The Prog Blog

I don’t know what my problem is, but I keep expecting that Jim Douglas operated under some onus of decency. Sure I know he’s close to the big wigs at Entergy. And I knew the decommissioning bill didn’t make him happy. Still, somehow I expected he would do the right thing. Who would want to explain over and over again that he is comfortable with Vermont taxpayers bailing out the Yankee owner when it comes time to shut the plant down? Surely not a savvy politician like Gov. Jim.

Wrong again. I give him the benefit of the doubt and he just re-affirms his status as Vermont’s top corporate lapdog.

In the Free Press today, Terri Hollenbeck points out that IBM didn’t like this bill either for fear it would increase their $34 million energy bill. Yikes - you can see how that would be a concern. It’s a wonder we don’t see a faint glow from over in Essex.

On the other hand, it’s reasonable to assume IBM’s Essex facility is a multi-billion dollar producer. Let’s say their annual earnings are $5 billion. That makes $34 million less than 1% of their operating costs.* IBM, Yankee and Governor Douglas consistently scream foul when anyone comes close to brushing up against their profits. It’s the job of IBM and Yankee to make money. Isn’t it Douglas’ job to protect Vermonters?

He’ll be long gone when this decision comes back to haunt us. Current estimates show the decommissioning fund is $400 million shy of what it will cost to dismantle the plant. The brilliant scheme Entergy suggests, and I can only assume Douglas favors, is to hold the plant in so-called SAFEMODE for many years after it goes off line. This keeps the high-level radioactive waste cool while the fund builds enough equity to pay for dismantling. Charming! Thanks for the leadership, Governor.

*Thanks to Doug Hoffer for this analysis

April 28th is internationally known as Workers’ Memorial Day. According to statistics provided by the Vermont Workers’ Center, every day more than 15 workers are killed on the job in the United States; nearly 6,000 workers lose their lives on the job each year and more than 4 million workers are injured or made ill on the job every year in the US. The most recent statistics from Vermont show that in 2006, 14 workers lost their lives on the job.

On April 28, I hosted a press conference with the Vermont Workers’ Center to help bring attention to Workers’ Memorial Day. The event included representatives from each office of our Congressional delegation, the Vermont Department of Labor, several union representatives, and family members of workers who had died on the job – in particular, Michelle Lewis, who also helped organize the event.

Workers’ Memorial Day is an opportunity to recognize those who have been killed, injured, and fallen ill on the job – and to consider how we can work together to improve workplace safety. I appreciate the efforts of the Vermont Workers’ Center to increase awareness about this issue.

After much talk about the need for affordable housing, the bill just passed by the legislature does little to help families in rural Vermont. H.863 requires that any new housing construction project within its guidelines have 20% of its units at or below 90% of price limits set by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA). For Windsor County, that means the few required “affordable” units could be priced at $237,600. The other 80% of the units could be much more expensive.

The guidelines are interesting. The 2007 median income for Windsor County was $60,800. According to VHFA, a family with that income could afford a house costing $186,500. That means that the cheapest units built pursuant to H.863 will cost $51,000 more than the median-income family can manage. For those of us living in rural areas, the story is even grimmer. The countywide median income includes high earners in the Norwich and White River Junction area. Incomes in our mountain towns and villages are generally lower than that median. In our area, the people who can pay $237,000 are usually second-home buyers from Connecticut and New Jersey. It’s a shame that the builders’ lobby won the day on this issue.

For the months of hand wringing and small victories, just about everything of significance that happens in Montpelier passes in the last week or two of the session - for two reasons.

1) The budget is the last bill we vote on and it overshadows nearly all the policy bills of the preceding months.

2) The juicy policy bills are held until the end to be used as bargaining chips by one chamber or the other.

As Progressives, we try to promote economic policies that push the balance back to the working people of our state. You know, the majority of us. It is a lonely battle. In this era of “tight times” (we only spent $1.4 billion in the General Fund) the lack of class understanding becomes more obvious than ever.

The two parties have it well set up. The Republican Governor proposes all sorts of horrific cuts to programs and increases in fees and co-pays for those that can least afford it. The Democrats push back, narrow the cuts, trim the increases and claim victory for the little guy.

The little guy still pays more and still gets less. Progressives are essentially shut out of the money committees and so the discussion about effective policy remains off the table.

