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The Vermont Senate on Tuesday swiftly passed measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic, advancing bills that will boost Vermonters’ access to unemployment benefits and bolster the state’s health care system during the crisis.
The Senate passed a temporary expansion of the state’s unemployment insurance system so that all employees who are laid off because of the COVID-19 crisis, or have to quit as a result of it, can receive benefits.
The move doesn’t require additional state dollars because Vermont’s unemployment insurance trust fund is already well-funded, with about $500 million in reserves.
“Even under the worst case scenario, sufficient funds should be available to pay all the claims,” said. Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, a member of the Senate Economic Development Committee, which wrote the legislation.
“We hope these measures quickly alleviate some of the financial anxiety Vermonters are experiencing,” Clarkson added.
The bill, H.681, also protects employers who lose employees during the pandemic from having to pay higher unemployment insurance rates when staff leave.
Senators acted on another bill, H.742, containing many provisions to increase the capacity of Vermont’s health care system to take on the pandemic.
The bill would waive regulations so that retired and out-of-state health care providers can temporarily practice in Vermont, expand the use of telemedicine, and give the state the authority to temporarily delay the provider taxes medical practices and hospitals have to pay.
It would give pharmacists the flexibility to extend prescriptions without a doctor’s approval in the event a primary care provider can’t be reached, and provide patients alternative medications if supplies are running low.
The Senate also voted on legislation aimed at easing regulations in the state’s elections and open meetings laws to help prevent the spread of the virus.
The legislation would eliminate the requirement for candidates seeking public office to collect petition signatures, and if needed, give state officials the power to require voters to mail in ballots, or take other measures to limit in-person voting.
It also gives towns and other municipalities the ability to hold meetings and take votes remotely.
Social distancing in the Senate
Senators themselves took many precautions Tuesday morning to ensure they would not spread the virus.
Only 17 senators — just one more than the minimum needed to hold a quorum — showed up to vote on Tuesday, as Senate leadership encouraged older legislators, as many as possible, to stay home.
Senators arrived at the back door of the Statehouse into what’s known as the Lincoln Hallway.
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, opened the door with a blue plastic bag wrapped around his left hand. “Single use plastics are making a comeback,” he said later, showing it off to colleagues.
The senators present gathered in Room 11 for a conference call with the remaining members, who were working remotely. Each lawmaker sat several chairs from the next person in order to maintain the recommended 6 feet of physical distancing.
“We don’t have many senators,” Majority Leader Becca Balint said to those entering the room.
“I don’t need you to get sick.”
After the call, senators filed upstairs to the Senate chamber, again keeping several feet of distance. In the chamber, lawmakers mostly abandoned their assigned seats, spreading out to the room’s couches, window benches and public gallery.
Several lawmakers kept bottles of hand sanitizer on their desks.
Senate Secretary John Bloomer wore black cloth gloves as he set up for the session, but took them off to handle paperwork during the proceeding.
Unanimous, bipartisan support
The measures that legislators passed on Tuesday received unanimous, bipartisan support, and now head to the House, where lawmakers will reconvene on Wednesday, and plan to quickly send them to the governor’s desk.
Senate President Pro Tim Tim Ashe, D/P Chittenden, said that the Legislature’s work in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak had only just begun.
“The heavy lifting is all ahead of us and it’s going to require our patience, a lot of flexibility and a lot of hard work moving forward,” he told his Senate colleagues.
Ashe said that in the coming weeks, the sole focus of the Senate and its committees will be the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic is not the top priority, it is the only priority at this point,” he told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
He added that for now, other legislation the Senate has worked on this year is “not just on the back burner, but off the burners altogether.”
And given COVID-19’s potential impact on Vermont’s economy and revenues, Ashe said it’s possible that the Legislature may not have the financial information to pass a full state budget for months — meaning lawmakers could remain in session until late summer or early fall.
Bleak fiscal outlook
The Joint Fiscal Office has estimated that in the next three months, across all of its funds, Vermont could see an $80 million-$115 million loss in revenues due to the economic strain of COVID-19.
On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott pushed back the date at which the state will issue penalties for businesses that file late rooms and meals and sales and use taxes, a move that could mean the state might not see up to $120 million in revenue until the next fiscal year which begins in July.
Leading up to Tuesday’s vote, lawmakers spent more than a week working remotely, holding committee hearings and caucus meetings over conference calls. That’s likely to be the way legislative work continues for weeks.
The House plans on voting on a rule change Tuesday so that chamber can hold its votes remotely, and the Senate could soon follow suit.
“The last week, working from home, I think we all were uncertain about how it was going to go,” Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington, said after Tuesday’s vote.
“But I thought that aside from the echoes on the cellphones, it all went extremely well.”
On a morning call, other senators echoed Campion’s thoughts.
“When it comes to technology,” said Sen. Cheryl Hooker, D-Rutland, “we’ve proven that you can teach old dogs new tricks.”
