Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Thank you. Are there any announcements? Seeing none, we have a house bill for referral. That's wrong one. We don't have the committee of conference yet, so we're not announcing that. It's being on the calendar of yeah. H775 being on the calendar for notice and carrying appropriation under Rule 31 is referred to the committee on appropriations. We have h nine fifty seven. An act relating to approval of the amendments to the charter of the town of Wilson introduced by representative Bert Hardy, and it passed the house on 05/21/2026. Listen to the first reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: Each nine fifty seven, an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the town of Williston.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Now the bill has been read the first time and failing to meet the crossover deadline for temporary senate rule 44 a is referred to the committee on rules. Orders of the day. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Thank you, mister president. Just wanted to let folks know that with regard to h nine fifty five, the Ed bill, we will be taking that up on Tuesday. If at all possible, there there will be an amendment, an important amendment in the calendar today to give people time to look at it over the weekend. If it doesn't come together today there will at least be twenty four hours of calendar time between second and third week. So with that Mr. President we'll pass over nine fifty five today but if we could start with h nine twenty eight.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: After third readings?

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Yes. After third readings.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: We have h five twenty seven for third reading. Are there any amendments to be offered prior to third reading? Senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. You did say h five two seven. Correct?

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Five two seven. Yes, sir.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. Rise to support this amendment of five two seven to change the section two forty eight sunset from two 2029 to 2027. This is not about opposing telecom to infrastructure. We all understand the importance of reliable communication and public service. This is about ensuring Vermonters and their towns have a fair voice in the process. For years, the legislature has extended the sunset while promising to fix problems later. Yet communities continue to struggle with the process that is difficult to navigate, expensive to participate in and often inaccessible to rural towns with limited resources. Towns like Timmeth and Westmore have had to hire attorneys just to hear to be heard in the process before the Public Utility Commission. Accessing Vermont towers excuse me, across Vermont towers are being proposed closer to homes, schools, village centers, sometimes in areas that conflict with local town plans. Volunteer town boards and residents often do not understand the section two forty eight a process or what role they are supposed to play. That creates frustration, distrust, and con constant excuse me. Contested projects and delays progress for everyone. This amendment does not stop infrastructure development. It simply ensures legislature returns to the issue sooner rather than later. Waiting another three years while communicating continue to raise the same concern. We can support telecommunication goals while also improving transparency public participation and reasonable site. No Vermonter or community should be sacrificed for the greater good.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: We can

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: do better and we should do better for our Vermonters. For this reason, I respectfully respectfully ask for the support of this amendment. Thank you Mr. President. So it's a simple amendment of just rather than pushing out three years that we start to deal with this issue next year. I am a really a newcomer to this so I cannot speak wisely about it, but I had concerns from many constituents that asked me to please place in this amendment. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Ann Cummings]: May I ask for a short recess so that senate, finance can look at this? It was not brought to us. We did consider it, but as part of our general discussion, but this

[Senator Philip Baruth]: is We will take a brief recess.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Corner.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Please come to order. Senator from Washington.

[Senator Ann Cummings]: Thank you, mister president. After exhaustive discussion, the city the committee on finance has voted unanimously not to support this resolution. The Public Utility Commission receives around a 148 two forty eight a request a year. 99.9% of them go through without a hitch. Every year or two or three, we get one very controversial one. Sometimes the towns don't respond. I don't know if it's our responsibility to change rules because town officials miss the rules. These are public safety. Cell phones now are connected to the 911 system. They're the way when you run off the road and it's below zero, they're the way that you can reach out for help. They're the way people call for any kind of an emergency service. It's the way we communicate. To not have that ability is a risk to people. And so with this is set this system is set up, and was set up as a way to facilitate what was considered a public good, and that is cell phone service. If we wanna change that, that's another discussion. We keep doing sunsets because it's we keep we don't wanna relinquish it. There are occasional towers that are problematic and are problematic for communities. But by and large, the system works. It works for everyone. We've given it a three year sunset. We've we have extended timelines to give communities and individuals more time to be involved in the process, and we're trying to make the system better. To do it in one year would not allow present present cases to work their way through. It would encourage people to perhaps stonewall in hopes that we would change things. Some of us had hoped we could do away with the sunset altogether since we've been doing it for over a decade, well over it. But at this point, we felt that three years was a compromise. It'll let the new extended timelines work through. It won't throw a a roadblock in the way of present systems, and, we ask that this party would reject the amendment.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president, and I thank, the committee chair for her words. This was asked from towns that, believe that this process is too expensive for average town Vermont's to battle when there's true concerns. So if this amendment doesn't go through, ask the senate and the people in the committees that this is effect to try to set up some new rules, especially like distances from the tower, like 300 make a specific rule that will protect Vermonters when, guest issue comes up and they believe they do not have the resources to even be in the room to fight for what they believe they want for their town. Thank you Mr. President.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Thank you Mr. President. I won't belabor it, but I will remind senators that if it is your intent to amend a bill, best thing best case scenario is that your amendment is in the calendar, which gives people twenty four hours to take a look at it. Failing that, getting it to the committee the morning of so that they can take a look at it and we don't need to take a recess on the floor. But amending on the floor was something that no one has seen, slows our work down and often it just means you're much more likely to get a no from the committee because they have no time to process. So with that said, I understand things come up sometimes at the last minute, but to the extent possible, please try to run amendments by the committee. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? Shall the bill be amended as offered by the senator from Addison, senator Heffernan? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. No. The nays appear to have it and the amendment fails. Are there any further amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H five twenty seven, an act relating to extending the sunset of 30 BSA section two forty eight a.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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. The ayes have it and we've passed five twenty seven in concurrence with proposal of amendment. We now have h six eighty six for third reading. Are there any amendments to be offered prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H six eighty six, an act relating to expanding identification of certain lobbying advertisements.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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. The ayes have it. We've passed h six eighty six. We now have h seven fifty seven for third reading. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H seven fifty seven, an act relating to manufactured homes and limited equity cooperatives.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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. Ayes have it. We've passed h seven fifty seven. We now have h eight seven eight seventeen for third reading. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H eight seventeen, an act relating to mental health literacy and peer to peer supports in schools.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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. The ayes have it and we passed h eight seventeen. We now have h nine zero two for third reading. Are there any amendments to be offered prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H nine zero two, an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the city of Barrie.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Question is, shall the bill pass in concurrence? Senator from Rutland.

[Senator David Weeks]: Thank you, mister president. Yesterday, there was an excellent question asked by the senator from Chittenden Central. And in the interim, ledge council was able to reach out to the city manager at the time that the charter was written, Nicholas Stoille Stoille Castro, I believe, is his name. And, the question that came up had to do with the wording in the charter about expenses for the most recent voter approved fiscal year. So the answer that was offered from the city manager at the time, A budget is basically a plan of proposed revenue and expenses. And when they prepare a budget for voter approval, that budget is balanced by charter. The fund balance, and we're talking about a balance afterward, is based on an audited budget after the fact. So I will maybe give a couple of examples of how this might come up, but I do wanna stress that there's an audit performed annually on the budget. So for instance, on the revenue side of a budget are the property taxes, that's how, municipalities generate revenue. There are local option taxes. There are grants that a municipality may apply for and receive that were not necessarily in the budget as it was first proposed. And there's also potentially projects that were capital projects in a given municipality that never got taken up for a number of different reasons that also increased the revenue side of the picture. So what we're doing is allowing the city of Barrie to go from keeping 5% of what's basically left over in terms of unspent revenue and moving into 10%, and it goes in a special contingency fund, if you will. If it goes beyond that, anything above that has to go back next year to decrease property taxes. And I'm hoping that that's a satisfactory answer,

[Senator Scott Beck]: and that's my report. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? The question is shall the bill pass in concurrence? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and we've passed h nine zero two. We now have h nine fifty three for third reading. Are there any amendments prior to third reading? Seeing none, listen to the third reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H nine fifty three, an act relating to approval of an amendment to the charter of the town of Panton.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the bill pass in concurrence? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it and we've passed h nine fifty three. This is Terry. We are now moving back to the top of the calendar which brings us to h nine twenty eight. Senator from Rutland, I believe you have an amendment to offer on h nine twenty eight.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. Amendment's being handed out. I'm gonna go into this. It's very basic. What they've done is we've removed any any reference to PFAS, menstrual products, food processing.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Excuse me, senator. The secretary made me aware that you have to make the motion to substitute an amendment for the report of the committee before you launch into telling us what it does.

