Editor’s note: VTDigger will be providing a series of interviews and news stories about the issues facing the 2019 Vermont Legislature. Tomorrow, an interview with Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe.
[W]hen House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, and the chamber of 150 lawmakers she leads reconvene in Montpelier next month, the Legislature, dominated by Democrats, is expected to revisit many proposals it has before.
Lawmakers will again take up legislation to raise Vermont’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, and establish a paid family leave program for workers.
There will also be a renewed effort to find a long-term source to fund federally mandated clean water efforts. And there will be a push for legislators to seriously consider expanding the state’s marijuana legalization law to pave the way for a retail market system.
In January, Johnson and the Democrats will have an even bigger majority than before. In the November election, Democrats picked up 12 seats, raising the caucus count to 95.
With seven Progressives and several left-leaning independents, the Democratic caucus is comfortably above the 100 votes needed to override a veto from Gov. Phil Scott, who struck down 11 bills including paid family leave, minimum wage, and two budgets in the last legislative session.
For Johnson, there is no one legislative priority in the upcoming session that outweighs others. She noted that broadly, her goals involve improving the state’s environmental protections, strengthening Vermont families by increasing access to child care and early childhood education, and improving the economy for average Vermonters.
“I feel like there are more and more Vermonters whose incomes are stagnating or who are struggling to get ahead to pay their bills to prepare for the future — so really trying to think about how to make the economy work for everybody,” Johnson said in a recent interview.
She and other Democratic leaders noted that although Democrats will be buoyed by a larger caucus — what many have called a “veto-proof majority” — the numbers don’t mean they will be able to unilaterally push through their agenda.
On minimum wage or paid family leave, for example, Johnson would have to rally a caucus of Democrats who fall across a wide political spectrum if Scott were to issue a veto.
“The numbers just reinforce the fact that we really have to listen to each other,” Johnson said. “Because you may have noticed that the Democrats are under a very, very broad tent.”
On water cleanup, Johnson said lawmakers are considering a variety of proposals to fund the state’s federal pollution-reduction order. Vermont State Treasurer Beth Pearce’s office has estimated the state’s share at $2.3 billion over a 20-year span.
While some are in favor of a surcharge on the income tax or rooms and meals tax, other legislator have pitched a per parcel fee to fund the cleanup. Johnson has yet to throw her support behind any particular proposal, but said finding a course of action this session was urgent.
“We’re at a point where if you are truly in favor of clean water, it is beholden upon us to actually pass a reasonable, sustainable funding plan,” she said.
Last year, a clean water funding bill which included potential funding sources such as a $2 per night tax on hotel rooms and a one-quarter percent increase to the rooms and meals, was gutted after Scott pledged to veto any bills with new taxes or fees.
The governor has said his administration has identified a clean water funding within the state’s existing budget, but has yet to make details of the plan public.
Johnson said lawmakers will also be reexamining the state’s school consolidation law, Act 46.
This year, the state Board of Education issued its final plan to require school districts to reorganize without local approval. Several legislators are expected to introduce legislation this session to block or delay mergers, and at least one lawsuit is already underway challenging the constitutionality of forced district consolidation.
Whether or not to amend Act 46 will be a “big question” in the upcoming session, Johnson said.
“I certainly want to be talking with the Education Committee about where are the glitches. Are there things we could do to tweak the law to allow mergers under slightly different circumstances?” she said.
In 2019, it will likely be up to the House to determine whether the Legislature passes a bill to establish a taxed and regulated market for cannabis in Vermont.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe D/P-Chittenden, has said his chamber plans on sending a tax and regulate bill to the House early next year. The Senate has already passed legislation to legalize a cannabis market on three separate occasions.
But Johnson is still undecided about whether she will be in favor of expanding the marijuana laws. She has reservations about how a regulated market could impact road safety and usage by youth.
The governor has signaled that he would not sign a tax and regulate bill in 2019. He believes the state needs to improve its road safety and drug use prevention education measures first.
Lawmakers will also take another shot at improving broadband access. But Johnson said her approach will not be an ambitious plan to connect every home and business in the state at once.
She hopes lawmakers will instead focus on encouraging the state to more clearly map where existing fiber infrastructure lies.
Providing better information about where main fiber channels start and stop will help companies, the state and communities move forward with expansion plans, she said.
“In uncovering where these things are, we also can uncover some sort of legal and policy or permitting hurdles to say, OK, are there places where a little bit of state money or loosening up on this requirement in exchange for this level of access would help deploy that,” she said.
Minimum wage and paid family leave bills — which were major priorities for Democrats last session — will be back on the table in 2019.
While the governor and critics of the legislation believe the proposals will burden small businesses, Johnson and many other Democrats view the proposals as tools to attract and retain a younger workforce.
“[Just] sending out the message that we want young people here we want children in this state we have good schools and a good quality of life to offer and here’s a extra little support and incentive so that we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” she said.