The End

The Governor and me!

Today was my last day! I was given a certificate signed by the governor, a plaque from the Senate, a lapel pin from the House that only pages can get, and a lot of pictures with the “important” people in the State House. As I was turning in the hideous green jacket, which I surprising opted not to purchase it for $50, I was given a patch, a book written by Sen. Doyle, and a CD of pictures that we took with a representative’s Ipad throughout the session. I also was allowed to keep my ID, my name tag, and the necklace.
I forgot to say that yesterday the GMO bill was signed on the lawn of the State House. I got to watch and pushed through a few people so I could video tape it because I was looking for a Representative who was supposed to be outside. There was a lot of celebrating going on and it was cool to watch.
I also forgot to mention that the Senators and Representatives have been staying until 11:30 almost every night, Monday through Friday.

Addendum: The House and Senate finished their work on Saturday night…

 

 

 

Senate Pro Tem John Campbell and Lt. Governor Scott and me!

 

Speaker of the House Shap Smith and me!

Getting Close to the End…

 

Today I was in the House! No new items on the calendar were introduced! When the Speaker of the House announced that, the chamber erupted in applause.S. 237, an act relating to proceedings in cases of animal cruelty passed on to third reading!
The House concurred with the Senate’s proposal of amendment to H. 225, a statewide policy on the use of and the training requirements for electronic devices. S. 234, an act relating to Medicaid coverage for home telemonitoring services came back from a committee with all six members, three from each body, signed off. It was adopted in the House.
The legislature then went on to do some of tomorrow’s business. H.R. 24 which relates to legislative ethics in the House so it did not need to go through, or be approved by, the other bodies of government. It passed. At the start of the new biennium, Representatives are required to show a committee of five, composed of not more than three of the majority, what committees they are on that would influence their vote because they are being reimbursed in cash or by reward by that board, committee, or some other entity.
S. 308, an act relating to regulating precious metal dealers, was moved on to third reading.
The House concurred with the Senate’s proposal of amendment to the capital construction and state bond budget adjustment. H. 65 was adopted so the part time certification of law enforcement will be eliminated and instead a three level tier of certification will be installed. This was also signed unanimously out of a conference committee.

The Governor signed the GMO bill today!!! It is a LAW!!!

So Many Bills…

Today I was in the House! H. 673, the retirement and pension amendments passed but not before Rep. Browning introduced three amendments and Rep. Komline introduced an amendment. Rep. Browning’s first amendment was shot down by the floor on a roll call vote, 14-118. Her second amendment was withdrawn and her third was found not relevant to the bill, after another representative called a point of order. Rep. Komline’s amendment passed, 126-6.
Representative Conquest for Judiciary Committee proposed an amendment to S. 237, an act relating to the proceedings in the case of animal cruelty. The amendment was passed by the House. Senate offered amendments to H. 497 which is the open meeting law, H. 877 which is the repeal of report requirements that are at least five years old, and S. 239, an act relating to the regulations of toxic substances. The House concurred with all of those amendments.
The House did not concur with the Senate proposal of amendment for H. 790, a Reach Up eligibility act, so a conference committee was appointed from both chambers and they will get together and try to find a compromise that will pass in both Houses.
The House bill H. 497 concurred with the Senate amendment. However, the floor did concur with the Senate proposed’s amendment to H. 877. The floor also concurred with S. 239 with a proposal of amendment.
The Speaker of the House adopted Bills from the notice calendar in order to have less to rush through as the session is winding down. The Representative that was for the first two Bills adopted was Rep. Lippert for Judiciary. These were S. 263 and S. 264, S. 263 was an act relating to the authority of assistant judges in child support contempt proceedings and S. 264 was an act relating to technical corrections to civil and criminal procedure statutes.
H. 501, H. 656, H. 728, and S. 208 were taken up for immediate consideration from the notice calendar with the rules suspended. H. 501’s amendment was declined, and a Conference Committee was commissioned. The floor concurred with the Senate amendments to H. 656 H. 728, and H. 208 .
Today there were only three announcements. House Concurrent Resolution or H.C.R. 352, congratulates Champlain Valley Union High school on it’s anniversary. H.C.R 363 congratulates Vermont Economic development authority on its 40th anniversary. H.C.R 366 commemorates a 70th anniversary birthday celebration by the Colchester library.