[Senator Terry Williams]: So, mister president, I make a motion that I be allowed to substitute this amendment for h nine twenty eight.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The senator has moved to substitute an amendment for the report of the committee on natural resources and energy, which is being passed out.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. So the amendment basically

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Oh, excuse me. Again, sorry. We now have to vote on that motion. The question is, shall the substitute amendment offered where am I? No. I'm here. I got it. The senator from Rutland has moved to substitute an amendment for the report of the committee on natural resources and energy. Are you ready for the question? Senator from Washington.

[Senator Anne Watson]: Thank you, mister president. I just wanna clarify that, we did, remove, portions of nine twenty eight that, had to do with PFAS, and that was in in respect to, the, chair of the health and welfare committee who would like more testimony on those items, and that is, perfectly lovely and, could be a great bill for another year. So, we're sticking to the other parts of this bill, and that's what this substitute amendment does. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it, and we will substitute the amendment for the report of the committee on natural resources and energy. Senator from Washington, Rutland.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. If I may, I'll start with the report again, and I'll incorporate the the changes in the, from the amendment into my report. I rise on behalf of the committee of Center of Natural Resources and Energy, to report favorably on H two ninety eight and actually relating to technical corrections of Fish and Wildlife statute. The bill makes a series of technical and administrative updates in Fish and Wildlife, laws. The proposal of the bill is to improve clarity, consistency, and implementation within existing statute. The bill does not create major new policy initiatives. Instead, it addresses operational and technical issues identified by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Agency of Natural Resources. The bill does not create major sorry, I repeat myself. So briefly, this bill does the following. First, it updates portions of Vermont's uniform point systems related to hunting and fishing and wildlife violations. These changes clarify and adjust, point values for certain violations to better align law enforcement provisions throughout the statute. Second, the bill authorized the commissioner of fish and wildlife to allow certain hunting licenses to expire three hundred sixty five days from the date of issuance rather than strictly on December 31. This provides additional administrative flexibility and convenience for license holders. Third, the bill includes several administrative and technical corrections related to licensing procedures and statutory references to improve consistency and implementation. The bill also makes clarifications related to Champion Lands reporting requirements and associated statutory language. The there, mister president, these are primarily technical and administrative corrections intended to improve the operation and clarity of existing fish and wildlife statutes. Therefore, the committee of Hawaiian Natural Resources and Energy recommends that the senate concur with the proposal of amendment to h two thirty eight nine twenty eight. Sorry. The committee vote was five zero zero. And we heard from commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, the general counsel of Department of Fish and Wildlife, the head enforcement, colonel of Fish and Wildlife, office of legislative council, the director of environmental conservation, drinking water, and groundwater protection division, lobbyist from the city of Barrie, executive director Vermont Public Interest Research Group, director of waste management and prevention division, and the deputy chief counsel for the officer legislative council. Therefore, mister president, the committee on Vermont Senate and Natural Resources and Energy recommends that concurrence would hopefully, we can pass this bill up. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The bill was then referred to the committee on finance, and for the committee on finance, the senator from Addison, senator Hardy.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. I too am going to offer a substitute amendment, which can be found on four page 4,001 of our today's calendar. So, mister president, I move that we substitute the finance committee's report with a a substitute amendment as, presented on page four o four thousand one and four thousand two of today's calendar.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The senator from Addison is moved to substitute an amendment for the report of the committee on finance. Are you ready for the question?

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale]: Point of inquiry. Are these not the best opportunities for a reporter of a bill and amendment to speak to their original language and the amendment in question so that senators can be informed about the original language and the recently introduced amendment at the same time.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator, that is sort of up to the senator reporting, or you can question the senator reporting if you still need or desire more information.

[Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale]: Mister president, do I still have the floor?

[Senator Philip Baruth]: You do.

[Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale]: Then then I might just for, courtesy's sake, recommend that, as we get more amendments and amendments to amendments on the floor, as the session wraps up that senators feel at liberty, to explain the underlying amendment and the new proposal of amendment at the same time. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: With pleasure, mister president. The original amendment from the finance committee, can be found on page thirty nine ninety nine of today's calendar, you'll note has, two instances of amendment. The first is related to unavoidable uses of PFAS and fluorine treated containers. So this is in the bucket of the PFAS stuff that we just heard about from the senator from Rutland that was removed from the Senate Natural Resources Committee's report. And the reason this is in the finance committee is because the Senate Natural Resources Committee, in doing the amendment to the original bill in committee related the amendment related to PFAS, this was supposed to have been included in that amendment and was inadvertently left out. So the Senate Natural Resources Committee requested that the Senate Finance Committee include this portion in its own amendment, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with finance, but it was included as a courtesy to the Senate Natural Resources Committee. However, given what occurred yesterday on the floor and the miscommunication with another a third committee that all of the PFAS language in the bill is being removed including this amendment this portion related to fluorine treated containers. So I'm going to offer what has been called a dad joke and say we're putting a lid on this part of the amendment. And the second part of amendment on the original amendment is exactly the same as the amendment that is the substitute amendment related to fees. And I can explain that now or wait until we talk about the substitute amendment whichever is We

[Senator Philip Baruth]: would prefer that you wait senator from Addison, please.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Okay. That part is identical just for everyone's knowledge and I'll talk about it when I get there. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The senator from Addison is moved to substitute an amendment for the report of the committee on finance. Are you ready for the question? Senator from Essex.

[Senator Russ Ingalls]: Mister president, I'm a simple guy. I'm really confused about what the heck is going on here. Can somebody just get up and say what's going on? Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator for Washington.

[Senator Anne Watson]: Senator, thank you, mister president. So apologies to the senate for the, confusion. There was a portion of, PFAS related language that ended up in the finance report along with, the portion of PFAS that was in the senate natural resources portion, which we have which we have pulled out due to, the, senator from Rutland's amendment. We also need to do the same with the finance report, and so all this substitute amendment is doing is removing, more PFAS language again so it can be reviewed in a future year. There is other there are other portions of the finance report not related to PFAS. We need to keep those. So we're just substituting. There's a substitute amendment right now to ensure that we are not talking about PFAS. That is all. I hope that's clear. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: So I might try to summarize that PFAS language has been pulled out in each committee in their respective, substitute amendments. So the question is, shall the report of the committee on finance be substituted as offered by senator Hardy and others? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it, and you have substituted the amendment for the report of the committee of finance. The question now is senator from Addison.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. So now I will be reporting on the substitute amendment, can be found on page 4,001 of today's calendar, and I will note it's an amendment from all of the members of finance. So we were all all on board with the substitute amendment. And what this is is a schedule of fees that the Department of Fish and Wildlife uses every year to for the use of structures and the lands and the use of their property for fish and wildlife lands. So for example, the Edward F. Kehoe Education Center, the the Buck Lake Conservation Camp, the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area, the Mud Creek Wildlife Management Area, the Grand Isle Fish culture Station, the Gordon Center training facility. These are all properties that are owned by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, they have different fees, for their uses, for, for education groups, for conservation camps, for school groups, for, you know, family reunion, for, a wedding, etcetera, and they charge fees. And usually these fees are adopted by rule. In fact, these fees that are in this amendment were just adopted by rule and approved in February. So these are the new fees for the 2026 season. And again, they went through the entire rulemaking process. In another bill, the miscellaneous tax bill, we made some changes to the department's authority to make, fees in rule, because, there was a feeling that they sort of crossed a little bit of a line, in making a fee or proposing a fee that was not, supported by the legislature. So we removed their ability to take to present fees by rule in most cases, not in all cases, but in most cases. So that left them in a little bit of limbo. And with gratitude to the senator from Grand Isle who was persistent in this case and came to the finance committee, I think maybe three times with varying proposals on how to deal with this. This is what's his third attempt I believe and he brought to us an amendment that would just input that put the fees into statute which is very very much like almost every other fee They are in statute. It retains the legislative, constitutional authority to set fees, while also making sure that the Department of Fish and Wildlife has the fees that they feel are are fair and that they're necessary for the use of their lands. So Mr. President, this is just adding these fees into statute as have been approved in rule earlier this session and, the revenues of the state are impacted but only in the way they would have been impacted by the rule that has already been approved. We're codifying something that was already approved and making sure that in the future the the discussion of fees go through the legislative process like most fees do. So the finance committee voted seven zero zero to ex approve this amendment, and we hope that the senate will support it. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: So the question is, shall the Senate propose to the House to amend the bill as proposed by the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy as substituted? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and you have proposed to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on natural resources and energy as substituted. Now the question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as proposed by the committee on finance as substituted. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and you have proposed to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on finance as substituted. Now the question is, shall the bill be read a third time? Senator from Rutland.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. I neglected to mention that this bill will be effective 07/01/2026.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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 nine twenty eight. Oh, you want that bag?

