Lawmakers struggle to wrap up work for year
MONTPELIER, Vt.—House Speaker Gaye Symington said Thursday that Gov. Jim Douglas' proposed two-day sales tax holiday wouldn't help struggling Vermonters or help stimulate the state's economy, but she urged lawmakers to approve it anyway.
"It is clear to me that Governor Douglas is looking to make this the focus of the end of the session, and to turn our good work into an argument over the sales tax holiday. And I won't let that happen," Symington told a special panel she appointed to review the economic stimulus package launched by Douglas earlier this month.
In the end, the panel approved the plan to skip the sales tax on items purchased the weekend of July 12 and 13, and to extend through the following week a sales tax holiday on energy efficient appliances.
But it capped items excused from the tax at $2,000, with committee members saying those making purchases bigger than that didn't need a tax break. And it changed a new tax credit system proposed by Douglas for struggling manufacturers to a loan program.
The debate over the last outstanding pieces of the economic stimulus punctuated a frenetic day at the Statehouse that saw conference committees working toward agreement on the general fund and transportation budgets, state employee pay act and a host of other bills. Lawmakers continued to say they thought they could wrap up their work for the year by Saturday.
One conference committee, working on a revamping of the state's corrections system, agreed to close the state's most expensive prison -- the Dale facility for women in Waterbury -- and make other changes designed to control rapid growth in corrections spending.
Under the plan, the prison in St. Albans Town, which now houses men, would be changed to a women's prison to house inmates from Dale and from a women's prison in Windsor that will be changed into a work camp for men.
Representative Jason Lorber, D-Burlington, a member of the conference committee, said the changes are designed to stem corrections budget growth that is projected otherwise to be as high as $200 million during the next 10 years.
Up to 50 inmates are expected to have to move out of state in addition to the roughly 500 already housed outside Vermont.
Some of the savings will be used for drug and alcohol counseling programs for offenders and other efforts to keep people out of prison in the first place, Lorber said.
The House had wanted to study the changes for a year, but the Senate's push for immediate action prevailed.
The day also saw a host of floor action in the House and Senate. Highlights included:
-- The House passing a bill allowing people to get special enhanced drivers' licenses embedded with a computer chip allowing them to use the license in place of a passport when traveling to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Opponents worried about the technology eventually being used to allow border agents too much access to personal information.
-- The Senate passed a bill that would make Vermont the second state in the country -- after North Dakota -- to legalize the growing of industrial hemp, should the federal government begin to allow the growing of a close relative of marijuana.
Conference committee members working out their differences on the general fund budget agreed in principle and were expected to sign a final bill early Friday afternoon, said Rep. Martha Heath, D-Westford and chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The final budget bill usually takes about a day to print, and agreement on in past years has been a signal that adjournment is 24 or so hours away.
The House appeared to get its way on one budget controversy, restoring $5.2 million in funding for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board that had been cut from Douglas' initial budget.
