05/03/2018
TOWN MEETING REPORT -- 2018
Greetings!
It’s an honor to serve as your representative in Montpelier. Given the uncertainty in Washington, my primary focus is on supporting Vermont families and helping our communities thrive. Our future should be built on fairness, transparency and resilience and our government must work for all of us, not just a few. I welcome your thoughts and concerns, so please stay in touch. [email protected], 802 249-1660.
Gun Violence Prevention
When Jack Sawyer was arrested in Fair Haven for plotting a school shooting, any claim that Vermont is somehow immune from gun violence fell by the wayside. We were lucky that a tragedy was averted but we can’t depend on luck for the safety of our children. Schools should be a place of learning and exploration, and children — from preschool through high school — should not have to fear that an active shooter drill will one day become an active shooter.
In addition, Vermont has a high rate of su***de through use of a firearm and an equally unacceptable rate of domestic assaults and deaths with fi****ms.
The legislature has already taken steps to impose reasonable restrictions on the availability of fi****ms and we will continue to work toward a safer Vermont when we return from the town meeting break. I will support universal background checks, increasing the age for gun purchases, a prohibition on bump stocks, limitations on magazine size, and other strategies to reduce the risk of gun violence in domestic violence situations. I believe we can make these changes consistent with the Second Amendment and that doing so will make a difference in the safety of Vermonters and make our schools once again safe places for our children to learn.
Sexual Harassment
The House has acted on legislation that sets makes a number of changes to make it easier for victims of harassment to seek protection. Originally conceived as a response to the powerful movement, this legislation clarifies our statutes in order to provide victims of sexual harassment recourse and protections that are not currently available.
Voter Checklist Protection
When the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity asked for voters’ personal information, the outpouring of opposition from Vermonters contacting the Secretary of State’s Office was by far the greatest for any issue in recent years. Voters asked that their individual data be protected. Some individuals even requested that they be completely removed from the voter checklist. Vermonters should not have to choose between protecting their privacy and their freedom to vote.
Legislation passed by the House expressly prohibits public agencies from knowingly disclosing any information relating to a voter that is maintained in the statewide voter checklist to any foreign government or federal agency or commission for the purpose of registering voters based on their information contained in the checklist, publicly disclosing the information, or comparing that information to personally identifying information contained in other federal or state databases. This puts us on a stronger footing to deny foreign or federal intrusions into state election data now and into the future.
Protecting consumers’ information
Last year, one of the biggest credit reporting agencies admitted that their servers had been breached and the personal and financial information of thousands of Vermonters had been stolen. With the significant amount of commerce and information stored online, the House crafted and passed a bill that regulates companies that buy and sell the personal information of Vermont residents. The bill requires data brokers to register with the Secretary of State, provide opt-out processes and credentialing of buyers of personal information and report annually on any breaches. The bill also enables consumers to place and lift security freezes with credit reporting agencies at no cost. The bill is now in the Senate.
Special Education Reform
The House is actively working on legislation that would change how Vermont delivers and pays for services for students who need additional support. The bill is designed to give school districts greater flexibility to meet the needs of students before they require special education, break down silos between general and special education, and increase services for struggling students while reducing paperwork and reporting requirements. To implement these changes, the state will need to change the way it delivers special education funds to supervisory unions and districts. A transition plan provides training and technical support to districts with full implementation in five years.
Campaign Finance and Social Media Advertising
During the 2016 election season, online political advertising exploded across the country and our state. It is difficult, if not impossible, to appropriately identify who paid for these advertisements. A bill before the Legislature would update campaign finance law and help provide clarity to candidates about how to appropriately identify who paid for an online advertisement and help combat disinformation by making sure that the public is aware of the source behind political advertisements.
State Bonded Dollars for Clean Water Projects
The legislature is working to assist in the coordination of millions of dollars devoted to clean water projects ranging from sewer or treatment plant upgrades to roadside ditching, cropland set asides, stream buffer easements or farmyard drainage projects. For decades the waters of Vermont have slowly degraded and it will take decades to reverse that trend. In the current year, the Legislature has put aside $21.9 million in bonded dollars toward these projects with $23.5 million allocated for FY 2019. We know that more is needed, however, and we will continue to work to develop longer term sources of funding to clean up our water.
Income and Property Taxes
The Ways and Means Committee, which I chair, has been working for much of the session on ways to reduce reliance on the property tax and move to income as a basis for education taxes. At the same time, we were committed to protecting low and moderate income homeowners from significant changes in their education tax liability. As we tackled this complex system, we were also looking for ways to simplify the system, to bring greater transparency, and to contain costs by making a stronger connection between spending and tax rates.
Although it’s not everything we hoped, the bill we voted out last week moves us in the right direction.It will return $30 million in income taxes to Vermonters and it will reduce property tax rates for the majority of homeowners by using money raised through a small surcharge on income.
H.911 revises the Vermont income tax code to return $30 million to taxpayers - money that would have been raised as an impact of federal tax changes. Among other things, these changes increase the earned income tax credit, lower all tax rates by .02%, exempt social security benefits for low and middle-income taxpayers, and simplify the tax code by eliminating itemized deductions and establishing a credit for charitable contributions. Overall, these changes make the tax code more progressive, although there are tax savings at every income level.��H.911 also reduces reliance on the property tax by creating a school income tax surcharge which will be used to reduce homestead tax rates by an average of 10%. Although income sensitivity and renter rebate will be maintained, H.911 separates the municipal and homestead rebate programs and will require separate municipal and education tax bills which leads to greater transparency. ��In addition, the bill establishes a base spending amount and provides that spending above the base amount will be reflected in local homestead tax rates. This change will result in cost containment at all levels of spending and will replace the excess spending penalty.
Fiscal Year 2019 Budget
The Appropriations Committee held nine public hearings across the state to provide the opportunity for Vermonters to voice opinions on the Governor’s proposed budget for 2019. Over 200 Vermonters testified before the committee to share their thoughts and concerns regarding proposed investments and reductions.
The following list of initiatives and offsetting reductions recommended by the Governor demonstrates some of the difficult decisions the legislature will face over the coming weeks.
Highlights of initiatives proposed by the Governor include investments in community outreach for those experiencing addiction and suffering from mental illness; an economic development plan to encourage people to move to Vermont and to build the economy; services to infants and families impacted by opioids; expanded dental benefits for children, and benefits for Vermonters serving in the military.
Reductions in the Governor’s proposed budget include eliminating cost sharing benefits to help working Vermonters pay health care premiums; eliminating the attendant care programs serving those with disabilities; reducing developmental disability services and Agency of Human Services grants by $4 million each and reducing payments to primary care doctors and hospitals. For complete details visit www.finance.vermont.gov/budget.
The Appropriations Committee is on schedule to pass the budget just after Town Meeting week. We are fully committed to creating a responsible budget that is balanced, focuses on the needs of Vermonters and keeps the issue of affordability in the forefront of the decision-making process.