[Senator Scott Beck]: 43. Oh, because we're going. Yep.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: S two forty three 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 Central.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, mister president. This might be a little anticlimactic after the previous discussion, but basically the Senate has decided to concur with the House proposal of amendment. You might recall that S two forty three was a bill that was to appropriate funds to the Vermont Language Justice Project. It was a bill that, I worked on in health and welfare thinking that, because of various public health emergencies, would be great for them to be able to respond. The House took a different approach they decided to, work with the, office of racial equity who does have some funds for translation services and sort of tried to, compel them to contract with the Vermont Language Justice Project. You can see this on page 4,088 of the calendar. And it also, the language is shall, the Department of Buildings and General Services shall assist the Vermont Language Justice Project as it navigates the process to become added to the state's list of approved contractors. And I didn't know this but I just learned that the Department of Buildings and General Services, they are in charge of contracts. That is why they are mentioned in this amendment. So as I said previously, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee does concur with this proposal of amendment and we ask that the body concur. Thank you, Mr. President.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: 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 on s two forty three. We have on the calendar for action h seven ten, which passed the house.

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: Mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: We were hoping to pass over h seven ten and move to h nine fifteen.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: We will pass over h seven ten. We have on the calendar fraction h nine fifteen, which was passed by the house on 05/20/2026. It was referred to the committee on natural resources and energy, 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 four zero nine four of today's calendar, and it was 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 natural resources. 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 the proposal of amendment as recommended by the Committee on Natural Resources. Listen to the second reading of the bill.

[John H. Bloomer, Jr.]: H nine fifteen, an act relating to establishing an extended producer responsibility program for beverage containers.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: We seem to have a issue senator from Chittenden as I believe senator from Addison, senator Hardy is the reporter of this bill.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Where's where's where's

[Senator Scott Beck]: check it here.

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: How did

[Senator Philip Baruth]: I miss that? Yep. Second. K. I recognize the senator from Caledonia, senator Beck, for the report of the committee on natural resources and energy.

[Senator Scott Beck]: Thank you, Mr. President. Just before I get into the details, let me just kind of give a 30,000 foot of what's going on here. Vermont's had a deposit for bottle bill since 1973. We're all pretty familiar with it at this point. This bill does not make any changes to the eligible beverages that are currently collected or deposits applied to in Vermont. And it makes no change to the deposit amount. It's still a nickel, $0.01 5 for liquor bottles. What it does do is it increases the handling fee from $0.35 to $04

[Senator Terry Williams]: for co

[Senator Scott Beck]: mingled bottles that are returned to redemption centers and as probably most people know that handling fee is how the redemption centers get paid for their work and that 3 and a half cent fee has not changed in nineteen years so this bill would raise it to 4 and a half cents and make it so that those redemption centers can stay in business. And then the meat of this amendment is is the creation of a producer responsibility organization or what I'll refer to as the the PRO. And the PRO with its purposes is we're trying to do two things in the redemption system. One is to modernize it with, some more automation where automation makes sense and to increase the number of redemption centers that we have in the state of Vermont. As many of you know, we have wide swaths of Vermont where there are no redemption centers. In fact, in the the the the city that we are in right now, Montpelier, one of our larger cities, there is no redemption center. And there are huge areas of rural Vermont that don't even don't even have them. And so this is an attempt to more redemption centers, more convenient for Vermont or Vermonters, and that they can get through these centers more quickly and to make the system more sustainable. And that's what we're trying to do here in this bill. Just really big picture. Okay. Let me get into the meat of discussion here. Section one is really long. It establishes a couple of definitions that are new. Think one is the big one is in 1521, five out of 10 BSA Chapter 53. It introduces something called the deposit initiator. And the deposit initiator is where that nickel is first collected, usually from a distributor and the retailer pays the distributor for that nickel. The defined spare compensation in the context of the redemption center, the bill requires a PRO to develop the stewardship, stewardship plan for redemption of beverage containers. And as part of that plan, the bill requires the PRO to provide points of redemption with fair compensation so that the these redemption centers can get reimbursed for the cost of operating the center with a reasonable rate of return. Okay. In 1522, current law states that the deposit is not less than 5¢. This this language is clarified in here to say that the the deposit, the return is 5¢. So that a a redemption center can't be, returning for 6¢ or 7¢, but it's 5¢. Moving on to 1522 sub b. It increases the handling deposit fee deposit. Initiators must pay retailers and redemption centers that redeem containers. The handling fee, again for commingled beverage containers increases from 3 and a half cents to 4 and a half cents, and the handling fee for non commingled containers increases from 4 to 5¢. For those of you that aren't deep in the weeds on redemption centers, commingled means less sorts than non commingled or no. Yeah. Commingled means fewer sorts than non commingled. It's a it it doesn't make sense to me the way the language is. It's counterintuitive, at least in my mind. I'm probably counterintuitive, so it's probably correct. In 1523, there's clarifying language on the acceptance of beverage containers. On 1524 clarification of labeling, in 1527 the redemption of liquor bottles. And that clarification is that liquor containers are still 15¢ and that the handling fee for liquor containers increases from 3 and a half to 4 and a half cents. It also repeals the requirement that redemption center in 1529 that must participate in approved co mangling program if the redemption center redeems more than 250,000 containers a year. And then in 1531, we're getting into the the meat of what this bill is really about, which is the creation of the the PRO. In 1531 a, provides a no deposit initiator. Again, that's the first person to collect the nickel. May sell or distribute a beverage container in the state without participating in an ANR approved producer responsibility organization or PRO. That on or before 01/01/2027, deposit initiator shall apply to the secretary to form a PRO, that and that will fulfill the requirements of manufacturers under this chapter. The second in fifteen thirty one subsea, the secretary may approve for a period not longer than ten years a PRO provided that the PRO is a registered nonprofit corporation. It has the capacity to administer the requirements of the stewardship plan, and there are no unreasonable barriers to deposit initiators joining the PRO, and it takes into consideration the needs of small manufacturers that do not generate significant volume of containers. In '15 31 sub d, after approval, a PRO shall maintain a website that identifies the name and principal business address of each manufacturer participating in the PRO and the name of each beverage in the container size covered by the stewardship plan. Moving on to 1532, these are the stewardship plan for the PRO, their minimum requirements. Stewardship plan shall at a minimum meet all of the following requirements. There should be convenience of collection, their operation and compensation to redemption centers, redemption amounts shall be paid. There'll be collection location standards, including I'll go into a little bit little bit of detail on this because these are the redemption centers that we will all we all have in our communities or we will have in our communities. But those collection standards, they should provide timely redemption services that limit the need for persons redeeming containers to wait for redemption services. They should be at sites that are secure, sufficiently lit and managed to ensure the safety of person persons redeeming containers at that location. And they should comply with all applicable laws related to the collection, transportation and disposition of mandated recyclables. They should provide education to consumers, the PRO should, and they should also consult with stakeholders. The PRO is required to report no less than annually to ANR about what they are doing, including the name, address, and business hours of each participating redemption center, the amount in container and tons and material type of the beverage containers that are being redeemed, the location and amount of beverage container material that was recycled, and into what products the beverage container material was recycled, The carbon impacts associated with the stewardship plan, the costs associated with the stewardship plan, improvements that were made in that year to increase convenience of consumer redemption, any efforts to reduce environmental impacts and to increase reusability, PRO efforts to improve the environmental outcomes of the program, educational educational materials and educational strategies that were used by the PRO and any additional material required by the secretary. In 1532 sub d, the PRO shall implement an approved plan on 03/01/2029. At that moment in time, the handling fee will still be in effect.

