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At the end of November, I joined almost three dozen newly-elected and veteran legislators for a three-day Snelling Center for Government New Member Orientation at the statehouse in Montpelier.

The event began with a General Assembly Legislative Briefing session that included updates on Vermont’s new health care initiative, Green Mountain Care, and a Mental Health Systems update; FEMA and Irene Recovery; national economic trends; and the status of Vermont’s current revenue/budget. The orientation also included an entertaining tour and history of the statehouse; legislative information technology; presentations from first term and former legislators as well as committee and political caucus chairs; introduction of the Office of Legislative Council Staff and an overview of the bill drafting process; parliamentary procedure and bill amending, recording and notice process; ethical decision making; briefing from the National Conference of State legislators; Joint Fiscal Office staff introductions and presentations; a meeting with media representatives; and seminars with the Executive and Judicial Branches of government.

I was impressed by the knowledgeable, supportive and professional statehouse staff and look forward to working with them and my new colleagues when the session starts on January 9th.  The training was certainly an integral step in preparing legislators to make informed decisions about our capital budget and in crafting legislation that improves Vermonters’ lives.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns or comments at CWeed@leg.state.vt.us.

Sincerely,

Representative-elect Cindy Weed
Franklin-7

Bob’s been telling me he’s eighty years old since I met him ten years ago.

He harnessed me, just as if he’d been a trail boss, telling me to drive on, don’t quit, got a ways to go. There was no time for lally-gagging. Bob was a high-speed progressive, in the streets, on the sidewalks, at the meetings, in his car rounding up & recruiting, preaching to new choirs & old.

He named himself “curmudgeon” with pride, before he could be accused, his hoarse voice over-talking any who’d waste time saying stuff he didn’t need to hear. He could’ve claimed his lousy hearing for those interruptions, but the truth is he had no time to waste.

I got it out of him that he’d written a book of poetry, and I found a copy, out of print but not out of time. He was a truth-teller, a rabble-rouser, a trouble-maker and a revolutionary. It’s all there in black & white for any who doubt that Bob didn’t arrive here from New Jersey on this quiet dirt road to lead a measured life of ease.

There was beauty in this man. How else to incredibly & wisely corral his sweet Kate to join him in life & adventure. He gave her every wall in their home for her weavings, her paintings, her fibers. He lived in every inch of his Kingdom home & land, cranking up his lousy knees to get himself to Newport’s Main Street by “the fish”. His baseball cap never dared blow away.

I remember once he’d come for strong, long talk at our table, kept saying it was time for him to go because it was getting on to evening. The next day he called to say he’d fallen asleep at the wheel. No harm done. Wheels in the ditch but they’re out now. No harm done.

No harm done that day nor any other. Bob Castle wasn’t a 50% guy, he was 100%, for the Truth of things.

I can’t say I ever heard him preach as a Minister, but I know he traveled to wherever his body would allow, to spread his words to & for real People. Remember he’d been eighty for a long, long time.

Today’s a lonely day. It’s too quiet.

We may not be able to match his volume, but we’ve known his footsteps & it’s up to each of us to keep them clearly in view, as we keep on going. Don’t quit now, he’d say.

I can say that now without him interrupting me.

Vermont has the most progressive Democratic Governor in the Country.  Both houses of the Vermont Legislature contain overwhelming majorities of elected Democrats.  And yet, this year, after Labor has been loyal to Democratic candidates and worked hard to get them elected, workers’ concerns were often ignored and, in the Vermont Senate, the Democratic leadership fought hard to keep them off the agenda.

Last year, the Legislature was happy to pass and the Governor was happy to sign a non binding resolution in support of Labor in Wisconsin!  But this year when it came to passing legislation to help Vermont workers, the Legislature had no interest in doing so. Governor Shumlin failed to step forward and provide any leadership or support for some important bills.

The omnibus labor bill, improvements to the state prevailing wage requirements, restoring cuts to unemployment benefits were all victims of the Governor and the Legislative Leadership taking Labor’s support for granted without feeling a need to do anything to earn it.

Many Vermonters may not know that if there is a labor union in a Vermont workplace, joining it is still optional for each employee.  But, if any employee encounters a problem with the employer, the Union is required to represent them and fight for their interests (even providing lawyers and paying for arbitration), even for those employees who chose not to join the union and have never paid any union dues.  So, there was a bill to allow unions to charge a fee for those services.  It was allowed to die.