For the most part, we are relegated to nibble around the edges - which we’re able to do quite effectively. Here’s a quick summary of some of our highlights:

-helped shape VT Yankee inspection
-helped insist Yankee decommissioning fund was full
-helped craft the bill to make VT’s groundwater a public trust
(these are perhaps the legislature’s most significant accomplishments of the biennium)
-lead the discussion to legalized hemp
-pushed IRV to the governor’s desk (vetoed)
-played central role in reforming child welfare oversight
-championed the agreement to elect president by popular vote
-held back damaging changes to worker’s compensation
-pushed for rental housing registration but got thorough study
-championed removal of state workers gag order (forbidding them to talk with lawmakers)
-pushed for whistle blower protection of state workers
-lead the discussion to limit pay increases for high-income state workers
-expanded raw milk and other strategies to keep more money in farmers’ pockets
-lead charge to repeal ridiculous “vote twice” law
(passed House, never got through the Senate)
-played central role in pushing for switch to ed funding through income tax (never got out of committee, thought proposal received significant attention)
-championed bill strengthen public workers’ right to organize
(passed House, slashed in the Senate)
-continued to lead the charge to close the unearned income tax loophole
(we’ll get there yet, just not this year)

More will come to me as the stress of it all dissipates. One thing’s for sure though, it is imperative that we go back with more members. A new governor would be nice too.

Today’s Times Argus reports that Sen. Dick Sears, chair of the Judiciary committee, has allowed the hemp bill to pass out of his committee.  Readers of our e-newsletter will recall this section from Monday’s edition:

By the end of Friday it became apparent that Sen. John Campbell from Windsor County plans to hold up almost all of the work that the House Agriculture Committee accomplished this session.

First, it was Sen. Dick Sears (Judiciary chair, where Campbell also serves), who appeared to take control of the Hemp bill as reported last week.  That bill is still “hostage” in Sen. Judiciary as the Senators try to get the House to pass legislation to reduce the penalties for possession of small quantities of cannabis.

Sears, in the TA article, explains his change of heart:

“I had 73 calls this morning,” said Sen. Dick Sears, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sears, a Bennington Democrat, didn’t have occasion to respond to the callers, but he did hear their message. And with some reluctance, Sears allowed the bill to pass out of committee and onto the Senate floor, where legislation legalizing industrial hemp cultivation in Vermont won nearly unanimous support.

It is nice to know that a little focused citizen lobbying it all it takes to get our representatives to represent our interests.  At least when it is an issue they don’t care about.

Certainly over this biennium there has been broader and more vocal support last year for the impeachment resolution, and this year for universal health care.  Could it be that the powers that be in the statehouse did not want to go on record holding the President accountable for his actions?  That the only health care reform they want to see is movement of more money from state government to private insurance companies, with little real increase in benefit to Vermonters?

Madam Speaker, may I speak on a point of personal privilege?

All around the world today workers are celebrating May Day - the original labor day. This date used to be a celebration here in the United States too – until it became tarnished by the Haymarket tragedy and Washington decided to reframe it as Loyalty Day. Best not to give the working class a tradition they could rally around, I suppose.

Sadly, this slight of hand worked.

There was a time when working people didn’t need to read the small print in their calendar to know this was a holiday. They just took the day off. Must have been infuriating for the boss to have workers decide their schedule, but that’s what happened. It was, I imagine, an empowering tradition. An organized day of hooky that served to remind bosses and workers that the power balance wasn’t exactly what it seemed the other 364 days of the year.

I offer this reminder as House committees negotiate with our co-workers down the hall – in both directions. Obviously we are not as nimble as the executive branch or the other chamber. But we have power. Our power derives from the people of Vermont. They look at the world around them and they turn to our system of government. In some cases they want answers. Sometimes solutions. Often they would prefer we do nothing at all.

As I reflect on my first full term in this body I am humbled by the terrific people who serve next to me, and delighted to have been part of this whole experience.

But sometimes I wonder if we’re asking the right questions. I am particularly proud of our work around the nuclear plant. Here we have embraced our power suitably, I think. And we were wise to move and protect Vermont’s groundwater from would-be profiteers. These are both questions of basic survival, in many ways.

On the other hand, I look at our response to the economy. Working families continue to fall behind. I can’t help but think back to the presentation we had in this chamber in January 2007 where it was explained we could embrace a future based on safe, sustainable energy production. On sustainable living. And create steady, good paying jobs.

We made strides to reduce our carbon output but we have not embraced what will surely be the bedrock of future, successful economies.

While we face uncertainty for Vermont’s electric sources by the middle of the next decade there is a body of scientific observation that suggests the United States will face a crisis of oil imports by that time. The reasoning goes that 2/3 of the oil we must import today will not be available in ten years. The exporting countries will use it themselves. We’re nowhere near ready for that day.

Like the workers of an era gone by we would do well to keep our power in mind. For all the power of the boss, it crumbles when the little guys stand together in solidarity.