[Senator David Weeks]: And

[Senator Scott Beck]: what they will do is they will use that year to move from a handling fee to a series of contracts and agreements with all of the redemption centers around the state of Vermont to ensure that these redemption centers, whether they're big or small or automated or less automated, that they will all receive enough compensation to operate that center and receive a reasonable amount of return. In 1532 sub e, ANR can require PRO to conduct additional education outreach, provide additional redemption site or additional redemption opportunities if the PRO fails to meet the beverage container redemption rate for beverage containers. And we'll talk about those rates in just a little bit. In 1533 under programming fiscal audit, 1533 sub A requires an independent third party program audit of a PRO stewardship plan every five years. The audit shall make recommendations to improve the operation of the collection program. It's B requires the PRO to conduct the fiscal audit annually to analyze the PRO, its expenditures, the number of beverage containers containers collected, and the amount of unclaimed deposits. The audit shall also provide the redemption rate of beverage container containers redeemed in the state and those results should be submitted to AANR. In 1534, this establishes the goals for increased redemption rates that we would hope to see after the PRO has modernized the program and built out the redemption center network. And it is hoped that by 07/01/2030, Vermont will have increased its redemption rate to 75%. And by 07/01/2033, it would have increased to 80%. My recollection is is from testimony is that is that currently Vermont's redemption rate, I believe was 72%. Seven. And ANR shall recommend whether the beverage container deposit for any category of container should increase. There is no but there is no automatic increase to the container deposit in this bill. ANR in 1535, ANR may adopt rules necessary for administration of the redemption system. There's also an antitrust language in here in 1536, which exempts the PRO and its participants from state antitrust laws that they can work together to implement the PRO. This does not this exemption does not apply to price fixing or restricting sales in any air in any area of the state or in any product. Under section two, so we're finally out of section one. Section two ten b s a fifteen twenty three, the acceptance of beverage containers when PRO implements the plan Beginning 03/01/2029 when the PRO implements the stewardship plan, this section adds additional exemptions to the requirement that retailers or manufacturers redeem beverage containers. And that is if a retailer has less than 5,000 square feet and the PRO implements a plan, the retailer can refuse redemption. If the manufacturer has direct to consumer sales, they can refuse redemption of the sales locations less than 5,000 square feet as well. In subsea, a point of redemption or PRO can refuse to redeem containers that were known to have been purchased out of state, have already been redeemed or are not registered with the PRO. So the example we discussed in committee is, you know, what happens when, the key New Hampshire literally fills a trailer with deposit bottles and drives across the, the river to Springfield or Brattleboro, and then that center knows that these bottles are coming from New Hampshire. If they if they know and that's the language in there is if it is known, they can refuse to accept those those containers. In section three, standard notice and comment procedures. It events 10 BSA seven seven fourteen to provide the ANR's approval of a PRO stewardship plan for beverage container redemption. Solvent shall be subject to type three notice and comment. Section four of the Clean Water Fund, the Clean Water Fund authorizes the transfer of unclaimed beverage container deposits. That money goes to Clean Water Fund right now, and that will go to the solid waste management assistance account for four fiscal years to allow grants for implementation of the PRO and its standard and its stewardship plans. This is a lot of the money that will help with the automation of the system. In FY 3031, a million dollars will be transferred in each of those years. And in FY 02/3233, July will be transferred in each of those years, so for a total of $3,500,000 over four years. Section five establishes the waste management assistance fund, I'm sorry. Amends it. Amends the the fund to recognize that the solid waste management assistant account assistance account may include transfers from the Clean Water Fund. That's just simply so that the fund can actually transfer the money. And in sub b, sub 11 authorizes ANR to enter a grant with the PRO to reimburse the cost of equipment and improvements to infrastructure to implement the PRO stewardship plan. That's what allows for the the transfer of money so some of these machines can be purchased to speed up some of the centers. In section six is the ANR status report on implementation of the stewardship plan, which says in honor before 01/01/2020 01/01/2030, ANR reports to the general assembly assembly, the status of implementation of the stewardship plan, including how the convenience of collection and fair compensation requirements were implemented and how the system has been modernized. Section seven is the repeal of the handling fee under the PRO stewardship plan, repeals the handling fee. Section seven that, points of redemption received under the stewardship plan, fair compensation shall be provided by negotiation with points of redemption. So this is the section that allows us to transition from a handling fee to a fair compensation amount as the PRO takes over, I believe. Section eight is the repeal of the redemption center certification and beverage registration. Section eight repeals the requirement of 10 BSA fifteen twenty nine that ANR certified redemption centers because once the PRO is implementing a plan, the PRO will be responsible for approving redemption centers. Sections nine through 12 are household hazardous product stewardship plans. They make technical changes to household hazardous products, extended responsibility program to allow more than one PRO, but only for specific product sectors. Oh, last page. Getting there. Effective dates. This act takes effect on 07/01/2026, except that the requiring of U UPC labels and barcodes on all containers takes effect 07/01/2027. That's just to give the beverage industry some time to, you know, gear up to making sure everything labeled correctly. Thought that 07/01/2026 would probably be a little bit tight. The prohibition the prohibiting sale of beverages without being registered with the PRO, that would take effect on 07/01/2027. Requirements for acceptance of beverage containers after plan implementation takes effect 03/01/2029. That's when the PRO takes effect. Capital Implemental Grants take effect on 07/01/2029. That's so those transfers in FY thirty, thirty one, thirty two, and '33 can occur. And it repeals the handling fee under the PRO plan effective 07/01/2030. That's one year after the PRO takes effect. That's that year where we're gonna have to transition from a handling fee to the PRO compensation for the redemption centers. Your senate committee on natural resources energy, took testimony from ledge council, director of waste management prevention, like, probably a dozen times at least. Many of our redemption centers, the beverage industry, deeper, and other interested stakeholders. The vote in your committee was five zero zero, and we would ask for the senate's report. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: I recognize the senator from Addison, senator Hardy, for the report of the committee on finance.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. This bill came to finance to assess the impact on the revenues of the state. The senator from Caledonia did such a great job with his report. I don't have very much to add, but I will say that we looked at, first of all, the transfers from the Clean Water Fund to the Solid Waste Management Assistance account of the Waste Management Assistance Fund. As the Senator relayed, there would be transfers of a million dollars in 02/3031 and 750,000 in 2032 and '33 respectively. So a total of $3,500,000 transferred from clean water fund to solid waste management fund. And as was noted, these revenues are from the eschetes, great word, the eschetes, which are the bottles that are not returned and redeemed for their 5¢. So that funding has for the last, I think, seven years gone into the Clean Water Fund, as an additional revenue source. That Clean Water Fund also has a clean water surcharge and the, property transfer tax, interest income from the fund, the sheets or unclaimed bottle deposits, and 6% of the meals and rooms tax. So it's about $31,000,000 a year. The sheets portion of that is ranges from it's 3,500,000 to a projection of 3,800,000 in 2027. So moving a a million or 750 is is about is less than a third, almost a quarter of the funds from the sheets from the Clean Water Fund. And those are, as the senator from Caledonia mentioned, to be those that revenue is to be used for infrastructure improvements to, set, to improve the redemption system in Vermont during the first few years of the producer responsibility organization. So that's one portion. As noted, there's an increase of the handling fee, a temporary increase in the handling fee. It does impact the revenues of the state slightly because the Department of Liquor and Lottery does the returns for liquor bottles. You might notice on your liquor bottles, if you drink liquor, that they are a 15% return rate $0.15 I'm sorry, a redemption rate. And they pay a handling fee to the redemption system. And this would increase it slightly temporarily, and that increase for DLL to cost to their budget would be about $35,000 per year. Again, it's not an ongoing increase to the handling fee. And then finally the handling fee itself as was noted in the committee report this handling fee is not paid for by the state with the exception of the Department of Liquor and Lottery. It is paid for by beverage distributors, paid for to the redemption centers. It's a temporary increase from, 3.5¢ to 4.5¢ per bottle, or can. And, it would end in 2,030 after the first year. It's a sort of a bridge to get into a new, system. The last time that handling fee increased was in 2009 so it's been seventeen years since that handling fee has increased and our redemption centers in all parts of our state have seen an increase in labor costs and increase in utility costs, rental costs, all the transportation costs, all the costs. So, both the committees felt that it was a fair increase and it is only temporary, so will not be not be permanently in the system. And, again, it does not impact the revenues of the state except for that small 35,000 for the Department of Liquors Liquor and Lottery. The Senate Finance Committee heard from a number of witnesses similar to natural resources committee. The vote in committee was four to one, mister president, and we asked the president oh, we asked the senate for support. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Recognize the senator from Washington, senator Watson, for the report of the committee on appropriations.

