Meetings
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[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Yes. We are live.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Live. Senate Appropriations We're taking a break from our fiscal year twenty seven budget presentations. We're taking a bill that was stuck to us. S243, have the bill sponsor with us. I'll let you introduce yourself and very quickly just tell us about the bill. And we have fiscal note that we can also hear about. Thank you. Have a form.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Sorry. She came after I texted you. Okay. Thank you.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yes.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: We did take this up in health and welfare. This is S243. Thank you, Chair, for having me in, pulling me from my other committee, which is great. And thank you, members of the committee as well. This is a bill that is in support of the Vermont Language Justice Project, which is a fabulous organization that was born during the COVID pandemic and is an integral part of my community, and I also think basically the Vermont community as a whole, because it just keeps getting bigger and becomes more and more important as we face challenges as a state. The Vermont Language Justice Project basically creates videos in anywhere from 10 to 21 languages around anything from ticks and what to do with the tick bite to obviously COVID pandemic, as well as flooding and droughts and anything that will be something that could protect people in our communities and that they might not be able to access on a written page. In English or sometimes even in their own language, if their literacy level is not one that is appropriate for reading health information, one of the things we learned in our committee is that health information in particular can be pretty obtuse and hard to understand. And, yeah, so this would be an appropriation to support this wonderful organization. It's not
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: a state. It's it's a private nonprofit organization, not associated with the state.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: They are working on becoming a five zero one c three. Right now, the United Way is supporting them kind of as a pass through, but they are working on getting their own five zero one(three) designation. But yeah, I did wanna say that they, one point, about five years ago, got a grant from the CDC, which was really helpful to them. And then just in, January 2025, the CDC, pulled the grant. And so they've been relying on donations, from folks to continue doing their work. They do sometimes get fee for service contracts from different organizations like Hunger Free Vermont, for example, has really relied on them. But this was drawn up specifically to do health information to populations in the state of Vermont.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: So this grant wouldn't go through the Department of Health, would be specifically for translation or these videos on health issues.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Exactly. Yeah. So we in the health and welfare, we saw it as not only just like public health, but we also saw it as a cost savings, keeping folks from getting sick or contracting a disease that would eventually lead to hospitalization or having to get medical care. Yeah, there's a lot of benefit here.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay, great. Any questions?
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Any questions? I
[Unidentified Committee Member]: see you've got findings in here. Does this come from the House or this is
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: So it was a very,
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: very short bill. It was like not even a whole page. And as we took testimony in committee, Senator, we we really decided that we wanted to add some findings just to try to educate folks who might be reading the bill as to what it was all about. So I hear what you're saying and we just thought it was an important thing to add.
[Unidentified Committee Member]: So, and briefly, my second question is this is a one time allocation for fiscal year 2027? Yes. Do we expect this to resurface again next year or or
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Possibly. I
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: was With updated materials? Possibly.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Like I said, they're working on their designation to be a nonprofit. And so this is something that for, you know, don't know what will happen in the future, but this is for now since their CDC grant ended. This would help them continue their work.
[Unidentified Committee Member]: Thank you.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Yeah. And I can I can also share that with the recent measles outbreak, they struggle to get that information out in a timely in a as timely a fashion as they would have wanted to if they had had funds to do so?
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. Very good. I'm looking at their website. It's good. Great. Okay. Do you have questions at all? I do.
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: Yes. So thank you for this. And the expenditures for this are it looks like it's limited to disease outbreak and other public health emergencies. So presumably, if there are no, I mean, the measles outbreak, I think that that makes sense. But, you know, I guess I'm thinking about, like, what qualifies? How do we do we know what that means? Or do do they have a sense of what that means? Or, you know, does it have to be, like, a declared kind of emergency? Or or could it just be I guess yeah. And because especially because in this other the last phrase being an an ongoing personal and public health information because that that could be non emergency kind of thing. So I guess I'm curious for your Right.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: We did obviously did not define that in the bill. I think by design, we wanted to keep it relatively open just because we don't know what is gonna be coming at us in the coming year. But also there is so much to talk about in terms of public health right now that we really feel like there will be things for that, there will be videos that could be created to help folks navigate. But to your point, it's hard to know, contracting Lyme disease by a tick bite, is that an emergency? I mean, it certainly becomes a healthcare cost. So for us in the health and welfare committee, we're trying desperately to reduce health health care costs and stays in hospitals and hospital admissions. So it all feels kind of like an emergency for us at this point. So, yeah. I know that's not
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: it's very That's okay. Just helpful to know sort of the scope of
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: what you're thinking. That's a good question.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay, thank you.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Thank you very much. I really appreciate you having me in.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah, appreciate your work on. And you voted out of your committee
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Oh, five-zero-zero.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Fiscal note, it's pretty straightforward. There's $150,000 per operation, so the fiscal impact is $150,000 Only all fiscal months are that straightforward.
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: So as a question, if we end up taking out section two, then the bill just becomes findings an effective date?
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Well, the amendment that I asked budget council to draft, if we were to consider it, has language in there that basically it's on our website and we can see the amendment draft. So there would still be a section two instead of just striking it. We have language that said basically, this will need an appropriation. We're not gonna appropriate the money, but we're gonna the extent that the funds are appropriated, they have $150,000 from that department to go to this project. That makes sense.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks.
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: Yeah.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Then So, Roselady, do you want to say anything about this
[Rose (Legislative Counsel)]: amendment? I don't need to. Yeah. You can do whatever you would like. I can put it on the screen. I've got
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Yeah. Why don't we do that and just have you quickly explain why you drafted it, what you did.
[Rose (Legislative Counsel)]: So this is an instance of amendments, so findings are not touched. You're striking out existing section two, putting a new section two in instead of just making the appropriation. Just reframing it to say in fiscal year twenty seven, to the extent funds are appropriated for this purpose, the Department of Health shall distribute $150,000 for this project. And the rest of the language is the same as it was in the bill that came over to you.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay. Thank you for that. So with that, I would entertain a motion to amend the bill passes pass favorably with this amendment.
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: So moved.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Do And we have to vote on the amendment and then vote on the bill? Seems like there's a debate about that. I mean I mean, does anybody disagree with the amendment? I mean, yeah. Okay. So Now we'll just vote on the bill as amended. On the motion of Senator Watson. Always leaves it up to the wisdom of the clerk. Yeah. I was just gonna say Okay. Get it all filled out for me. You're the best. Alright. Senator Baruth? Yes. Senator Brennan? Yes. Senator Lyons? Senator Norris? Yes. Senator Watson? Yes. Senator Perchlik? Yes. Senator Westman? What? You wanna You like blue and circle back around? Westman? I did circle back, didn't I? Record show.
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: MOA. That's good. And you
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: you can decide whether senator Lyons' pre vote counts or not. Probably not. She she wasn't here for the because I caught up to the Wind Building so I caught with That's five zero two. I'll go You know what? Together. She's not under I'll I'll go run it by her. She said yes. Yeah. A good part for you. Not being pressured into voter fraud. You guys can't pressure me insane. Okay. So who will report the amendment from Senator Lyons. Yeah. She doesn't know her. Yeah.
[Senator Anne Watson (Member)]: But it did go through her
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: kitty. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: She already knows her. So yeah. We'll have we'll still sign and send it along. So that was not
[Unidentified Senator (Bill sponsor from Senate Health and Welfare)]: here.
[Senator Andrew Perchlik (Chair)]: Okay.