When lawmakers reconvene in Montpelier this week, they will be picking up where they left off after a hasty, frenzied adjournment last spring.
In May, the Democratically controlled House and Senate struggled to reach consensus on the party’s two major economic priorities — increasing the minimum wage and establishing a statewide paid family leave program.
They failed to send either proposal to the governor’s desk, and departed the Statehouse leaving these bills, and other major debates, on the table for 2020.
This year, Democrats are teed up to resume the yearslong debate about establishing a legal market for marijuana, have gathered momentum to pass climate action bills aimed at cutting carbon emissions, and are poised to curb vaping use.
Democratic leaders have also pledged to reform the state’s prison system, after a Seven Days investigation revealed widespread sexual assault and drug use in Vermont’s only women’s prison.
With many of their biggest priorities, Democrats are on course to clash with Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who opposes legislation he believes will raise the cost of living in the state.
Here is a rundown of everything you need to know about Vermont’s 2020 legislative session, which begins on Tuesday.
Minimum wage and paid family leave
While Democrats couldn’t reach a compromise on these bills in 2019, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, and Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, say they have a plan to swiftly send them to the governor’s desk in 2020.
Last year, while House leaders favored a more robust paid leave program and a moderate minimum wage increase, senators had wanted a $15 per hour wage by 2024 and a less expensive paid leave policy.
The leaders of the House and Senate say they have settled on moving forward a bill that would raise the minimum wage to somewhere between $12 and $13 in the next two years.
They have also tentatively agreed to a paid family leave package that is scaled back from the House’s version, and would be funded by a $29 million payroll tax. The House version was funded by an $80 million payroll tax.
But to win House approval, the Senate has agreed to put in a provision that gives employees the option to pay for additional insurance to take time off for personal injuries — a benefit senators had stripped from the bill.
Legal marijuana market in limbo
Legislation to legalize marijuana sales stalled in the House last year, and its fate remains uncertain.
While there is widespread support in the legislative body to pass the measure, the leader of the lower chamber has been resistant to creating a legal marketplace for the drug.
But Johnson says the bill will see a vote this year if it has the support to pass the House and legislators address concerns she and others have about the impacts a legal marijuana market could have on road safety, youth drug usage and the environment.
Climate change measures
Democrats and Progressives in the Statehouse have united behind two major climate initiatives they plan to move forward.
One, the “Transportation Climate Initiative,” would authorize Vermont to take part in a regional push to charge companies for bringing fossil fuels into the state. Governments would then use the funds to invest in carbon cutting measures.
The other legislation known as the “Global Warming Solutions Act,” would require Vermont to reduce its carbon emissions by about 25% by 2025. Unlike the state’s current emissions targets, which are non-binding goals, the bill would hold state agencies legally liable for cutting emissions.
The governor has signaled he would likely oppose both measures. Republicans have called Transportation Climate Initiative a “carbon tax” because it could increase fuel prices by as much as 20 cents per gallon.
Prison Reform
After Seven Days published an investigation last month detailing allegations of sexual abuse and harassment, and widespread drug use by guards inside Vermont’s women’s prison, legislative leaders pledged to take on prison reforms this year.
Johnson said that the House Institutions Committee will review the situation at the state’s only prison for women, the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, during the first week of the session, and will determine the “systemic changes” that can be made with a “legislative fix.”
Ashe has said the Senate will look to change protocols “for the handling of high-level accusations of staff misconduct” in the correctional system, and will reexamine the state’s requirements and training for corrections officers.
Flavored vapes could go up in smoke
Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, will propose a bill to ban flavored e-cigarette and tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes.
The House and Gov. Phil Scott have signaled they would support banning flavored vaping products. The Trump Administration announced on Jan. 2, it would forbid the sale of most flavored e-cigarette capsules. Menthol products, however, were exempt from Trump’s ban.
Gun control on the table
Sen. Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden, plans to introduce legislation that would prevent people from carrying semi-automatic weapons in some public areas including parks, stores, restaurants, airports, places of worship, auditoriums, theaters, childcare facilities, and during political demonstrations. Senate leaders, including Ashe, have signaled they are willing to consider the bill.
The proposal will come months after Scott vetoed a bill that would have established a 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases, a watered down version of a bill Baruth proposed for 48-hour waiting periods on all firearms.
Democrats in the House do not have the numbers to revive the vetoed legislation, but they will look to reintroduce a provision that would close what is known as the “Charleston loophole,” which allows those seeking to purchase firearms to receive certain weapons before their background checks are completed.
Scott has signaled he would support a measure to address this practice.
Democrats to challenge Scott on medical monitoring
Democratic lawmakers plan to override the governor’s veto of legislation that would give individuals the right to sue companies for the cost of monitoring health issues caused by toxic pollution.
Scott struck down the bill in June over concerns that it could place an undue burden on the state’s business community by increasing legal exposure and ramping up insurance costs.
When the Senate voted on the measure last year, it passed 19-11, meaning Ashe would need to flip one vote to successfully reverse the veto. In the House, the bill passed with 100 votes — exactly enough to override the governor.
Ashe says he hopes to hold an override vote early in the session.
Rethinking Act 250
In 2018, a commission tasked with studying Vermont’s 50-year-old land use law released a report recommending lawmakers change the policy to promote development in downtown areas, protect forest blocks, and further restrict development on mountain ridgelines.
House lawmakers took time to review the commission’s report and were mulling possible changes to Act 250 in 2019. But they plan on actually moving forward with reforms to modernize the law this year.
Under the radar
A push to decriminalize possession of the widely used opioid treatment drug, buprenorphine, didn’t move out of committee last session, but will be back on the table in 2020.
The Senate will once again take up a constitutional amendment to extend gubernatorial terms from two to four years, a measure that will likely pass both chambers.
Senate Democrats will look to continue the conversation on a housing bond worth about $38 million. Last year, opponents, including Treasurer Beth Pearce, raised concerns about adding to the state’s debt for a housing measure.