Notes from Montpelier
by Rep. Bill Frank

After a long final week, we completed our legislative work for this year and this biennium at about 4:30 PM Saturday, May 3. This was the earliest finish in the last ten years. Speaker Symington began working toward this adjournment date prior to Town Meeting Day. Under the Speaker's leadership, legislators worked diligently to address the issues that are most affecting Vermonters' pocketbooks and their sense of security and community, and then adjourned two weeks early, saving Vermont taxpayers a half a million dollars. The Speaker, while recognizing the need to save Vermonters money, remained committed to finishing the work of the legislature before adjourning. The Governor is now reviewing the bills passed and deciding if he will sign them into law.

I am very proud of the work and accomplishments of this legislative session. A major challenge was the very hard choices needed in creating a budget without shifting costs onto health care premiums or onto property taxes, unlike the Governor's proposed budget. The task was made even harder in light of the updated revenue forecast we received in April.

Major focus during the entire was on health care costs, the cost of fuel, and the strength of our economy. We continued to contain the pace of rising health care costs by continuing to remove barriers to insurance for Vermonters. We continued investing in preventive care and information technology, both of which will improve care and lower costs. Efficiency Vermont, the award-winning energy efficiency utility, was expanded to include heating fuels in order to both save Vermonters money and create new jobs. We initiated comprehensive measures to encourage more housing at prices Vermonters can afford and increased investment in workforce training. Both of these were concerns of many Vermont employers.

The legislature has been exploring bonding for roads all session and it was finally agreed to by Governor Douglas. We can now begin to catch up in taking care of the state's transportation infrastructure. Major steps were taken to protect the quality of our groundwater and to more effectively improve the water quality of Lake Champlain. A two-year effort to reorganize the state's corrections system is going to generate much-needed savings. Investing these savings in more substance abuse treatment and support to inmates who complete their sentences will help lower corrections costs and make our communities safer.

I have been keeping you updated on the work of my Human Services Committee in protecting children. The two-year effort to rewrite the juvenile justice system and improving how Vermont addresses domestic violence was completed. We are going to improve protecting children from lead poisoning caused by toys or old paint in rental housing.

In the Human Services Committee 28 bills were passed. Eleven were passed on a unanimous vote of all 11 committee members, ten others were passed unanimously but less than the 11 members were present for voting. The remaining 7 bills passed on a split vote with only one passing on a party line vote. In the entire House 80% of the committee votes were unanimous and only 5% could be considered a partisan vote. I am frequently asked why there is so much partisanship in the legislature; these numbers do not bear that out. I feel all committees work hard to pass the best possible legislation for Vermonters.