Vermont Legislative Update 2023: Week 4

On a cold, dark Vermont evening, many of us turn to puzzles as a relaxing past-time. The first step to puzzling, after securing your favorite Vermont brew or spirits, of course, is dumping all of the pieces out on the table and taking stock of them. You likely find the corners and edges, then some distinct color patches, and work inward from there to build the final product. The legislative session is a little bit like that, however, not all the pieces are on the table yet, and the unique thing about this puzzle is that there are often too many pieces, as if the last person to puzzle just crammed multiple puzzles into one box and left it to be the next person’s problem.  

Last week, many of the pieces that help make up the corners and edges of our legislative puzzle were added; The state heard a stormy revenue forecast, the Governor delivered his budget address, and the long-awaited report on childcare funding was presented. This week, the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) has slowly been fitted together. Now, we need to start seeing some more pieces, in the form of draft bills, on the table, since the pace of bill introduction is at an unprecedented slow pace this year.  

Once the bills start being introduced, there will likely be many, and not everything can be done. Leadership will, from the top, help distinguish what pieces don’t make it to the final product, and then the committees need to do the hard work of working inward from the corners and edges of the puzzle. 

In this week’s update:

• Register for our first legislative breakfast before February 2nd 
• Paid Family and Medical Leave bill released with a veto-proof number of sponsors 
• Proposed bill would give unfettered access to internal workings of state contractors 
• Committee reviews report on potential sports betting in Vermont
• Unique bill creating a federal tax break for Vermont businesses introduced  
• The Laundry List