Tag Archives: Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules

Top Lawmakers Desperately Beg Other People to Let Them off the Hook

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Turns out, it was too much to expect that this bunch of uninterested dudes would bring themselves to make a tough call. Instead, they kicked the can down the road and begged other parties to, in the words of Our Lord and Savior, “let this chalice pass from me.”

The occasion was a Thursday meeting of the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, the House-Senate panel tasked with reviewing and approving how the executive branch implements legislation. The top agenda item was Act 143, the law that set in process a reform of Vermont’s emergency housing program — more specifically, how the Scott administration interpreted the law and put it into practice.

And in the end, LCAR punted. Committee chair Rep. Trevor Squirrell said no decision would be made for two weeks, and practically begged advocacy groups and administration officials to get together in the meantime and work out their differences. In other words, the panel doesn’t want to reject the Act 143 rules, but can’t possibly ignore all the objections to the rules and the chaos they have caused.

This, after the chairs of the relevant policy committees made clear that in most respects, the rules failed to comport with legislative intent. (Squirrell said that LCAR would “rely heavily on” the chairs’ views, and then proceeded to treat them like an inconvenient fly buzzing around his head.) This, after advocate after advocate testified — again — that the rules have been a disaster and ought to be rejected.

The lesson — again: Never underestimate the ability of a legislative committee to duck an unpleasant situation. Also, speaking as Your Political Observer, never underestimate the ability of Democratic leadership to squander a prime opportunity to confront the Scott administration on a point of vulnerability. Which also happens to have deepened Vermont’s moral failure to address its crisis of unsheltered homelessness.

I mean, how often does a political opportunity also happen to be the right thing to do? Yeah, it was too much for the likes of Rep. Squirrel and his fellows* on LCAR.

*Committee members include seven men and ONE woman. Hat tip to legislative leadership for that!

Another crucial dimension: This was a significant dispute between the two branches. By looking for a way out of the quandary, LCAR abandoned an apparent position of strength. There appears to be very firm ground for the argument that the intent of Act 143 has been flouted. It’s clear that Squirrell’s committee would prefer taking the nearest escape hatch over defending the Legislature’s authority.

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The Slow-Motion Train Wreck of Act 143 Continues Apace

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Our sadly diminished news media is all but ignoring the fact that (1) a humanitarian crisis and (2) a deeply consequential dispute between the Scott administration and the Legislature are both happening in the closing weeks of an election campaign. It’s been several weeks since this thing has gotten any coverage at all.

At issue is the administration’s implementation of Act 143, the bill designed to reform Vermont’s emergency housing system — making it more responsive to the needs of clients and less dependent on hotel/motel rooms. According to one of Act 143’s primary authors, House Human Services Committee chair Theresa Wood, the bill allowed a full year for implementation of a new system. Instead, the administration rushed it through and launched it on September 1. The result? Predictable chaos.

Last Friday, the two policy committees that shepherded Act 143 through the process (House Human Services, Senate Health & Welfare) held a joint hearing on the law’s implementation. (The video of the hearing can be viewed here.) The proceedings were dispiriting, to say the least. Witness after witness testified to the costs of a rushed implementation: new burdens on already overtaxed providers, local governments, and the health care system, massive confusion, bureaucratic waste, and an increase in unsheltered homelessness.

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

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Scott Administration Policy on Sheltering the Homeless Hits a New Low

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The battle over Act 143 has taken place largely out of the public eye, due in large part to our media’s failure to cover a highly consequential dispute between the Scott administration and the Legislature. But it’s about to boil over in ways that should be unignorable by our Wise Heads in editorial offices.

That’s partly because two different legislative hearings on Act 143 implementation will be held in the next ten days. It’s also because the effects of administration policy are coming into focus, and they are truly disastrous. It is, in the words of a blogpost by the ACLU of Vermont, a “Crisis By Design.”

Or in the words of housing advocate Brenda Siegel, we are on a path toward “catastrophic outcomes like we never have before.” For those in the back thinking to themselves, “But isn’t Brenda Siegel a nagging bitch?” my response is, “Sure, and that’s what makes her so effective as an advocate for an unpopular cause.” She has served, very effectively, as the conscience of Vermont on an issue that Our Political Betters would prefer to ignore.

Siegel also calls the current situation “the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” and she has seen more bad shit in her years as a housing advocate than any of us should have to endure in a lifetime. Her words deserve to be taken seriously by all Vermonters with a soul. Which may or may not include Mr. Phil Scott.

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The Humanitarian Crisis Is Almost Upon Us, and Official Vermont Is Doing Nothing About It

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Nothing has changed since my August 18 post about pending reductions in the state’s emergency housing program. Well, that’s not exactly true. Nothing has changed in terms of the official response, but there are all kinds of ways in which the situation is looking even worse than previously thought. That light you see at the end of the tunnel? That’s the headlight of the train headed right for us. Today is September 6; hundreds of people in state-paid motel rooms will see their eligibility expire beginning in mid-September, at the same time a cap on the number of motel rooms will take effect.

That cap is 1,100. At last count, there were more than 1,400 households in the program — and a waiting list of hundreds more. Om case you’d forgotten, eligibility had already been restricted to the truly vulnerable: People with young children or disabilities, people who had suffered a natural disaster or are fleeing domestic abuse.

Remember when Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Jane Kitchel sought reassurance that no one in a wheelchair would be put out on the street if the voucher program were cut back, and Department of Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winters replied “Hopefully not”? Well, turns out we definitely will be kicking out people in wheelchairs, and others with severe disabilities, and generally, people with nowhere else to turn.

In Friday’s mail was the latest edition of The Montpelier Bridge and its two front-page articles: “City Moves to Clear Country Club Road Encampment” and “Motel Program Restrictions Mean 100 Local People To Be Ousted.” Yeah, welcome to the greatest nation on Earth.

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