I hope to return to this fine institution next year and I hope to be able to work with leadership and rank & file so we can face the challenges of the next decade head on. This body has a lot of power, madam speaker. Like the Barre granite cutters at the turn of the century, we should be sure to use it.

Thank you.

On the ride to the Statehouse Monday I heard a story on Public Radio’s “on Point” about working people in the U.S. and how we have fallen behind. In the last 25 years, the middle 1/5 (those in the 40%-60% average income bracket for the whole US) have seen their income go up by 21% while the top 1% has seen their income go up 238% (more than triple).

This is all part of the effort started under Reagan and continued under the Bush’s and Clinton administrations. Workers in the US have fewer rights than all other industrialized nations. In other countries workers have federally mandated vacation time (in most instance at least 4 weeks per year), sick time, and paid maternal leave.

Meanwhile we continue to see workers rights erode. You can hear the story here.

Of course one of the main reasons workers have lost ground in the US is because the percentage of the work force in unions has decreased from approx. 35% in the 70’s to about 7 or 8% today.

In the Vermont legislature the House passed a bill last year known as “card check.” This bill would allow state workers to form a union with the signatures of 50% of the employees. It would also allow for the union to be dissolved with the signatures of 50% of the employees. Current law requires all kinds of hoops that allow for management to pressure, coerce and threaten employees prior to voting.

The Vermont Senate (where Democrats have a 23 -7 majority) the bill was amended to require a 70% signature threshold. This is a direct affront to majority rule. The bill passed out of the Senate Economic Development Committee by a vote of 2-1-2 (Sen. Vince Illuzzi and Sen. Condos voted for the bill and Sen. Racine voted against it). The bill passed the Senate on a vote of 13-8 with many members taking a “walk,” preferring not to be on record. There was no roll call asked for because while the Senate Democrats supported the bill, they did not want to be on the record voting against workers. Democrats claim to stand for workers but time and time again the record demonstrates otherwise.

What will come of the bill? That is yet to be seen. It will probably be sent to a committee of conference where it will likely die. If the Senate believed in workers, it would have passed the bill with the 50% threshold. The Governor was likely to veto the bill so conservative Democrats needn’t have worried it would become law. It will be interesting to see if Speaker Symington can apply any pressure on the Senators to get the pro-worker version passed before adjournment.

The Vermont Workers’ Center celebrated its 10th Anniversary at their annual dinner last evening. The large gathering of union members and supporters took part in an action to urge the Vermont state senate to follow the lead of the Vermont house in repealing Act 82, the vote twice legislation. See the Channel 3 report here.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the Vermont Workers’ Center’s campaign called “Health Care is a Human Right.” The goal of the campaign is to organize and educate the broader working class that health care is a human right and that the lack of health care is a human rights emergency. The campaign will culminate in a statewide rally on May 1st of 2009 called “Sick Day at the Legislature.” Thousands of Vermonters will be in attendance to demand that this crisis be addressed. Learn more here and stay tuned.

A friend who follows these things suggested to me yesterday that as early as 2013 the US could face a crisis of oil imports. We look beyond our borders for 2/3 of the oil we use today. In a few years, the theory goes, countries that send us oil will need to keep it for their own use - leaving us dry. We can argue the dates, but that’s hardly the point. Oil is a finite resource so this problem is coming.

Which is why I’m getting a wood stove.

As we approach the end of the legislative session I’m feeling a certain amount of satisfaction. We put IRV on the governor’s desk, we passed the hemp bill, put groundwater into the public trust, got the House to repeal vote twice, told Yankee they had to pay up and tolerate a thorough, independent inspection. While it didn’t pass, there was serious discussion about shifting to the income tax to fund our schools. And, of course, the capital gains loophole has been more of an issue than ever before. These are all issues where Progressives played a central role.

Still, I’m left feeling like the legislature is missing the crumbling forest while we prop up a tree or two. The economy is failing, good paying jobs are harder than ever to find, our health care system drives many to bankruptcy and peak oil isn’t on the radar.  If it’s 2013 or 2020 it makes no difference. We haven’t even begun the discussion.

Imagine using half the gas you use today. Will the legislature help prepare the state? Considering that Yankee’s scheduled closing has been known for 40 years and four years out we have no idea how to proceed without it, I feel confident saying, “Not bloody likely.”

We need bold thinking. To make that happen, I strongly believe we need more Progressives in office, which takes candidates. Any takers?

The house failed to override Douglas’ veto of the Campaign Finance Bill.  I’m told the vote was 99-51, with all Rs being joined by Dem George Allard and Independent Darryl Pillsbury to sustain the veto.