As the lockdown of the Vermont economy continues to ease,
the legislature has continued its work remotely via video-conferencing. Meeting as an All-House Caucus each week on
Tuesday, briefings are provided to all members on bills that will be coming up
for a vote in the Wednesday and Friday floor sessions. Members hear the reports of the committees that
prepared the bills with an opportunity to ask questions and make comments. Those
bills are then debated during the floor sessions, amendments are considered,
and votes are taken. During a normal
session, this process is open to anyone who comes to the statehouse or who might
tune into VPR’s live stream of the proceedings. Our virtual sessions, however,
open up the proceedings to anyone with an internet-capable device at https://legislature.vermont.gov/. There
you can find the links to the House or Senate sessions as well as to scheduled committee
meetings that take place during the week. Click on the Announcements link to
find the times for the proceedings.
In recent weeks, the House has passed several major bills to keep the state on an even keel
during the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supplemental Budget
Adjustment (SBA) bill will take us through the rest of the 2020 fiscal year
which ends on June 30th. With the deferral of the income tax filing
deadline to July 15th as well as certain other tax payments,
revenues expected in this fiscal year will not be received until the first
quarter of FY21 and are anticipated to be lower than was expected in January. The SBA bill adjusts spending but also allows
borrowing from funds controlled by the State Treasurer until the deferred
revenues are received. It sets a date
certain for repayment of those loans with interest. The SBA bill is now under
consideration by the Senate.
At the same time, the House has been working on the “Skinny
Budget” bill for the first quarter of FY21. The plan is to map out the first
quarter, see where we are with respect to the economy, federal assistance and
revenues at the end of August and then reconvene to create a budget for the
rest of the fiscal year. The major components of the budget consist of the
Capital Bill (H.955), the Transportation Bill (H.942), and the Yield Bill (H.959).
These will be folded into the Appropriations Bill that defines the budget. The Capital Bill addresses the spending needed
to administer and maintain state properties and infrastructure including correctional
facilities, office buildings, state parks, etc. The Transportation Bill does
the same for the Vermont Agency of Transportation and includes roads and
bridges, aid to municipalities, rail, mass transit, etc. The Yield Bill sets education
tax rates based on the budgets approved by school districts in March. However, some districts have not yet voted on
school budgets, and less money is expected from the sales and use tax, which
goes entirely into the Education Fund. Those reasons and the uncertainty of federal
education assistance due to the pandemic led the Ways & Means Committee to
set the property tax rates at the same level as was expected prior to the
pandemic in order to provide municipalities firm numbers to work with for local
tax rates. Legislation later this summer
will adjust these expectations as necessary. The bill also allows towns to
borrow money for the education tax payments due the state with the interest
covered by federal CARES Act money. All these bills will require passage by the
Senate.
