator from Windsor had a good a good point. It's difficult if we're adding bills that we're passing over as we're doing them because people are planning to report based on where the bill appears, and then people watching at home are tuning in trying to see the action. So, again, please check the calendar. Be ready, as a rule. And if you have an exception to the rule, come to me with it. I will then go to the secretary and the lieutenant governor. With that said, mister president, I would move that pending announcement, senate stand in adjournment until 10AM, Wednesday, 05/13/2026.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: And I would add on one more thing to what the pro tem said, and that is, we take a lot of recesses for bills in the, senate proposals of amendment that if you look at the calendar, we won't we'll have better flow because you can check and do your straw poll ahead of time so that we can keep it rolling once we're going. Are there any announcements? Senator from Washington.

[Senator Virginia "Ginny" Lyons (Chittenden Southeast)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate finance will meet at 01:30.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Robert Plunkett (Bennington)]: Senate appropriations will meet at 01:30.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Rutland. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Russ Ingalls (Essex)]: Senate government operations will meet at 02:00.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Bennington.

[Senator Philip Baruth (Chittenden Central), President Pro Tempore]: President of the Education Committee will meet at two.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Senator from Windham.

[Senator Anne Watson (Washington)]: Thank you, mister president. Senate institutions will meet at 01:30.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Windsor.

[Senator Alison Clarkson (Windsor), Majority Leader]: Thank you. Just a reminder for senate economic development housing and general affairs we'll be meeting again this week at 08:30 every day. Thanks.

[Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman (Presiding Officer)]: Are there any further announcements? Seeing none, the senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the senate stand in adjournment until 10AM, Wednesday, 05/13/2026. Are you ready for the question? So all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it. We'll stand in adjournment till 10AM, Wednesday, 05/13/2020