[Senator Anne Watson]: K, mister president. Senate appropriations did take a look at this, and, everything I have to say has already been said twice already, actually, at this point. But just to reiterate, the increased handling fee will affect, the cost to the Department of Liquor and Lottery, and so because they will be, paying, that handling fee, and so that it will be an increase of $35,000 a year. And then the was mentioned with the sheets and money, coming from the sheets via the Clean Water Fund, to support, grants for modernization, of equipment, that starts in 2030. And, the first two years, there, it's a it's a million dollars, and then 750,000, for the the next two years with a for a total of 1.5, million dollars over four years. And the, vote out of appropriations was four one two when we asked for the senate support. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the senate propose to the house to amend the bill as recommended by the committee on natural resources and energy? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. The ayes have it. You propose to the house to amend the bill as proposed by the committee on natural resources. The question now is, shall the bill be read a third time? Are you ready for the question? Senator from Rutland.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. So the bottle bill is fifty three years old and served its purpose quite well. But over the past half a century, the state has adopted a robust recycling robust recycling systems. We now have two systems. We have the twentieth century bottle redemption system and we have the twenty first century recycling systems. I believe our effort should be further to enhance the recycling system statewide. I support the elimination of the bottle bill program. This program has outlived its purpose. As a signal to this goal, I intend to vote no on age nine fifteen and support sunsetting the bottle bill. Thank you, mister

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, nay. Nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it, and you have ordered third reading of h nine fifteen.

[Senator Scott Beck]: Okay.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: S three twenty six was passed by the house with proposal of amendment. The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment? Senator from Lamoille.

[Senator Richard Westman]: The transportation committee went through the miscellaneous DMV bill, and we would recommend that, we concur with further amending, and the clerk should have the amendment.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment with further amendment? Senator from Lamoille.

[Senator Richard Westman]: They're passing the amendment out. There are two instances of of change from the DMV bill that went over. One. They worked on language from the house that dealt with texting and handheld mobile devices for commercial vehicles. The language that we got from the House simply called for a securely mounted device. And that language that is in our statute is language that has been there quite a long time. The concern for our committee was when we looked at what all the states around us are doing, they don't require a secure device. On the third page of the handout that you've got, you will see from line eight to line 17, where is what we're recommending it be changed to, which says that this does not apply to hands free use. If you're using your phone, it happens to be that it's in your jacket, but you're talking to it and you're not holding it in your hand, that that's all right. That's what New York, that's what Massachusetts, that's what New Hampshire, that's what all the states around us do. They do require a fixed device if you're going to do something like Google Maps and you're looking. And this in line C, lines 11 through 13 in your handout, would require the same thing. So if you're speaking to your phone, you aren't holding it, that under this would be clear and would be legal. And it would be very much the same as how you would deal with a pleasure car vehicle and what the rules are around that. That's the first change that we're recommending in the menu that The second change in your handout is on page four. And what we're basically, this deals with mufflers on motorcycles. And what this requires is that they have a stamp. It it assumes if they can't see a stamp that there is a stamp there. And the stamp is a federal requirement anyway, so this would mean that you can't get your vehicle or your motorcycle inspected without the stamp that's a federal requirement. So it brings, it coordinates our inspections with the federal rules. And those are the two changes within this amendment that we're suggesting that we concur with the house with these two amendments.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the senate concur in the house proposal of amendment with further proposal of amendment as offered by the senator from Lamoille? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and the motion carries. H six sixty. The committee of conference has submitted the report and found and it is found in today's calendar. The question is, shall the senate accept and adopt the report of the committee on conference on h six sixty? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, mister president. Your committee on conference met, and we resolved the very few differences that we had, on h six sixty. I'll go through those briefly, and try to capture most or all of them. So on page forty one thirty nine, the House, accepted our, proposal on having syringe services. And then later on, you'll see language that we had put in about the Department of Health of having a program to have return of syringe services included as well. Also on that page, Department of Health creation of the new opioid use disorder residential treatment beds. The House had proposed a 1,200,000, lump sum. We had split it out, to 600,000 and 600,000. We concur with the House on the 1.2, but we also think it's important to state that treatment is important. And so we ask that both and, both the recovery residences and the medical treatment be included in that $1,200,000. We also, the house also agreed with the prevent program, the money that would allow for EMS folks to, be educated and carry buprenorphine. We also on page forty one forty, we concurred

[Senator Terry Williams]: with

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: the house in reducing the amount of money available for the Vermont Recovery Network, that was not in the house bill, but the $500,000, a reduction from the $800,000 that the senate had proposed. We also we we as part of that, number 12 on page forty one forty, but within the budget, there was, some such, opioid, overdose prevention funding for the Department of Aging and Independent Living for the hireability employment program. We have moved that out of the budget and into the bill to keep all of the opioid funds in one place. So that $875,000 will be taken out of the budget, so there won't be a duplication. Then there is language on page 4,140 relating to the Overdose Prevention Center in Burlington. The money $1,100,000 is not, directly appropriated this year, but intent language is added so that that as that prevention center is a purchased or and fit up, the money will be made available and will have time during the BAA process to consider that. Then the language on page 4,141 related to the higher ability. Now higher ability has been a highly effective program funded through the opioid abatement funding process, and it's the intent of the General Assembly to move that into a more permanent, based funding. So that is the intent language on that page. There is also language, that was conferred to, by the House on adding, his consultation with the attorney general when the opioid advisory committee makes its decisions. There's also language on page forty one forty three that we both agree with, or both the house and the senate agree with, on suspending activity for decision making and expenditures from the fund in 2028. The house concurred with the senate on expenditures on page forty one forty three with some language that we had also included relative to that. Then on page 4,144 is the language related to the syringe recovery that we added in this, in the Senate chamber, and the House concurred with that. Then also the language then beginning on page 4,144 for the substance misuse prevention special fund, the House agreed with the Senate to ensure that those programs that are listed there are funded through the substance misuse prevention fund rather than the opioid, fund. And then, language, that the senate proposed on page forty one forty five for reporting about how the substance misuse fund is utilized and how much of the fund, remains after expenditures, the house concurred with the senate on that as well. That is the report. Your committee of conference asks that you, support our, report. Thank you, mister president.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Question is, shall the Senate accept it about the report of the video conference

