Crossover update
Legislative crossover season is well underway. What is legislative crossover, you ask? That’s the time in the legislative session that all bills must “cross over” between chambers— from the House to the Senate, or from the Senate to the House— or else they do not have enough time to pass out of both chambers before the end of the session.
Working Vermonters are facing some serious crises as we see healthcare prices skyrocket, the housing affordability and security crisis growing, wages falling further behind due to inflation and chronic low wages, time running out to address the climate crisis, and growing attacks on LGBTQ+ rights on a national level.
Amid these crises, the small but mighty Progressive caucus has made some waves against the status quo in Montpelier leading up to crossover. Gear up for a hefty newsletter, with more updates to come later this week, since we want to highlight as much of the work that House Progressives were able to accomplish this session as possible.
LABOR
The Vermont “PRO” Act (H.219 and S.102) would make it easier to form a union, ban captive audience meetings, require good cause employment protections for all workers, and allow agriculture and domestic workers the ability to organize a union under state law. Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak served as lead sponsor on the bill alongside a coalition of unions and advocacy organizations. S.102 is a companion bill which advances many of these provisions led by Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale. S.102 passed the Senate this week!
Our full House Caucus supported the paid family and medical leave insurance program act (H.66) which passed the House late last week. H.66 includes 90% wage reimbursement for up to 12 weeks of leave to all employees regardless of the size of the employers or FTE status. It is also available for self-employed people. Paid leave includes an expansive definition of family and allows individuals to access leave to care for a new child or family member, for bereavement (up to 2 weeks), and/or to flee domestic violence. We expect a healthy debate as the Senate indicated support for a much smaller program with less coverage for working families, while the Governor has also indicated his opposition to any mandatory program for employers.
The House passed a bill to expand unemployment eligibility (H.55) to cover all non-profit employers, regardless of the size of the employer. It also directs the Department of Labor (DOL) to study and report back on the impact of expanding unemployment eligibility to include urgent and compelling circumstances for separation from employment, such as unexpected loss of child care or supporting an ill family member. The bill also requires the DOL to report on ways to improve the utilization of the existing Domestic and Sexual Violence Survivors’ Transitional Employment Program by survivors of domestic and sexual violence. These last two provisions are elements from Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak’s unemployment bill H.92.
HEALTHCARE
Progressives led on the Shield Law Bill (H.89 and S.37), to legally protect reproductive and gender affirming care for patients and health care providers early on in the session. H.89 protects Vermonters accessing life affirming health care.
“We must not let these national efforts to restrict access to legally protected health care to succeed . . . As Vermonters, we know that personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity of every individual and must not be denied or infringed upon.”
- Rep. Taylor Small (House Human Services Committee)
Rep. Taylor Small’s Shield Law bill passed the House by voice vote. She gave a speech highlighting the protections for gender-affirming care in the bill, referring to other state legislatures that have ‘“passed unprincipled laws restricting parents’ ability to care for their children, and putting transgender people in harm's way . . . ‘We must not let these national efforts to restrict access to legally protected health care succeed,’ Small said. ‘As Vermonters, we know that personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity of every individual and must not be denied or infringed upon.’”
Universal Primary care (H.156), Rep. Cina’s third universal health care bill since 2017 had a record 59 cosponsors including 5 Progressives, 51 Democrats, 2 Republicans and 1 Independent, indicating strong support for the bill in the House. Despite growing support, the struggle continues due to many barriers in the way of a Vermont system. In order to overcome the obstacles ahead, the Universal Health Care Caucus is holding our first meeting this April to organize on both the state and federal levels for a publicly-financed universal health care system.
We are in the midst of a superstorm in which the ongoing opioid epidemic and pre-existing mental health challenges have collided and intensified due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social determinants of health and on already neglected health and human services in the United States.
People struggling with substance abuse disorders and their loved ones continue to be left behind. Progressives have been working hard to make tangible differences— with the knowledge in mind that criminalization does not cure addiction, but does quite the opposite. Among legislation to address this growing crisis are bi-chamber led bills aiming to implement evidence-based strategies to reduce overdose deaths in Vermont and direct the spending of the opioid abatement fund, which was created in response to the lawsuit payouts from pharmaceutical industries who were responsible for our current opioid crisis.
