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The must-pass bill of the session is home free. Budget-writers inthe House and Senate agreed on Thursday to the details of the BigBill. The two sides were never that far apart when it came down todollars and cents. What divided negotiators for several days wereseveral large policy questions that were tacked onto the money billin the form of amendments: a provision that would allow childcareproviders to unionize and a measure that would have required thestate s two largest utilities to return $21 million in bailoutmoney to ratepayers. Both amendments were passed by majorities in the Senate, despiteHouse Speaker Shap Smith s warning that riders on the governmentspending bill were a major no-no. In the end, the Senate receded,or gave in, on the merger and childcare unionization issues. A compromise was also struck on the third policy question (whichwas budget related) — whether the state should return 50percent of any surplus General Fund money to the Education Fund inorder to partially address a $27.5 million gap created when theLegislature rebased the fund to 2008 levels. The Senate had hopedto send property tax refunds to taxpayers, instead they agreed tothe House proposal for a one-year trial period. Though lawmakers are still wrangling over the miscellaneous taxbill (current use, cloud computing taxes and a date change forannual homestead declaration were outstanding as of Thursdayevening), a budget deal means that lawmakers will end the sessionon Saturday. The Big Bill is typically one of the last pieces oflegislation to make it out the door on the way to adjournment. Thetax bill goes hand in hand and a conference committee report isexpected to be signed Friday morning. The House GOP won t suspend the 24-hour budget review rule tohasten the endgame, so it was imperative that the conferencecommittee sign the Big Bill as soon as possible so that thelegislation could be put on the electronic calendar Thursdayevening and the legislation can go to the printers in time. Lawmakers will now be running out the clock. The Senate will takeup the budget on Friday and the House will do so on Saturday. In the meantime, lawmakers will likely finish up any bill that isstill in play, but will abandon big pieces of legislation thataren t near completion. Though Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, tried again and again toresuscitate the childcare unionization bill on Wednesday andThursday, it looks like the legislation is dead. In lieu of a billthat would allow workers to collectively bargain through theAmerican Federation of Teachers, the Legislature will send a formalletter outlining the concerns raised by H.97 to Doug Racine,secretary of the Agency of Human Resources and Building BrightFutures Vermont, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving earlychildhood education. buildingbrightfutures.org/ A fair game bill that would have required non-union employeesfor the state to pay a percentage of union dues for servicesprovided by the Vermont State Employees Association was not takenup by the Senate last night. It s on the calendar for Friday. www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/calendar/sc120504.pdf Instead, the Green Room passed legislation prohibiting the cruelconfinement of sows. The so-called pig gestation bill makes crating pregnant sows a misdemeanor offense. The Senate alsopassed a resolution chastising Readers Digest for its portrayalof mental illness in a series of articles, Normal or Nuts, andanother resolution asking the U.S. Department of Justice andCommodity Futures Trading Commission to determine if anticompetitive conduct in the dairy industry is working tothe detriment of producers and consumers. The Senate is finished with the utility merger debate, but severalHouse members will make last ditch efforts to assert a provision toeither return bailout money to CVPS ratepayers and/or block a rateincrease to cover Green Mountain Power s proposed efficiency andweatherization investments in lieu of a cash payback. Rep. OliverOlsen, D-Jamaica, will offer an amendment on the energy bill. Rep.Paul Ralston, D-Middlebury, is proposing a resolution that wouldurge the Public Service Board to create a mechanism to protectagainst the unjust enrichment of shareholders at the expense ofratepayers as the result of imprudent business decisions. Bills remaining on the House calendar include: H.78, a bill thatallows unpaid workers to place a lien on shuttered companies;S.290, a bill that requires the Department of Disabilities, Agingand Independent Living to provide data regarding abused, neglectedand exploited adults (the agency stopped making informationavailable after it was sued by Vermont Legal Aid); the repeal ofschool district merger incentives under Act 153. www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/calendar/hc120504.pdf A bill sure to stir debate will be H.753, a bill that would allowthe Vermont-NEA to charge union fees to teachers who are not unionmembers. Olsen has proposed two amendments: one would allow thefees to apply to new teachers only; a second would exempt teacherswhose annual compensation whose compensation is less than 50percent of the total annual compensation of the highest paidemployee of the state teacher s union or less than 10 percent ofthe total compensation of the highest paid employee of the NEA. The House will also take up H.794. Under the bill, the state willevaluate whether an entity other than the Vermont State Policeshould assume responsibility for search and rescue operations. Thelegislation was created in response to the death of 19-year-oldLevi Duclos who went on a hike in Ripton on a warm day in Januaryand was found by police more than 14 hours after his family hadreported him missing. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Off Road Go Karts Manufacturer , China Utility Terrain Vehicles, and more. For more , please visit ATV Quads today!
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