At the end of Week 4 at the legislature (Jan. 27-30):

The House passed a resolution condemning ICE actions in Minnesota.

There are two Senate bills, S.208 and S.209, under active consideration drafted to address federal law enforcement overreach and violation of constitutional rights.

The House unanimously passed the House Budget Adjustment Act, a high quality effort by the Appropriations Committee, that includes strong support for Vermonters and maintaining sound fiscal policy and state obligations and including core support for Section 8 Vouchers, to access federal funding, which will retain about 1,000 affordable homes in Vermont, (which would otherwise be permanently lost).

The House unanimously passed a bill creating a privilege for First Responders who seek support from trained peer support colleagues. The confidentiality has been proven to save lives and avoid PTSD. This is a way for Vermonters to help those who help Vermonters in their hour of greatest need.

The Education, Housing and Health Committees are all working long hours to address affordability, the high cost of homes, health care and property taxes. In doing the deep dive into complex areas, it is really important to generate actual transformation and improvements, and not just the symbolic appearance of addressing these issues.

My committee, the Health Committee, focused on a number of bills this past week including: 1) the problem of private equity taking over various medical providers, with resulting depletion of the assets, taking medical decisions away from medical providers, reduction in quality of delivery of health care, while costing more. Vermont still has a chance to keep this medical cost driver out of the state; 2) Array RX, a nonprofit multi-state consortium that keeps drug prices down, (20% on generics), keeps information confidential, and can be applied to one’s deductible. 3) Continued work on reference-based pricing to address the high cost of health care in Vermont.

There were some fantastic local, familiar faces at the State House this past week including folks connected with the Addison County Counseling Service, and the vibrant rural schools day at the State House and the transformation of Room 11, packed with displays presented by students from all over the state, and their recognition on the house floor by the House Assembly.