As public health declines, we are in the midst of a multi-year surge in deaths by suicide. Vermont’s rate of death by suicide per 100,000 residents was 20.3 in 2021, around 45% higher than the national rate of 14 per 100,000. Two suicide prevention bills passed the House this session. H.230 prevents suicide by restricting access to firearms by requiring safe storage, implementing a 72-hour waiting period for purchase, and expanding access to protective court orders. H.481 continues Vermont’s ongoing efforts to reduce death by suicide through planning and strategic investments in the systems of health, human services, and education.
The State Budget that passed the House in 2023 included rate increases for a wide range of health and human service providers to promote financial security. Vermont continues to invest in financial incentives to recruit and retain health and human services workers in the face of record level job vacancies. The Budget supports expansion of peer support, mobile crisis response, and inpatient/residential options for care in the community, amongst many others.
“Our health and human services systems have never been properly funded to provide the community-based services needed by people after deinstitutionalization in the middle of the 20th century. At this moment in history, we must sustainably and creatively fund our community-based system of care. We must work towards universal and equitable access to a holistic and comprehensive system of health and human services for all by the middle of the 21st century.”
- Rep. Brian Cina (House Health Care Committee)
As the struggle for universal health care continues, the Legislature continues to take small but significant steps towards increased access to health care. S.65 will eliminate co-pays and coinsurance for epi-pens beginning in 2025 and passed the Senate, thanks to Sen. Vyhovsky’s leadership and sharing of her lived experience in passing this bill. Other important strides in the field of healthcare were made in S.79, which passed out of the Senate Healthcare committee, aiming to begin allowing accident victims to have their insurance billed instead of having liens levied against any damages they receive from the accident.
REIMAGINING JUSTICE SYSTEM
The carceral facility for women- Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility- needs to be replaced due to many ongoing problems. The Capital Bill (H.493), includes preliminary funding to explore replacement facilities for the women, as well as improvements to living and working conditions in multiple state correctional facilities. Progressives advocated for shifting away from incarceration and towards evidence-based community care grounded in trauma-informed approaches and restorative practices. The Capital Bill passed the House this week with important language requiring future corrections infrastructure to be built with trauma-informed approaches and to incorporate restorative practices in the existing system. This is an important step in the right direction. Next, we must reduce recidivism and improve the social determinants of health by empowering impacted staff and justice-involved individuals to plan a pilot project for replacement facilities and services for justice-involved individuals, through a just transition from incarceration to community care ( H.438).
Progressives have been spearheading legislation to decriminalize sex work (H.372), collaborating with the Ishtar Collective— aiming to recognize sex work as real work in a way that holds accountable perpetrators of human trafficking and coercion into participating in sex work. Rep. Taylor Small joined fellow sex work advocates from within and outside of the State House for a press conference where it was made clear that consensual sex work is safe — and criminalizing it is not helping anyone.
S.27, led by Senator Tanya Vyhovsky, will over time eliminate cash bail. Our constitution states that no one may be held in jail because of a debt, but cash bail directly prevents people without necessary funds from leaving jail pre-trial, going to work, and being in community. The assignment of money bail leads to a 6–9 percent increase in recidivism. In jurisdictions where commonsense cash bail reforms have been implemented, those who await their trial in the community are no more likely to be re-arrested after bail reform was passed than before. Put simply, releasing more people has not led to higher crime rates.
“There is a significant and growing body of evidence that cash bail not only is not the most effective tool to ensure defendants’ appearance in court, but it is also disparately and inequitably applied to hold people in jails before they have had the due process guaranteed to them, simply because they are poor and cannot afford to post their bail.”
-Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (Vice Chair of Senate Committee on Government Operations)
HOUSING
UVM enrollment continues to rise, pushing more students into a saturated housing market with rising rent and often poor housing conditions, due to desperation and predatory landlord practices. Rep. Troy Headrick introduced a UVM housing bill H.311 to cap UVM’s enrollment until the rental vacancy rate reaches a more healthy 5%, and would ensure adequate living space for each student.
Progressives have also been pushing to give the right of first refusal to renters when their home is going up for sale. Just cause eviction passed in Winooski and Essex, with the charter changes being up for consideration this biennium once again. Rep. Small introduced Just Cause Eviction for Winooski, and Rep. Mulvaney-Stanak re-introduced the bill for Burlington recently, as well.
