Thursday April 16th

Sorry I haven’t written in a week but a lot of what’s been going on is happening behind the scenes. That makes it both difficult to talk about or sometimes impossible to. Most of the legislature’s time is being devoted to the budget and to the tax bill. In the past week the House passed both. With the capital construction bill already past the House and the transportation bill ready for debate, the legislature is moving close to adjournment. In fact, the Senate Judiciary Committee had no schedule this week and yesterday the Chair of the Senate Government Operations Committee said that they were done for the year.
While we wait for the Senate’s version of the budget and how it will be funded, two of the bills I’ve been working on are making some slow progress. H.11 is ready for a second round of Senate floor action after a surprise amendment was added to the bill on Tuesday. Senator Illuzzi introduced an amendment without prior notice to validate an assistant judge’s being a candidate for assistant judge and probate judge at the same time. While the Vermont Constitution lists some offices that cannot be held simultaneously, it doesn’t mention those two. There was, of course, no committee review of the concept as it was a floor amendment done without notice; it did not appear on the calendar. Whatever one thinks of that idea, the troubling portion of the amendment is the language that applies it retroactively to validate the actions of Essex County Judge Alan Hodgdon. The vote to add the amendment to the bill resulted in a 14-14 tie which was decided by the Lt. Governor in favor of Senator Illuzzi. That stopped the bill in its tracks.
The Senate then sent the bill to its Government Operations Committee for a quick review which the committee tried its best to do yesterday. Judge Hodgdon, his attorney Eric Benson and Senator Illuzzi testified about a pending judicial conduct board case against him for exactly this type of activity. I was surprised to learn of the case and was equally surprised at his waiving confidentiality and openly discussing it at the hearing. I know nothing more about it at this time. I was asked to respond to the bill and my remarks were limited to asking the legislature not to intervene in the judiciary’s regulation of courts and judicial officers. This is still in play as I write this early on Thursday. The Senate is next scheduled to go on the floor tomorrow morning at 8:30.
The trust bill, S. 86, remains in the House Ways and Means Committee which must review the fee section. Since that committee was shepherding the tax bill on the floor both Tuesday and Wednesday, they have had no time to take any testimony. We’re hoping to appear there this afternoon again depending on floor time. In the meantime, the House Judiciary Committee will be hearing from Paul Hanlon this morning at 11. They don’t formally “have” the bill but they want to review it before it hits the floor for debate.
Back to the budget for a minute, I want you to know that Vermont Legal Aid remains on the “short list” for the Senate Appropriations Committee to increase its funding if possible. You may recall that the House level funded VLA- that means after about $85,000 in rescissions. We’re hopeful that we can get something back in their budget this year. We’re still waiting for the revenue numbers which are due out next Friday, the 24th at 10AM. If you know any members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and/or if you are represented by any of them, now is the time to email or call them to advocate for access to justice.