the Word in the House 5/9/2019 - Seatbelts, Clean Water and Medications

The end of the legislative session is getting closer, and in the last week the House passed several Senate bills with amendments.  If the Senate does not concur with the House amendments to a bill, a Conference Committee will be appointed to resolve the differences. Then both chambers would have to vote on the report of the Committee without further amendment.

The Transportation Bill (S.149) had several House amendments, including a primary seat belt provision which allows law enforcement to stop a vehicle if the driver is not wearing a seat belt. While nine percent of drivers do not wear seat belts, around 50 percent of fatalities involve unbelted occupants. Stricter enforcement of seat belt use has been demonstrated to save lives.  Another amendment allows all emergency vehicles to use both red and blue lights.  Tests have shown that people respond more to blue lights than red in emergency situations.

Another Senate bill passed by the House with amendments was S.40 which authorizes testing and remediation of lead in the drinking water of schools and child care facilities. A total of $2,400,000 is appropriated to fund remediation for fixtures testing above 5 parts of lead per billion, which is also the allowed level for bottled water, although no level is really safe for kids. This is not as strict as the action level set by the Senate, 3 ppb, and may result in another Conference Committee. The state will cover the actual cost of replacing a drinking water fixtures up to $2000 for public drinking fountains and ice machines, $700 for outlets used for cooking, and $400 for all other outlets.

To better address the opioid problem, the House also passed S.43 with amendments to prohibit a health insurance plan from requiring prior authorization for medication assisted treatment as well as for counseling and behavioral therapies associated with medication-assisted treatment. If the plan provides prescription drug coverage, it must ensure that at least one medication from each drug class for the treatment of substance use disorder is available at the lowest cost level of the plan.

One bill we expect to see this week is for clean water funding.  The Ways and Means Committee is proposing to use 4 percent of the rooms and meals tax for the Clean Water Fund. This will provide a sustainable source of funding as required by the federal EPA.  The 4 percent will come out of the 25 percent of the tax allocated to the Education Fund.  However, the amount is expected to be made up by a change in the sales tax which will now apply to software program packages purchased online.  The same tax will be assessed as if it were purchased in a store. All sales taxes are allocated to the Education Fund per a law enacted last year.

An opinion piece by the President of the conservative Ethan Allen Institute in last week’s Citizen called out Democrats in the legislature for being “ideological”.  The EAI is on the record of believing climate change is not happening, but if it is, we can’t do anything about it, so we shouldn’t try.  Well, I must disagree, and will continue to advocate for policies that will help Vermonters reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money by reducing their use of fossil fuels.  Burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment and bad for our wallets.  Did you notice that gasoline prices jumped from $2.58 in March to $2.83 this week?  Are you getting more mileage from that gas? If we had a 2 cent per gallon tax that would be dedicated to helping Vermonters purchase more fuel efficient all-electric and hybrid electric vehicles, Vermont drivers would save both money and the environment. As for my statement that legislators need to be leaders and not just followers, there are times when we need to take bold steps.  Climate change is just such a situation. We must have the political will to pay a little more today and invest it in measures to prevent a greater cost for our children,  grandchildren, and future generations.

I welcome your emails (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com) or phone calls (802-233-5238). 

Legislative Report 1/10/2018 - Session Preview - 2018

Patience and persistence: these are two qualities that I learned are essential to working in the legislature. The issues that the legislature has to address are often very complex and do not lend themselves to simple solutions. Measures that are enacted sometimes fail to have the desired effect and have to be tweaked by subsequent legislation.

Governor Peter Shumlin in his 2014 State of the State speech to the legislature identified opiate abuse as a major crisis in Vermont. While Vermont stood alone at the time in putting a spotlight on this problem, it is now acknowledged to be a national epidemic. Since that time much attention and finances have been focused on the problem in Vermont. Yet it persists and continues to grow. Vermont is still one of the top five states for heroin use as a percentage of adult population. This has resulted in a 38% increase in caseload for the Department of Children and Families due largely to children of opiate-addicted parents. One piece of good news is that Vermont has the lowest rate of drug overdose deaths in New England. The opioid problem is one of several major issues the legislature will continue dealing with as we begin the 2018 session.

