The Vermont Legislature is returning to session this week. In the House there are more than 60 bills ready for introduction as work begins. But the first order of business legislators considered today was a two-week delay of in person sessions.
At the end of December the Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee recommended that the House and Senate chambers begin the session meeting virtually for two weeks and then reassess the spread of the Omicron variant in Vermont. Speaking before the session began, Middlebury College Professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis expected the decision to authorize virtual meetings would be their first decision.
“The formal proceedings can take place on Zoom, the floor sessions and the committee meetings," Davis said. "But a lot of what the legislature does is informal. Conversations in the halls. Conversations over lunch both among legislators themselves and with executive branch officials and with advocates. And that sort of thing just doesn’t happen over Zoom. So I think most members would like to be back in person. At the same time with the sharply increasing case load in Vermont in recent weeks they don’t want to take actions that would be risky.”
At Tuesday morning’s session, both chambers voted to authorize virtual sessions until January 18th.
As legislators begin working on the session agenda, Davis expects three priorities to emerge.
“The House will be voting on a Constitutional Amendment which will surely pass which would enshrine reproductive liberty protections in the Vermont state Constitution," Davis said. "And that will go to the voters for final approval in November. Second, there are a number of budget issues particularly regarding the spending of the large amount of federal funds that the state has received over the last several years from the CARES Act and other coronavirus relief measures as well as the new infrastructure bill. And the third issue is redistricting. The legislature will have to redraw the lines of all 150 House districts and 30 Senate districts. The filing deadline for the fall election is in the end of May. So that needs to be completed in time so that candidates know what district they’re running in.”
Vermont U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy will not run for re-election. The state’s sole congressman, Democrat Peter Welch, is running for Senate and some Vermont legislators have already announced plans to run for those higher offices.
Middlebury College Professor of Political Science Bert Johnson expects this election year will be an undercurrent throughout the legislative session.
“We’ve got some candidates that are running for higher office that are going to also be working in the Legislature: Molly Gray, certainly Becca Balint, possibly Kesha Ram Hinsdale," Johnson said. "And so it may be in people’s interest especially those people, but also people may be facing new, entirely new, legislative districts to get their work done as quickly as possible so they can figure out the fall campaign.”
Vermont Governor Phil Scott is scheduled to deliver his State of the State address Wednesday at 2 p.m.
