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[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Submit that your
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: government do that Monday on the floor. We're live. We're live, and welcome back to the Senate Committee on Government Operations meeting of Thursday, 03/12/2026. And we're joined again by Sophie Sedatney, our legislative counsel. And we now have draft number 1.1 of S89s. So if you wanted to go over what we've changed, Sophie, we would be ever so great.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: Right, so Sophie Sedatney for the Office of Legislative Counsel. We're looking at, I think, draft 1.1. I did it as a strike all amendment, so there's no section one with the Jessica's Law. Yeah. So that's now gone. Everything is renumbered. And then we have with the on subsection d, bottom of page two with respect to classified family services employees in the family services division of the department for children and families discharging their duties as employees, and e, the top of page three, with respect to classified medical employees of state operated therapeutic community residents or inpatient psychiatric hospital units discharging their duties as employees. And then the final change was the date to be 07/01/2026.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: Any questions for attorney Sadatnik? We have both Steve Howard and Tom Allen in the room. And so in in case you spotted something we haven't I think it looks like what we well, great. And I appreciate how frantic you earned this right We only missed being a three page bill by the effective date, so.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: The other thing, it was a short bill, and sometimes if you just have the instances, it's kind of fiddly as opposed to if it's a relatively short bill, it's not gonna take up too
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: And this still has to go to draftees?
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: No, it's me to drop off.
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Oh, great. Oh my gosh.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: I've been trained like they have to see it, so I'm like, okay. They it. They feed
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: it. And their commas are in the right place. Yeah.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: Every all the periods are in the right place. Repeat. And the the correct underlying of the periods, which is very important.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: The real.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: Oh, yes. It's not.
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Maybe we should start asking drafting for more things. Make a thing that they clearly
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: provide It's, yeah, it's very intense.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: So, I'm open to a motion.
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: I would, oh, go ahead. So, I would move that we vote out draft 1.1 of s 89 favorably.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: I'll second that. And if the clerk would call the roll. Senator Clarkson? Yes. Senator Morley, yes.
[Sen. John Morley III (Clerk)]: Senator Bahowski? Yes. Senator White? Yes. Senator Collamore? Yes. Five zero zero. Senator Bahowski will be reporting the bill. If we get it up to Melissa, then then I told her it'd be about 04:15. She'll get it on notice for tomorrow.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: And then Tuesday, when we come back, we'll get the well, I don't know if it'll go right on the floor or whether it will go somewhere else. Oh, wait. Auntie. Okay. What? Because I want the 80,000.
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Yes. It'll go to Props. Yeah.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: As long as I get on multiple. Yeah. Well, that'll take some digging maybe since it was 15,025. I can get that out. Okay. Else today? No?
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Well, let's
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: see can out of receipt, we have to keep talking because I don't know how to shut that thing
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: down. No.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: If have
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: darts she's not available.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: I'm all set with bills. Okay?
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Thank you very much.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: This is terrific. So
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: what do we have left
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: to go now? We have two bills tomorrow. The travel disclosure bill, which I think is $2.91, and the Cemetery Bill, which we're hoping to hear from the town clerks that they're okay with us repealing the current statute, the $5 certification fee, and then the rest of it, I think, will fall into place pretty easily. So
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: I think Do you have any indication of that testimony? Well,
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: we've been trying to get Diane Vashon, who's the president of the Municipal Parks and Treasures Association. We had her on here one time. She's working alone in the office, and every time we try to get her, somebody comes in, she's got to get up. All I want to do is have them say, This looks good to us. I've already received a confirmation from the Secretary of State. They are 100% supportive for Sobeys' benefit. This would charge a $5 fee that would be paid by the family of someone getting buried to the funeral directors association. They would send it up to the Vermont Historic Preservation Division, collect it for the year, and then send a check back to VOCA, which is the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, and they would give grants out to any of the local cemeteries in the state for vandalism, repairing headstones that are toppled or painted on or in some fashion.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: Being able not to pay that $5 every time
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: soon. And there are provisions that people can't afford it.
[Sophie Sedatney (Legislative Counsel)]: It's not that. I just said,
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: what happened? I didn't even apply that either. It's not your time yet.
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: It was, exactly.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: So that's what we're going to do tomorrow. Hopefully, speak to her. Hopefully, we'll be rather quick. We've had a very good year, I think, and we're meeting crossover deadlines, and we'll be getting some bills back in the House. There's a technical corrections bill, which I know Senator Clark is Oh, going It's a great big long. Yeah, well, it always is. Always is. But it changes You're gonna have to write
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Limerick or a hike. Got it. All that time you spent commuting, could just work on three lines. Seven five seven.
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: I think I can figure this out, so or Oh, maybe I can
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: Oh, yeah. We're still are we still live?
[Sen. Brian Collamore (Chair)]: Yeah. We are still live. I was hoping which which one oh, it's Zoom? Yeah. There we Okay. So So if there's nothing
[Sen. Alison Clarkson (Member)]: else