Rep. Anne Donahue

Legislative Update

February 3, 2008

News of an early agreement between the governor and Democratic legislative leadership on the “greenhouse gasses” energy bill was welcome indeed, because it addressed the barrier that prevented me from supporting it last year: it won’t be based on an unfair violation of a rate agreement with Vermont Yankee.

It will begin enhancing efficiency of use of all heating fuels, joining the program we now have for electricity. With skyrocketing prices, it will come none too soon, and it is a win-win: get help saving money on heating while reducing fuel consumption that creates greenhouse gasses.

I have co-sponsored three different pieces of legislation to try to have the legislature re-address parts of Act 82 from last session.

Act 82 was a last minute compromise between the governor and Democratic legislative leaders that in theory will help address school costs. It is scheduled to go into effect next year, creating the “think twice” ballot with a full budget and a reduced budget when the full budget exceeds certain levels of increase.

I join with many citizens who think this legislation is bad on two sides of the equation: it won’t have any real impact on property taxes or spending, but it will make life miserable for local school boards when addressing locked-in costs.

As the Roxbury board wrote to the Education Committee last week, it pays tuition for grades 7 and up, and has no control over what the increase might be.

The three bills provide three approaches: first, to exclude costs of construction that was already approved in calculating the inflation figure that triggers the double ballot; second, a more balanced wording on split-funding ballots; and third, a one-year delay in implementation so that the legislature has a chance to “think twice” about whether the whole idea actually makes sense.

The bills are tri-partisan from several legislators who recently attended a joint forum of our local school boards: Democrat Patsy French and Republican Jim Hutchinson of Randolph, Progressive Sandy Haas of Rochester, and me.

A final note:legislators are often overwhelmed by publications from everywhere under the sun, but once in a while, they have real value.

The session’s first roll call vote occurred this past week. Perhaps fittingly enough it was a vote on an amendment to cut the session by four weeks shorter than budgeted.

The $1 million generated would then have been applied to low income heating subsidies.

I have no doubt that we could complete needed work in substantially less time if we used time more efficiently, and I have co-sponsored legislation that would set a limit to the length of future sessions.

I broke with the Republican leadership on this vote, however, because we are already a month in, and realistically would not be able to finish the budget and other necessary bills with adequate care.

The amendment was really a political statement, and while I agree with the statement, I felt that for me in this case, voting as though it was viable was not being honest.

And whenever I become really frustrated with the slow pace of some proceedings, I have to remind myself that one aspect of being a citizen’s legislature is that even those in control, like committee chairs, aren’t selected based on having an expertise in planning, group dynamics, or organizational skills. Some are better than others, but that’s more good luck than anything else.

We also have a duty to hear from people who want to speak, and some bills generate enough controversy to require days of testimony.

My committee is currently about a week behind in finishing a bill that enhances the state’s response to the threats of lead poisoning for children, in large part because the more we learned about parts of the proposal, the more we needed more information.

No one is opposed to the goals of the bill, but there is even disagreement between the Department of Health and children’s advocates about whether it would be more effective to create an unfunded mandate on doctors or to expand education to reach the goal of having all one and two-year-olds in the state screened for blood lead levels.

The good news is that in just the past few years, the efforts initiated by the original bill in 1996 have started to show some very significant pay-off. Between 2004 and 2006, for example, the number of Vermont children who tested above the very risky 10 microgram per deciliter lead level has dropped from 4 percent to 2.7 percent. The number of one-year-olds tested has gone from 45 to 80 percent since 1997.

I believe we are over-reaching when we propose to bar homeowners from disturbing more than a square foot of painted surface in their own homes without paying for and taking a day (or longer) course on safe work practices.

The Human Services Committee has also begun taking testimony on proposed revisions to how our system responds to reports of abuse or neglect.

It would create a “differential response,” so that a central statewide office could refer the report either for a formal investigation, or could first approach a family to offer help without assessing “guilt.”

Currently, every case must be formally investigated in the same way, which can create backlogs and that put too much time into some situations and not enough into others. In addition, since reports go through local offices, there can unintentionally be different standards used between different districts.

Television is already swamping everyone with ads about the universal changeover in February, 2009 that will change all programming to digital television, making current reception obsolete.

Don’t panic or curse yet, and don’t trash your old TV. The news I received from the National Association of Broadcasters is that as part of the changeover, coupons worth $40 are available to redeem for a converter box that hooks up to your existing system so that it can receive the digital signal. The web site to apply (up to two per household) is www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon.

Please stay in touch so that I can have feedback on your views on the many challenges facing our state. Leave a message anytime at 485-6431; www.counterp@tds.net, or at the statehouse at 828-2228.