[Senator Philip Baruth]: on page

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, Mr. President. You may recall that h eight sixteen is an act relating to regulating the use of artificial intelligence and the provision of mental health services. This is a bill that was designed to protect vulnerable folks who seek mental health counseling from being counseled by an AI chat bot or other AI technologies. As we have seen, there have been some very, tragic results of those interactions. When the bill came to, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee from the House, it was a little bit complicated and, difficult to follow. So we simplified it and sent it back over to the house. And in the interim, we heard from a lot of mental health practitioners who had some concerns. So the house, of sending it back to us because it was very late in the game, decided to go to a conference committee with some very logical, amendments. One being that, they, altered the definition of mental health services to be in line with that of the state of Maine. Wanting to protect folks but not wanting to stymie innovation and not wanting to make certain administrative processes illegal because those are very helpful to mental health practitioners and other health practitioners as well. The house also added the word clinical throughout the bill. And oh, and by the way, I am on page forty one forty six of the calendar. They also wanted to make sure that things like meditation apps and sleep apps were not going to get included in this prohibition, so they made sure that the language did not put a prohibition on those kinds of apps. They took out a $10,000 fine per violation because they decided and we conferred that the Consumer Protection Act already covers folks who might have issues with this particular technology. Also, one piece that we did not acquiesce to, I guess you would say, is that we had added a member of the Board of Medical Practice to the AI Advisory Board. They wanted to take that member off and add the Director of Professional Regulation or designee. We agreed with their choice of the of OPR being on that advisory council, but we also wanted the board of medical practice. So in the end, we decided on both of those. That makes the AI advisory council a group of 12 people, which we think is is okay. And, yeah, that was that's basically where we landed, and we did vote five zero zero to accept the house proposal of amendment. And we would ask that the senate concur.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is shall the senate accept and adopt the report of the committee conference on h eight sixteen. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it, and we have accepted and adopted the report of the committee conference on h eight sixteen. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Thank you, mister president. At this time, I would ask that we suspend our rules in order to bring h six forty two and aggravating the useful offender proceedings, that committee of conference report up for immediate action from the notice count.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Ginny And Central has moved that the senate suspend its rules in order to take off the notice calendar for immediate action h six forty two. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Ayes have it and the motion carries. We have the report of the committee of conference on h six forty two. The question is, shall the senate accept and adopt the report of the committee of conference? Senator from Windham.

[Senator Nader Hashim]: Thank you, mister president. This will be a pretty short report. So h six forty two, folks may remember, that was a bill related to, youthful offender that was meant to close a loophole for defendants who were aging out of the status, and the loophole remains closed as a result of the bill. However, we did make a separate technical change and the Senate proposal apparently led to some, significant confusion. And so this bill, the conference report is located on page forty one ninety eight. Section two is located on page 4,200 and that's where we made some additional changes. The misunderstanding allowed us to create some further clarity. We agreed to remove language regarding a victim testifying as to the appropriateness of youthful offender status for a defendant. Again this was meant to be technical because ultimately it is the judge who makes a determination as to the appropriateness after hearing from a variety of witnesses including the victim. The conference committee made some further clarifications that a victim can testify at both the consideration hearing and the disposition hearing. We also agreed on some other minor changes such as replacing the phrase youthful offender treatment with youthful offender status. And that is the report, and I ask for the senate support.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the senate accept and adopt the report of the committee conference on h six forty two? Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and we have accepted and adopted the report of the committee conference on h six forty two. We have appointments reported out of committee to take up for confirmation. This is the appointment for John Morad as the commissioner of the Department of Corrections for a term, including 03/08/2026 and to and including 02/28/2027 and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Bennington.

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: Yeah. Thank you, mister president. Your dissent institutions committee, is, recommending confirmation of the appointment of, John Morad as commissioner of department of corrections. So I was driving up from Bennington today and thinking about this rather dry report, and I believe I lost about seven minutes of time. During that time, I can't tell you exactly what happened, but I think I found a way to make it look slightly more interesting at least to me. So although this is a very serious, appointment, I, want to believe that I'll have the indulgence to put some frivolity, into this report. So, John, Murad was born and raised in Vermont. He graduated from Mount Mansfield and earned earned a bachelor's of arts degree in English and American literature from Harvard University in 1995. Commissioner Morad has dedicated more than twenty years to public safety, serving communities in New York City and Vermont, and he joined the New York City Police Department in 2005. Now this is the point where you might be thinking he graduated from college in 1995 and then started working NYPD in 2005. So what happened during those lost years? So I learned that he was in Hollywood and he had a couple of roles and a couple of television shows that I think should remain unmentioned but his last role was on The X Files. I want to believe that that inspired him to go into a career of extraterrestrial investigation, and that's what brought him to the NYPD. I cannot confirm that in any way shape or form but like any good conspiracy theorist I did not go back to the internet to DBS's or using but he joined the NYPD in 2005. He was rising through the ranks from police officer to detective sergeant ultimately to assistant commissioner and that's a six rank promotion that piece was described as unprecedented NYPD history, and in that final role he served as a senior policy advisor and commanded the Office of Strategic Communications overseeing a 49 person unit. Now that office of strategic communications, again, I want to believe that that was NYPD's X unit. And, again, I cannot confirm that in any way, shape, or form, but I think that was his goal to get into and command the x files unit in NYPD. So subsequent to that, he served as chief of staff at a private risk consultancy group before returning to public service in Vermont. And again, that private risk consultancy group, I want to believe it was not called the Millennium Group. But after that, much like agent Jack Black, he returned home to live a quiet life and became the commissioner or became the the deputy chief of operations at the Burlington Police Department in 2018. I became acting chief in in 2020 before becoming officially appointed and confirmed as chief in June 2023. So during that time, he administered the $17,200,000 budget, commanded 145 full time employees leaving the department through the COVID-nineteen pandemic and also a significant spike in gun violence. During that time, created the crisis advocacy intervention programs to provide person centered, trauma informed care for individuals experiencing substance use disorder, homelessness, and mental health crises. And I want to believe that that program also was Burlington Police Department's X Files unit. Again, I can't confirm this in any way, shape, or form. So he stepped down from that in April 2025. And just a few months later, governor Scott appointed commissioner Murat as interim commissioner of the Vermont Department of Corrections in August, on 08/15/2025. He was formerly appointed not too long ago. And he did appear before our committee, and he he recognized the department's challenges. And I think we're now calling them also challenges and opportunities in the same way. This includes staffing shortfalls, facility deficiencies,

[Senate Reading Clerk]: the need

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: to expand programming and reentry supports. And he he spoke to it, and I think he spoke to a a genuine commitment to the men and women who carry out that work at DOC every day. He also echoed the urgency that's definitely spoken in in our committee, I believe, of many many others. Essentially that there's the need for a new women's facility. Today, but yesterday. For Commissioner Murrah though for for me, I had some understanding of him beforehand. He'd come to our committee. I heard about him from before but there are some things that really stuck out to me with commissioner Murad is that he really acknowledges what he does not know and that he has a lot to learn and is able to delegate to those that have been serving at the BART corrections for for much much longer. And he displayed to me at least a a willingness to accept criticism directly. And quite frankly, I set him up for it. And I think he he responded fairly well during the the committee hearing. One thing that would what really struck me as well, though, he talked about twenty years of being on one side of the nine one one calls of responding to them. And now he's over on the other side of what happens after the 911 calls. And he described it not in a way of having a response to the 911 calls, but of thinking about it in terms of being in a position where now he might be able to, if it's done correctly, to prevent the next 911 call. And having been myself in the middle of those two, I I appreciated that that viewpoint of that position. So the the voting committee to approve the appointment was five zero zero, and we ask for the senate support.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the appointment of John Morad as commissioner of department of corrections be confirmed by the senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested, and when the vote is taken, it shall be by roll. Are you ready for the question? If so, the secretary shall call the roll.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Senator Ruth. Yes. Senator Beck. Yes. Senator Benson.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Yes.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Senator Hardy. Senator Harrison. Yes. Senator Hashim. Yes. Senator Heffernan. Yay. Senator Ingalls. Yes. Senator Lyons. Yes. Senator Major. Yes. Senator Matos? Yes. Senator Morley? Yes. Senator North? Yes. Senator Pershing? Yes. Senator Plunkett? Yes. Senator Ron Hinsdale?

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: No.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Those voting yes, 26. Those voting no, 22. The eyes Sorry. Too many tattoos. Those voting yes, 26. Those voting no, two. The ayes have it and you have confirmed the appointment of John Morad as the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections. We now have the appointment of Rick Hildebrandt for the position of Commissioner Department of Health for term from and including 10/13/2025 to and including 02/28/2027 and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Orange.