Migrant farm workers and the Vermont farmers who employ them asked the Legislature to make some changes that would allow these workers to get a State ID and Drivers license, a legitimate status to enable them to work and to get access to medical care.  Vermont farmers testified that they rely heavily on these migrant farm workers to make their businesses viable and lobbied in support of their workers. Hearings were held.  Silence from the Governor’s office. Nothing was done.
Child care workers do the most important work in our state for the least amount of pay.   Much child care in Vermont is subsidized by a program which reimburses child care providers for services to children whose parents are in the workforce but are paid less than a livable wage.    This is really another way in which the taxpayers subsidize businesses that choose not to pay their workers enough to provide the childcare that they need in order to work.  

Most childcare providers are one person operations.  As individuals, they are not able to effectively bargain with the state for livable wage rates for their businesses.  So they were seeking to create an opportunity to bargain collectively with the State instead of having to negotiate one on one.  

The Democratic leadership in the Senate fought tooth and nail to avoid taking a vote on this bill, even disbanding the Senate for half of an entire day to avoid a vote.  Finally, it was maneuvered onto the budget bill as an amendment by its supporters, largely the work of Sen. Mark McDonald of Orange, whose leadership on this issue stands out in contrast to much of the rest of his party.

It is a common maneuver that if you can’t kill something in one chamber, you pass it back to the other Chamber.  If they can’t kill it there, you kill it in conference committee.  And that is what happened.  The Democratic Leadership would not let it be a stand alone bill to be voted on because it likely would have passed.  When forced to add it to the budget, they used the age old argument that it was not germane to the budget (which arguably it was).   So the bill died in the Conference Committee, another victim of a lack of leadership on supporting Vermont workers and Vermont’s smallest businesses.

Vermont can do better for our workers, for their advocates, for our farmers, for our children and for those who care for them.  Fair labor practices and democratic work places benefit all of us and the sustainable society that we all want to live in.

Grass-roots influence played an impressive role this legislative session. Whether it was vaccines, state IDs for undocumented workers or a fracking ban, Vermonters made their positions known and the Legislature responded.

If only there was a similar outcry around broader issues like job creation, increasing wages or tax equity. Too many in the Legislature need a push on these big issues. In fact, the session ended without any significant attention given to families who continue to struggle in our economy. We had no significant discussion acknowledging that median household wages have declined.

It wasn’t all bad news for working people though; we made important systematic changes which will help all Vermonters, especially those of us living paycheck-to-paycheck.

First up, we continued down the path to making Green Mountain Care a universal health care benefit. Vermont is on track to have the most efficient, cost-effective health care system in the country, and it will cover everyone. This year’s legislation made sure we comply with recent changes in federal law. As a result, in 2014, we will begin to see a separation between employment and health coverage. And tens of thousands of Vermont families will be eligible for federal tax credits towards their premiums, making coverage more affordable.

We did good things for mental health too. Irene forced a decision on the future of the state hospital in Waterbury. We’re replacing it with a new facility near the Berlin hospital. We’re also investing in community-centered care in Rutland and Brattleboro. This should create a broader approach to mental health treatment, recognizing that we need to go beyond just acute care to successfully address the mental health needs of our state.

Grass-roots activists in Vermont have long wanted increased action to address climate change, but what would that look like? To begin a vigorous discussion, Rep. Margaret Cheney, D-Norwich, and I started the “Climate Caucus.” Over the year about a third of the House joined us as we heard from experts in transportation, green taxes, Lake Champlain and more, to gather strategies for action. Next year the caucus will bring forward a legislative agenda to reduce the state’s carbon footprint.

And then there was the CVPS/GMP merger and the debate about repaying CVPS’ windfall profits. It seems the Shumlin administration would rather have the money owed ratepayers invested in weatherization instead of giving CVPS customers a credit on their bill. Incredibly, the weatherization investment can be recouped in future rate increases. Customers of the merged utility, all 200,000-plus of them, will foot the bill for this repayment.

Now, I am all for more money going to weatherization. It creates good paying jobs, saves Vermonters money on their heating bill and reduces our carbon pollution. That is why I proposed a tax increase on the wealthiest Vermonters to fund this important program. Unfortunately Gov. Shumlin didn’t want to “burden” the wealthiest 4,000 Vermonters for this investment. He’d rather charge 200,000 rank-and-file electric customers.

Our efforts to influence the terms of the utility merger, despite strong public support, fell short. But the Public Service Board will have the final say and they are surely aware of the controversy. I believe our coalition created enough noise that board members realize the public expects utilities to honor their promises. At a minimum, lets hope that loan repayments can’t be charged to the same customers who made the loan in the first place. By the summer we will see what the board decides.

In all, 2012 reminds us of the public’s ability to influence the citizen legislature. Hopefully 2013 will see an even greater push now that grassroots groups have fresh victories in hand.

This entry appeared as an OpEd in the May 17 edition of the Burlington Free Press.