Montpelier, Vermont – On Tuesday, Campaign for Vermont Prosperity (CFV) issued a statement regarding a bill they say represents a step backwards on ethics reform. “It’s unfortunate,” said CFV Executive Director Ben Kinsley, “we have been making progress on ethics reform for nearly a decade now, but this bill moves us in the wrong direction.”

The bill proposes to exempt the House and Senate Ethics Panels from the requirement to consult with the Executive Director of the State Ethics Commission regarding any complaints referred to them by the Commission. It includes a repeal of a prior ethics oversight legislation and amends the procedure for accepting and referring ethics complaints. A new draft of the bill would also exempt the judicial branch and executive branch attorneys from the purview of the Ethics Commission.

Representative Boyden reported H.702 to the Senate Government Operations Committee on Thursday.

She noted there are two distinct sections of the bill:

1. The creation of a Joint Oversight and Accountability Committee
2. The establishment of a working group to review the State’s grant process

Chairman McCarthy opened the House Government Operations Committee meeting on Tuesday morning by saying he was particularly busy visiting with the House Appropriations Committee regarding the grants bill, H.140. He shared with the Committee that he would like to offer an amendment to H.702 to insert the working Group concept from the previous bill into this one.

Representative Boyden presented H.702 on the House floor on Friday. She told members of the House that, as policy makers, they need to routinely evaluate how well our system is working and ensure that Vermonters are receiving the results they expect and deserve. H.702 is the first step in strengthening this type of government accountability.

Chairman Marcotte introduced Representative Brumsted as Co-Chair of the Government Accountability Committee along with Senator Brock. Brumsted shared with the House Commerce Committee that she has served in the Legislature nearly eight years and she was partly responsible for “sunsetting the previous committee” as the statutory authority was not sufficient.

Representative Stebbins appeared before the Committee on Tuesday to introduce her bill, H.194. She prefaced the conversation by saying that she does a lot of work nationally around the rollout and management of energy programs.

The House Government Operations Committee reviewed another round of amendments to S.39 that would later be voted on by the House. These included technical corrections to language in the bill and accountable reimbursement of expenses instead of per diems.

A number of amendments were reviewed by the House Government Operations Committee and then reviewed on the House floor later in the day. These included attempts to reduce health care coverage to just during the legislative session, looking at creating an independent commission to oversee legislative compensation, study appropriate salaries instead of new salaries instead of setting them now, and shortening the legislative session to 12 week (typically around 19 now).

Two different House committees reviewed S.39 on Monday, passing the bill quickly to get it back to the floor in time for Friday adjournment. The bill encompasses significant increases in salaries for legislators, an entirely new benefits package, and more generous expense reimbursements. Proponents claim it will make legislative service more accessible to members of the public by moving compensation more in line with median wages across the state.