[Senator Mark A. MacDonald]: Thank you, mister president. As far as I know, doctor Hildebrand has no connection to Hollywood. The Vermont Commissioner of Health is the chief health officer for the state. He oversees the Vermont Department of Health and has a number of responsibilities and oversight including public health hazard mitigation, appointment of local health officials, health care quality and reporting, and health disease prevention, licensing and enforcement of public health statutes, and emergency preparedness and response. And I think we all saw the value of Doctor. Levine over the COVID period. And so Doctor. Hildebrand has some pretty big shoes to fill there. Doctor Hildebrand earned his doctorate of medicine from Drexel University College of Medicine and a master's of business administration from the University of Massachusetts. He completed his residency and intern med medicine at Dartmouth Medical Center and is the clinical assistant professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. He is committed to advancing Vermont's public health, priorities through data driven decision making, cross sector collaboration, and evidence based policy. He is honored to lead the talented team at the Department of Health to ensure Vermont remains one of the healthiest states in the nation. Doctor. Hildebrand has testified in front of the Health and Welfare Committee on numerous occasions, always in a very professional manner and always concerned about health and welfare of the people of the state of Vermont. The health and welfare committee unanimously supports doctor Hildebrand's appointment to commissioner of health, and we would look to the senate's concurrence.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Question is, shall the appointment of Rick Hildebrandt as commissioner of department of health be confirmed by the senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senator Terry Williams]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested, and when the vote is taken, it shall be by roll. Are you ready for the question? If so, the secretary shall call the roll.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Senator Perchlik. Yes. Ram Hinsdale. Senator Pikovsky.

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: Senator Watson. Yes.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Those

[Senator Philip Baruth]: voting yes, 26. Those voting no, zero. The ayes have it, and you've confirmed the appointment of Rick Hildebrandt as the commissioner of the Department of Health. We now have the appointment of Sandy Hoffman to take up at this time as the commissioner of Department of Children and Families for term from and including 03/22/2026 to and including 02/28/2027 and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Your health and welfare committee unanimously, supported the confirmation of the, Commissioner of Department of Children and Families, Sandra Raymond Hoffman, Sandy Hoffman as we refer to her. She's been the Interim Commissioner. And I personally in her testimony in our committee have found her openness and candor and honesty to be very refreshing, not to mention her deep knowledge of this area. Sandy graduated from Woodbury College in 1991, went on to get a bachelor's degree in sociology and criminal justice in 1999 at Trinity College. Some of us remember that lovely college in Burlington, as well as, a master's of social work in 2002 at the University of Vermont. She worked for the battered women's services in Montpelier and from '92 to '94 she was their vice president of the board of directors And then she was a victim's advocate from 1991 to 1994. She was responsible for providing crisis support to individuals and families involved in domestic violence situations. From 1993 to 1997, she was a correctional officer at the South Burlington facility, Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. There, she provided evaluations to employees, conducted investigations, reviewed grievances and delivered crisis intervention services. From 1997 to 2015 she worked for DCF at the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Colchester. From 'ninety seven to 2011, she was a youth counselor and an acting team supervisor. Her supervisory responsibilities included support and monitoring of the work of counselors, interns, volunteers, and residents. And then from 2011 to 2015, she was the program evaluation and quality assurance specialist. She was responsible for development and maintenance of systematic, sorry, systemic evaluation processes to monitor programming, measure outcomes and ensure adherence to laws, accrediting organization standards, regulating authorities and the agency of human services and family services division policies. And she was at DIVA for a very long time, the Department of Vermont Health Access. From 2015 to 2019, she was the manager and director of the quality improvement and clinical integrity, group. From 2019 to 2020. She was a clinic clinical chief and from 2020 to 2025, she was the deputy commissioner. So a vast array of knowledge in her portfolio. She's a dynamic leader, and we do hope that the senate will concur with our decision to support the confirmation of Sandy Hoffman. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the appointment of Sandy Hoffman as the commissioner of the Department of Children and Families be confirmed by the senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senator Nader Hashim]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested, and when the vote is taken, it shall be viral. Are you ready for the question? If so, the secretary shall call the roll.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Those

[Senator Philip Baruth]: voting yes, 28. Those voting no, zero. And the ayes have it, and you have confirmed the appointment of Sandy Hoffman as the commissioner of the Department for Children and Families. This is the appointment of Sarah Teachout as a member of the Green Mountain Care Board for a term and including 07/28/2025 to and including 09/30/2029, and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Washington.

[Senator Ann Cummings]: Thank you, mister president. Unlike most of the appointees that we deal with, Sarah Teachow is a familiar face to many of us. She has spent many years in this building. Sarah Teachow of STOW received a bachelor's degree from UVM and a master's in public administration from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU. She began her career with sixteen years serving in this building as part of our joint fiscal office, where she specialized in fiscal analysis. I'm not sure how I would have survived my first few years in finance and chairing finance without Sarah there. She was always accurate. She knew the subject. She helped us as we worked our way through the proposals for single payer health care and setting up the catamount system and various tax schemes. She was always right on, very accurate. She unfortunately left us for a while and went and spent nine years at Blue Cross Blue Shield as their public and media specialist. So she was back in this building again, and she's been very helpful to the health and welfare committee as we've worked our way through cost containment. Her analysis of the drivers in health care costs, She was the one that brought it to our attention that some of our hospitals were doing hundreds up to 1000% markup in infusion drugs. We curtailed that a year ago, and it resulted in a several I think, like, a 5% decrease in the cost of health insurance policies. So she's been right there analyzing the system. The vote in committee was five zero zero, and we asked this body to concur.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the appointment of Sarah Teachow as a member of the Green Mountain Care Board be confirmed by the Senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senator David Weeks]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested, and when the vote is taken, it shall be by roll. Are you ready for the question? Secretary shall call the roll. The yeses 28, the noes zero. The ayes have it and you have confirmed Sarah Teachout as a member of the Green Mountain Care Board. This is the appointment of Owen Foster as the chair of the Green Mountain Care Board for a term from and including 10/01/2024 to and including 09/30/2030, and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, mister president. I I feel like this is a reaffirmation as much as a confirmation, and I can't compete with a junior senator from Bennington, but we'll just share that chair Foster is the nephew of the person in Addison County who developed the first methane digester in the state.

[Senator Terry Williams]: So

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: and now has voodoo compost. But Owen Foster is well known to us in Senate Health and Welfare as he is to, I think, everyone in the chamber and his outspoken attention to improving the system of care in the state of Vermont, ensuring financial sustainability of our hospitals, and also working very carefully to ensure that, we move forward with savings for Vermonters, for their health care costs. He was first appointed to the board in October 22. He has a broad range of experiences as an attorney. He served as the US Attorneys in the US attorney's office for the District of Vermont. He led civil and criminal cases, one of which we may be interested in. That was the Purdue Pharma case of 2020 where Purdue was convicted on three felonies and agreed to pay over $8,000,000,000 in penalties. That's the largest pharmaceutical case in the country's history. He was a prosecutor in that case. Also worked on other, similar pharma, big pharma, and other Department of Justice medical record, settlements, ensuring that medical records were, held discrete and not shared. So he a lot of his experiences actually have been in the area of cybersecurity and data protection, AI,

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: which

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: is right now very, very pertinent to the work that we do, as well as in the area of IT, and development of health information technology. He was a director for the, he did some securities litigation and data privacy work when he was at another law firm in Boston, Massachusetts, the Decker firm. He has many awards and honors for the work that he has done. He graduated from the Columbia School of Law and as well as the University of Vermont prior to that time. Mister president, he has been a a good partner in the work that we have done in our health and welfare committee, and I would ask that we all vote to confirm, Owen Foster as chair of the Green Mountain Care Board.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the appointment of Owen Foster as the chair of Green Mountain Care Board be confirmed by the senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senator David Weeks]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested, and when the vote is taken, it shall be by roll. Are you ready for the question? The secretary shall call the roll.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Senator Morley. Yes. Senator North. Yep. Senator Pershing. Yes. Senator Plunkett. Yes. Senator Ronald Hinsdale. Yes. Senator Mahovsky. Yes. Senator Watson. Yes.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Those voting yes, 28. Those voting no, zero. The ayes have it. You've confirmed Owen Foster as the chair of the Green Mountain Care Board.

[Senator Scott Beck]: That's all we got. Right?