Could Be the Last Week in Montpelier…

Today I was in the House! The devotional in the House was the Gettysburg Address memorized and recited by Greenwood school in Putney. They have an annual school wide competition and the winners come up to the State House. It was really cool. Some of the legislators mouthed the words along.
Representative Tom Koch of Barretown brought tears to the floor while announcing his retirement from the legislature. The Speaker even started crying! Representative Koch started off with saying that he did not want to carried out feet first of the legislature and that he and his wife had decided that it was time for him to move on. I probably would have started bawling at one point, even though he votes the wrong way, but he repeated a joke that his former colleague said about serving in the legislature while announcing her retirement. She said that serving in the Vermont legislature is like having a baby; when you are done, you are done. He then went on to say, “Well I do not know much about having a baby but…” The entire floor broke into a crying laugh sort of thing. He also said that the Vermont legislature was like a family; and everyone knows that family fights are the worst fights. After almost a quarter of a century that he has been here, the Vermont Legislature is still devoid of corruption. Legislators argue and disagree but as soon as they come off the floor they will go out to get something to drink together. The arguments are forgotten and everyone is still friends despite their differences of opinion. He said that he also believes that every single legislator genuinely cares about the state of Vermont. He ended with personally thanking the Speaker of the House and the floor, noting that this was his first time ever doing so.
The Senate proposed an amendment to H. 612, the Gas Pipeline Safety Program penalties bill, H. 681, the professional regulation for veterans, military service members, and military spouses, H. 882, the compensation for certain State employees, H. 211 An act relating to permitting of sewage holding and pumpout tanks for public buildings. The House concurred with all of those amendments.
S. 40, is an act that relates to establishing an interim committee that will develop policies to restore the 1980 ratio of State funding to student tuition at all Vermont State colleges and to make higher education more affordable; it passed.
An act relating to the energy efficiency charge, S. 202, passed.
We spent hours on S. 316, an act relating to creating unions for child care providers. An amendment presented by Rep. Bouchard was shot down, 53-86. We had to leave before the final vote but I think the bill passed
After Koch’s speech, no one really felt like arguing and all of the debating was friendly.

Week 4 is Complete!

 

Today I was in the House! It was crazy; for over a half hour I was the only page in the House. I did have to try to not break the rules, get everyone’s notes, deliver notes and keep track of what was going on. I never sat down. All of the other pages were either on lunch break or delivering notes, and paperwork to Legislative Council.
Leg. Council is where the bills are actually drawn out. All of the legal language of bills are written there. When you get a tour of the State House, that part of the State House is closed off to the general public because all of the administrative offices that need it to be quiet to work.
Next Friday all of the pages are going to be recognized in the House and in the Senate. I have already met the Governor a few times, delivering and collecting notes from him, but this Friday, I will get a photo op. with him.
When the session ends, the representatives, Lt. Governor, and Governor give us a “goodie bag.” We do not know what will be in them but it is supposed to a big deal. When I am done serving as a page, I get to keep the necklace I was given when I started the job, (the boys get to keep a tie,) my ID, and a patch saying that I served as a page. If I wanted to, I could buy the hideous green jacket for fifty dollars as well.
This weekend my roommate at my host family’s home, came home with me this weekend! We went clubbing and had a lot of fun.

Bills Bills Bills (Not the ones you have to pay)

 

Today I was in the House! It was chaos! Since we are nearing the end of the session, all of the legislators want to get all of their bills through. Emotions are running high and it feels like fist fights could break any minute.
Today we went through a lot of bills but the majority of the time, about four hours, was spent on two bills. S. 184 was related to eyewitness identification policy. Sometimes Representatives bring their own personal experience into the House when they are trying to change the minds of the other 150 people. Rep. Ram did not present this bill but her argument for it was so eloquent and to the point that ten hours later a 13-year-old page who was working all day and id thoroughly exhausted, is still impressed by it. Her reason for supporting a certain controversial section of this bill is because when she was 14, she and a friend who was Native American were arrested because when asked if she was Mexican she said no. The first question she was asked by a police officer was, “Are you Mexican?” The second question she was asked was, “Are you sure?” When finally arrived at the station she was asked, “What are you anyway?” They were kept in custody until 1am on a school night. It passed.
The other major bill was S. 287, an act related to involuntary treatment and medication. The two presenters of the bill presented it as though they were not in favor of it which was interesting. The vote for this bill crossed party lines and the debate beforehand was extremely interesting. In the middle of discussing this bill, the House broke into Caucus. All of the Democrats to room 11 and all Republicans to room 10. The two presenters of this bill are from different parties but instead of having each perspective one go to his or her Caucus, they mixed it up. Rep. Donahue went to the Republican Caucus and Rep Koch was a guest in the Democratic Caucus.

Week 4 and Lots Happening

 

