The Vermont Legislature wrapped up its 2015 session late on Saturday night. Lawmakers closed a $113 million budget gap, passed an education reform bill and a bill that raises money for cleaning up the state's water ways.
House Speaker Shap Smith joined VPR's Mitch Wertlieb for an end of session wrap up. Thanks for joining us.
Wertlieb: There was some late-session drama with the revenue bill, which raises $30 million. Gov. Peter Shumlin didn't want a cap on itemized deductions. That cap did pass, but charitable deductions and medical expenses being exempt. Are you happy with that compromise?
Smith: I think the compromise worked out for everybody involved. I think we have to remember that at the beginning of the session we had a general fund that was supported by $35 million worth of revenues that the governor had proposed. This actually came in less than what the governor had originally proposed and I think was a good compromise.
Wertlieb: A bill was passed for education reform that will institute penalties for school budget increases that exceed new caps, and it will create strong inducements for smaller districts to merge with their neighbors. Historically, school reform has happened at a slow rate, so will incentives be enough to encourage district mergers, do you think?
Smith: I do think that as we move forward people are going to start looking toward expanding school districts and merging with others. We're seeing it happen already. What's happening is that smaller schools are really struggling with the cost per pupil and they're looking for partnerships that will allow them to continue to provide the educational resources that kids in the 21st century need and I think this will them do that.
Wertlieb: The water quality bill that was passed raises some $10 million. Is that really enough money given all the problems that have been plaguing Lake Champlain in recent years, and other waterways too. And what can be done next year?
Smith: Well, this bill does a couple things. It enhances regulatory efforts to make sure that we're preventing pollution from getting into the rivers and lakes in the first place, working with agricultural interests as well as development interests, and what this money will do is allow us to draw down federal money that the senators have been making available and allow us to put in place the things that we need to clean up the lake. It's a long-term solution. It's taken a long time to get where we are. It's going to take a long time to clean it up.
Wertlieb: Let's talk about this bill that was passed that removes the philosophical exemption that some parents use to avoid getting their children vaccinated. There were a lot of hearings on this, there was a lot of emotion on both sides. It took up a lot of time and given the late night session that had to be done on Saturday and a lot of the wrangling on the budget issues, do you wish attention had been focused on other issues other than this philosophical exemption question, although it is important, it wasn't dealing directly with money issues.
Smith: You know, there are 150 legislators in the House, there are 14 committees. We can focus on more than one thing and, you know, the fact that we have one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country is of real concern and I think it was an appropriate public health debate to have. As it turned out, it didn't prevent us from going home when we thought we would go home, and it didn't prevent us from focusing on other issues that are really important to the state of Vermont. Overall I think this is one of the most productive sessions that I've been involved in since I've been speaker.
Wertlieb: Given the compromises that were reached, it would seem that a lot did get done, even if it was done at the last minute, but Republicans are still saying that especially when it comes to education reform that the money that's going to be saved and the consolidation issue, it's not going to be enough to keep property taxes down. What's your response to that criticism?
Smith: I think this is, once again, a long-term issue. We need to slow the growth in spending given the fact that we have declining enrollment. I was really happy that we had a strong, bipartisan vote on the education reform bill. We worked very closely with the Republicans that were on the education reform committee. So I think that when push comes to shove and when all is said and done, we got some really long-term changes that were necessary for the strengthening of our education system.
Wertlieb: I realize things just wrapped up. You're probably just getting your breath back, but what's on your agenda for next session?
Smith: It's too early for me to even think about that. I do know that we left this session with less than we would have liked to have done on health care. That will be a priority. But for a little while, I'm going to go back to my other job and not try to focus on that.
Wertlieb: Can I just get you to talk a little bit more about health care? What would you like to have seen done on that issue that didn't get done this time around?
Smith: I thought that the governor put together a pretty bold proposal on trying to strengthen the system particularly where we underfund Medicaid and the payment of providers that help us with Medicaid patients. That's a long-term challenge, not only here but across the country and if we don't address it at some point in time, it is going to be the undoing of our health care system. So while we didn't deal with it this year, we're going to have to deal with it in the next couple years if we want to continue to have people have access to health care throughout the state of Vermont.