[Senator Philip Baruth]: I have one conference committee announcement, h seven forty. Senator Watson, Senator Bongartz, Senator Williams. That completes the orders of the day.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Mister president, I'm wondering about Jenny Samuelson.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: We understand that we were not ready for Senator, that would require a rule suspension.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: I I think as long as we're about it, we might as well finish it. So I would suggest that, we suspend our rules in order to take up the confirmation for Jenny Sanderson of Shelburne, Vermont for immediate action.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the senate suspend its rules in order to take up Jenny Samuelson for confirmation. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it, and we will take up the confirmation. This appointment is for Jenny Samuelson as secretary of the agency of human services for a term from and including 03/01/2025 to and including 02/28/2027 and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, mister president. Jenny Samuelson, again, this is a a reaffirmation of the work that she has been doing in the agency of, human services. Her her experience over time really lends itself well to the work of the agency. She began early experience in health education and community health workforce development. She worked within the lead poisoning prevention as prevention program coordinator, managing CDC grant funding. She had leadership roles in between 2008 and 2018 and, further developing the blueprint program of health, a very important program that we have in primary care for quality improvement, care management, statewide implementation, initiatives, managing the budgets and the grants and contracts for that program, which can be quite complicated. Complicated. She became deputy commissioner and principal assistant for the Department of Vermont Health Access in 2018. And as you can imagine, between 2018 and 2020, when she held that role, the difficulty, through some of the pandemic. She has also then moved in to become deputy secretary of the agency of human services, leading strategic development for vaccine distribution, testing operations, housing, vulnerable population response, and help stabilize health care and human services systems through the, continuing her work through the pandemic. She has received a bachelor's degree, in nutritional science from the University of Vermont and a master's degree from the, Southern Illinois University on health education. She continues to lead the agency of human services as secretary since 2022, and her work has been extremely important to the transformation process that we're going on now, the development of the strategic plan, and integrated work with the Green Mountain Care Board as well as the legislature. Most recently, providing leadership on the rural health transformation grant that is critically important to our more rural parts of the state and the development of health care health care transportation, medical care, and human services supports, as a result of that grant. Mister president, the, your senate health and welfare, ask that you confirm Jenny with your vote. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The question is, shall the appointment of Jenny Samuelson as the secretary of the agency of human services be confirmed by the senate? Are you ready for the question?

[Senator Nader Hashim]: Roll call.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Roll call has been requested and when the vote is taken, it shall be by roll. Are you ready for the question? The secretary shall call the roll.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: Senator Yes. Senator Weeks. Yes. Yes. Senator Weeks. Senator White. Senator Williams. Yes. Senator Hardy. Senator White.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Those voting yes, 28. Those voting no, zero. The ayes have it. You've concern confirmed Jenny Samuelson as the secretary of the agency of human services. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Scott Beck]: Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: I got one. At this time, I would move that our rules be suspended in order to message our actions on the following bills to the house forthwith. S three twenty six, an act relating to miscellaneous amendments to laws relating to motor vehicles. H five twenty seven an act relating to extending the sunset of '30 VSA two forty eight a. H six forty two an act relating to youthful offender proceedings. H six eighty six an act relating to expanding identification of certain lobbying advertisements. Age seven fifty seven, an act relating to manufactured homes and limited equity cooperatives. Age eight seventeen, an act relating to mental health literacy and peer to peer supports in schools. H nine zero two, an act relating to approval of amendments to the charter of the city of Barrie. H nine fifty three, an act relating to approval of an amendment to the charter of the town of Pantone. H six sixty, an act relating to fiscal year 2027 opioid abatement special fund appropriations. And h eight sixteen, an act relating to regulating the use of artificial intelligence in the provision of mental health service.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the senate suspend its rules in order to message our actions on s three twenty six, h five twenty seven, h six forty two, H six eighty six, H seven fifty seven, H eight seventeen, H nine zero two, H nine fifty three, H six sixty, and h eight sixteen to the house forthwith. Are you ready for the question? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. Ayes have it, and the motion carries. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Thank you, mister president. Before I offer an adjournment motion, I just want to give a heads up to senators about next week. When we begin to message all of our bills, we are accelerating on purpose, and next week, we will accelerate even further. So we will need to have two sessions per day or at least the possibility of two sessions per day. So by the end of day today, we will confer with money committee chairs and others and send out notice to everybody about when that afternoon session will be scheduled each day of next week, but prepare for that. So if you've gotten used to leaving the state house early, next week will be a different story. With that said, mister president, I would move that pending announcements, the senate stand in adjournment until 10AM, Tuesday, 05/26/2026.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are there any announcements? Senator from Washington.

[Senator Ann Cummings]: Thank you, mister president. Senate finance will meet at 01:00 for what I hope will be a very short meeting.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Seth Bongartz]: Senator appropriations will meet after the conference committee on the budget, which I think could be two, but it could be sooner if you wanna try to get we have three bills to get out to clear our schedule for next week's, hopefully, adjournment week.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Rutland.

[Senate Reading Clerk]: That one. Great.

[Senator David Weeks]: Thank you, mister president. Senate government operations will meet at 02:00.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Windham.

[Senator Ruth Hardy]: Thank you, mister president. Senate institutions will meet at 12:15.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Windsor. Thank you.

[Senator Rebecca 'Becca' White]: The conference committee, the conference committee on h six thirty nine will meet at 12:30 in Senate Economic Development Housing General Affairs Room. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Virginia 'Ginny' Lyons]: Thank you, mister president. I'd I'd like to give a heads up to the committee on, senate health and welfare that we will, be meeting at some point next week to look at bills that are coming back to us from the house. So just, keep your eyes open for email. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Windsor.

[Senator Rebecca 'Becca' White]: Thank you. Just to remind, the senate economic development housing and general affairs will be meeting at 09:00 on Tuesday. We were hoping to vote out s three twenty eight, which we will be doing Tuesday morning.

[Senator Scott Beck]: We're

[Senator Rebecca 'Becca' White]: close, and we have a number of other bills coming to us from the house. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick]: I just it's important for us to recognize that this is Memorial Day weekend and that we all remember to commemorate those who gave the final measure of devotion. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Washington.

[Senator Anne Watson]: Thank mister president. Anticipating that senate natural resources and energy will meet to meet Tuesday morning, at about 09:30. Thank you.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Are there any further announcements? Senator from Rutland.

[Senator Terry Williams]: Thank you, mister president. Point of personal privilege, if I may.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: You may.

[Senator Terry Williams]: So as we approach Memorial Day, I rise briefly for for a point of personal privilege to ask that in the midst of our work in this chamber, we take a moment to reflect. Every day we stand here in our people's house to debate, to disagree, to advocate, and to exercise the rights secured for the to us under our constitution. We do so freely, not by accident, and not without cost. Memorial Day is not simply the beginning of summer, not merely a day off from work. It is a solemn reminder of the great Americans who gave their lives so that the republic might endure. For two hundred and fifty years, our constitutional republic has withstood hardship, division, war, and uncertainty. It has endured because generations of brave men and women answered the call of duty and made the ultimate sacrifice so that liberty might live on. Many of many of us have not, born that sacrifice ourselves, yet everyone of us, benefits from it. The freedoms we often speak of it often speak of in this chamber, the freedom and worship to speak to disagree, to assemble, and to govern ourselves, our liberty is protected through the service and the sacrifice of others and so many of us, believe granted by our creator. So as we continue our work on behalf of our miners, let us pause and remember those who gave all. Thank you, mister president.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Martine Larocque Gulick]: Mr. President, I would move that those very eloquent remarks be journalized in

[Senator Philip Baruth]: the Senate. Senator from Chittenden.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: With that said, Mr. President, I will withdraw my motion to adjourn.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: The senator from Chittenden Southeast has moved that the senator from Rutland's remarks be journalized. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and the motion carries. Senator from Chittenden Central.

[Senator Thomas Chittenden]: Pending any further announcements, would move that we stand in adjournment until ten a. M. Tuesday, 05/26/2026.

[Senator Philip Baruth]: And I would just like to to briefly say on this Memorial Day weekend, let us not forget the many veterans who have taken their own lives and the far too many that we still lose every single day, and let's keep all them in our hearts and minds as well. The senator from Chittenden Central has moved that the Senate stand in adjournment until ten a. M. Tuesday, 05/26/2026. Are you ready for the question? If so, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The ayes have it and will stand in adjournment until 10AM Tuesday, 05/26/2026.