Vermont House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a budget for fiscal 2013, and that means the Legislature will likely adjourn sometime Saturday.
A budget agreement was reached after the Senate agreed to drop two policy issues it had added to the $5 billion spending plan: a measure allowing child care workers to unionize and another that would have directed the Public Service Board on how to handle a controversial ratepayer repayment issue connected to the merger of Vermont's two largest power companies. With the budget agreement reached, Middlebury College Professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis expects adjournment sometime on Saturday.
Vermont Digger is an on-line newspaper. Publisher and Editor Anne Galloway was at the Statehouse on Friday, where she says there were some last-ditch efforts to get measures passed that otherwise would be left unfinished.
Eric Davis was surprised by several measures that became controversial this session.
The AARP-VT wants Vermonters repaid by check or refund in a utility merger. It was an issue that legislators took up, but failed to finalize. AARP-VT State Director Greg Marchildon says that doesn’t worry him because the decision is to be made by the Public Service Board, and in general, he’s pleased with the rest of the legislative session.
The Vermont Legislature had started its session early this year in order to deal with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.