Today I was in the Sergeant at Arms Office but I got to catch a few things that happened in the Senate.
H. 217 is going to not allow smoking in lodging establishments, hospitals, child care facilities, and on State lands because it passed, 19-1-0! I am really excited about that. It is awaiting the signature of the Governor!
H. 681 which has something to do with the professional regulation of spouses, veterans, and service members of the military, will be read a third time. I did not hear the debate nor do I have any background information on this particular topic so I do not have an opinion.
The Senate floor spent about an hour and a half debating H. 823 but I never caught what the debate was about. It was postponed until tomorrow.
H. 88 is an act that was involved the parental rights and responsibilities of the perpetrator when a child is conceived as a result of sexual assault. It was moved on to the third reading, 18-0-0. If passed, perpetrators will not have parental contact rights with the child that was conceived as a result of a sexual assault .
S. 247 was sent over to the House but the House sent it back with some amendments. This act involves the regulation of medical marijuana dispensaries. I was in the House when they discussed this. The range of different opinions and the reasoning for those opinions were fascinating over there. It was decided in the House that the number of dispensaries across the State should not be changed until the four that currently exist and function are secure. Another amendment to the original bill proposed by the Senate was to allow an increase of the amount of hemp allowed in these dispensaries. Hemp is one of the major ingredients in Charlotte’s Web, a supposed remedy of seizures. Families have a second residency in Colorado just so they can access this for their children. A representative said, ”Having to watch your child have a seizure is one of the most heartbreaking things you will ever see.” The children for which this amendment was made for do not have seizures one every two weeks; they have multiple a day. This amendment also clarifies the section of the bill that says medical marijuana can be prescribed from doctors after six months of the same doctor. It now allows patients with distant metastasizing cancer, terminal illnesses, and patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome to be exempt from that. I did not get to see the results of the debate.
Yesterday I forgot to mention that I went up to the Dome! Vermont is the only State House in the country that does not have a dome that is pretty to look up at from the inside. It was kind of an attic that was only accessible through multiple flights of old wooden stairs. Since we are pages we could sign the walls of the attic! It was really cool. We ended up walking a few more flights of stairs so we could be a few inches from the statue on the very top of the golden Dome. It was kind of amazing!
76-60 was the vote in the House to approve the privatization of public schools. As the legislature is finishing up, they are in session a lot with plenty of action to report on… yesterday the senate went until 1030pm and the house went until 11pm!

Week Four Begins

 

Today I was in the Sergeant at Arms office. I helped out in the Senate, delivering messages to and from the chambers but I did not get to listen to what was going on too much so here is a partial recap…
The House’s appropriations bill passed in the Senate! The Senate had multiple amendments to the budget though so it will be sent back to the House for review and approval.
A health care oversight amendment was proposed and withdrawn by Sen. Lyons. Sen. Sirotkin proposed an amendment that passed but I was delivering a note so I did not get to hear what it was about. Sen. Ayer and Lyons also proposed an amendment that could affect the appropriations towards weatherization because it passed in the Senate. Sen. Galbraith proposed two amendments, both of which were shot down. One of the votes on his his second amendment was close, 8-19, and across party lines. Someone called roll call so now if you wanted to, you could access those records. At one point the Chair of the Appropriations Committee and the chair of the Finance Committee were arguing because one thought that the one time excess money of one million dollars was better suited towards high education funds and the other thought that it was needed to bring down the property tax. Appropriations towards higher education have “stagnated” because the cost of Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade is getting more and more expensive for the State. I was not there to see the outcome of the debate.

An act relating to transportation impact fees that was not part of the budget, H. 740, was moved on to the third reading today.
The Senate met for five hours straight. The House started at 9:30am, took a lunch break, reconvened after a half hour, and then is expected to go until 9pm tonight. Things are heating up!

Week Three is a Wrap

 

Today I was in the Senate! They covered a telecommunication bill that was going to work towards giving all Vermonters the access to internet and giving them the resources so when the next technological phenomena is invented, Vermonters are equipped to compete on a global scale and provide for students the resources they need to complete their homework every night.
The Senate works much differently than the House. In the Senate you are not allowed to be on any sort of electronic device so people end up listening to each other. In the House I have walked up to representatives to deliver a note and they were playing, (this is my list so far,) Flappy Birds, Angry Birds, Solitaire, Tetris, and scrolling through IFunny. I have seen two people asleep in their chairs during a meeting. In the House it seems much more dramatic and less productive while in the Senate it feels like even though people may have different opinions on an issue, they all get along in general. Once when Senator Nitka won a Final Four contest among all of the legislators that had a cash prize, she invited all of the Senators over to her home to celebrate. Since there are fewer people in the Senate, only 30, it feels like a better atmosphere for me. That is not saying that the House is not fun to be in. Since there are 150 representatives there are always notes to be delivered which keeps us on our toes.
Schools sometimes register in the Sergeant at Arms office for tours and to be talked to by a page. I talked to three Fourth Grade classes and got them all excited about being pages when they are older.
Before I think I gave you the wrong number of legislators that we were tested on; there are 180 legislators in total and we were expected to know all of them. I got a 95% on the test!

Low Key Day The Seargeant at Arms Office…

 

Today I was in the Sergeant at Arms office. That means that I did mail and delivered notes all day.
I found out that my name will be put in the records because I did the Pledge of Allegiance so if my great-great-great grandchildren wanted to come to the Vermont State House they would find my name.
Now that it is the end of the biennium is coming quickly, committees are rushing to put the finishing touches on their near perfect bills. All other bills will just be dropped. Both legislative bodies are now convening on Mondays, Saturdays and some committees are meeting at night as well. It feels like everyone is scrambling to finish and we still have three weeks left in the session.
I forgot to mention that even though the Cafeteria was out of it on Monday and Tuesday, chocolate milk was restored to the Cafeteria yesterday.