Another issue that will require many more years of attention is the condition of our lakes and streams. This is not only an environmental problem, but an economic one as well. Tourism is a major part of Vermont's economy. Algae blooms not only detract from the appeal of Vermont to tourists, but they lower property values and impact health. Treasurer Beth Pearce identified enough financial resources to fund a $25M/year mitigation program for two years. We're already through the first year, so we need to come up with a sustainable source of funds for this decades-long task. Governor Scott is advocating bonding to solve the problem, but this just pushes the cost of the cleanup to future generations. We need to be courageous enough to deal with this problem in the present.

Another persistent problem that will take courage and foresight to address adequately is climate change. We have to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Vermont's Comprehensive Energy Plan calls for a 25% decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) levels by 2050. However, while we have made healthy strides in reducing the carbon footprint of our electricity generation, the amount of GHG emissions in Vermont has increased by 4% over 1990 levels. Our transportation and heating requirements have driven this increase. Governor Scott's Climate Change Commission has worked during the summer to suggest steps that can be taken to reverse this trend. A group of legislators, including myself, have also been working with environmentally conscious businesses on a strategy that will be rolled out in January. We look forward to working with the Scott administration to adopt a plan that will be good for Vermonters and Vermont's economy.

I can't end without mentioning the challenges that the recently passed Trump Tax Act will cause for Vermont. The Green Mountain Care Board has already projected health insurance costs to increase because of the repeal of the individual mandate that requires everyone to have health insurance. The response of many Vermonters to prepay their 2018 property taxes to take advantage of the disappearing deduction for state and local taxes will impact revenues for 2018 and beyond unless we modify our own income tax formula. Federal budget reductions that will be required to balance the tax cuts will put further pressure on states to compensate for programs that will suffer, thereby putting many low-income Vermonters, our efforts to clean up our waters, and our state budget at risk.

I wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018 and look forward once again to keeping you informed about the legislature while we are in session. I encourage you to let me know your concerns and opinions. I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).

Legislative Report 2/22/2017 - Legislative Oversight

Our three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, form an effective system of checks and balances. The Executive branch administers and enforces laws passed by the Legislative branch, and the Judicial branch makes sure the laws and executive actions conform to the U. S. and state constitutions. The Executive and Legislative branches together determine policies that the Legislature writes into law. Once the policies are enacted it falls to the Executive branch to interpret the application of the law. Broad policies often require rules formulated by the Executive branch that address specific applications of the law. In Vermont the Legislature has the constitutional authority to review these rules before they go into effect. This is done by a special committee called the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR).

In January I was appointed by the Speaker of the House as one of four Representatives and four Senators to LCAR in addition to my duties on the House Energy and Technology Committee. This appointment has given me the opportunity to examine more closely aspects of legislation that I normally would not be familiar with. For example, LCAR recently approved emergency rules issued by the Vermont Department of Health that gives authority to prescribe and dispense buprenorphine and methadone to Physician Assistants and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. Emergency rules can only be issued in situations where health or safety is impacted and are effective for only 90 days. This gives an agency an opportunity to come up with permanent rules. This rule addressed an immediate need for more health practitioners to provide medically assisted treatment for addicts.

Another rule that was approved addressed the criteria for replacing culverts and bridges. This rule change will allow Vermont to receive FEMA reimbursement for replacing old, inadequate culverts and bridges with more robust structures in response to the more extreme weather events occurring as a result of climate change. When tropical storm Irene washed out so many roads and bridges, FEMA would only reimburse Vermont for the identical size structures replacing the old ones. Most of these were washed out because they were inadequate to handle the storm-induced flow. Common sense would dictate structure redesigns to handle larger flows, but there was no basis in Vermont's standards to justify federal reimbursement. The new rules will protect Vermont and help save millions of dollars if similar damage occurs in the future.

A much more complicated rule change has been proposed by the Public Service Board regarding the net-metering program for renewable energy. The PSB was tasked to redesign the net-metering rate structure by the Legislature in 2015. Several drafts were proposed during 2015 and 2016 based on changes to renewable energy (RE) policy made by the Legislature in 2016. Hearings were held and hundreds of comments from RE developers, consumers, businesses, and state agencies were submitted to the PSB. These comments resulted in further changes to the proposed rules before they were submitted for LCAR review. Over the last few weeks we have been reviewing the rules as well as the comments. It is a painstaking process, but it will ensure that when approved, they will be consistent with law and do not exceed the PSB's authority.

I encourage you to let me know your concerns and opinions. I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).