The ongoing homelessness crisis both nationally and locally continues to be addressed with patchwork bandaids that allow those most vulnerable to fall through the cracks. Progressives pushed again this year for a robust, well-rounded plan from the legislature and the Administration. This begins by maintaining Vermonters in their current housing situations with tenant protections and funding programs that improve tenant-landlord relationships through mediation, rental assistance, and eviction diversion. We also pushed and received additional investments in support services, including targeted funding for families as we know that addressing youth homelessness has multi-generational impacts. We build on these programs by investing in our current emergency housing program while simultaneously developing the long-term plan to move those experiencing homelessness out of the motels and into permanent supportive housing.
There was a lot of work done to implement housing for houseless Vermonters into the budget and maintain the motel housing program until alternate housing options are available. At this point, however, vulnerable populations (chronically ill, disabled, or elderly Vermonters, or people with children) will retain their housing until June 1, and after that the program will revert to pre-covid eligibility, which is housing people during the worst weather condition and based on their emergency status. This will mean upheaval of lives and health for many people in Vermont, but Rep. Taylor Small fought hard to maintain this program beyond June— and will continue fighting for housing as a human right.
ENVIRONMENT
Rep. Kate Logan is a first-time legislator, and we are grateful to have her on the House Committee on Environment and Energy. She has learned a lot very quickly to work on bills surrounding land conservation, recycling, and hazardous waste. The Bottle Bill, H.158 passed this session — this bill expands collection of recyclable materials to keep them out of the landfill and make sure those materials are truly recycled, not down-cycled (as often happens with single-stream recycling). Rep. Logan worked to hold the line on ensuring that wine bottles were included in the bottle bill, against significant industry pressure as well as retaining a regulatory trigger that would increase the bottle deposit amount if collection rates are not meeting mandated goals. Another significant piece of legislation is 30x30, or H.126, which aims to conserve 30% of Vermont’s land by 2030 and 50% by 2050. Rep. Logan worked with the VHCB Land Access and Opportunity Board to add equity-related provisions in 30x30 including land acknowledgements, mandates to include “an equity assessment of existing land protection and conservation strategies and programs” in the conserved land inventory, a mandate to make “recommendations to increase equitable access to protected and conserved lands and land-based enterprises” in the conservation plan. Also included was a mandate to include “Indigenous groups and representatives from historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities” in the planning process and $75,000 for VHCB to use to encourage indigenous participation in the planning process. On Monday, we will be sending out an email on S.5, the Affordable Heat Act and holding a public caucus on Tuesday where we will be learning more about the bill, which the caucus has not given much thought to yet, since it just passed out of the Senate. Stay tuned!
EDUCATION
At a time when the LGBTQ+ community is under attack, people’s identities are being criminalized, and education about the history of Civil Rights in our country is being banned, even Vermont’s education system is vulnerable to far-right groups attempting to prohibit such topics from being discussed in schools. Progressives have been fighting to safeguard the academic freedom for our educators (H.106), to keep discrimination out of curriculum, and to guarantee our teachers’ right to instruct our children with an honest reckoning for the systemic racism and white supremacy upon which this nation was built. Publicly funded independent schools must play by the same rules as public schools and allow educators and students to identify truthfully while discussing issues of gender, sexuality, and race in H.483.
The “big bill” budget we passed out of the House creates a universal school meal program that will provide free breakfast and lunch to all Vermont students. Research on this program is consistent and clear: students who are given access to reliable meals perform better by all academic measures. This plan is affordable and simple. When we feed all Vermont students without creating a qualifying family income cutoff, we remove stigma that is harmful to students on either side of that income threshold. Universal school meals will end the practice of attaching assumptions about how stable a child’s home is based on their presumed family income. In Vermont, we guarantee our children are nourished. It’s that simple.
Watch our legislative caucuses or read our newsletters on the following topics!
Housing Caucus
Shield Laws and Reproductive Justice Blog Post and Caucus
Universal Primary Care Blog Post and Caucus
Paid Family Leave Blog Post and Caucus
No New Prisons, More education Funding Blog Post and Caucus
Aging Vermonters Blog Post and Caucus
Public Education and LGBTQ+ issues Blog Post and Caucus
S.100 Blog Post and Caucus
