Voices Spring Legislative Update
Voices has been busy at the statehouse this session. Whether we’re advocating for an Office of Child, Youth, and Family Advocate, weighing in on unemployment benefits for families with kids, or helping to center equity in the Community Schools bill, we’re always fighting to ensure that the needs of kids and families are heard and reflected in Vermont policy. Read on for important updates about our work and ways to make change happen for kids and families.
Education
H.106: An act relating to equitable access to a high-quality education through community schools.
The community schools bill passed the House on March 19th and was referred to the Senate Education Committee (SEC). The bill would establish three-year community school demonstration grants for up to 10 Vermont school districts. The SEC has taken considerable testimony on the bill and hopes to vote it out of the SEC this week. The Committee’s most recent draft includes the addition of a site-based leadership team that includes diverse stakeholders in the school and community and a requirement for a community needs and assets assessment. Recent testimony highlighted the importance of community schools in advancing education equity and committing to safe, inclusive and equitable learning environments.
Action steps you can take:
Join us in listening to the SEC’s committee discussion and testimony at 1pm tomorrow, and let your Senator know that you support centering equity in education through community schools!
S.16: An act relating to the creation of a school discipline advisory council
The bill passed the Senate on March 18th and was referred to the House Education Committee (HEC). After hearing testimony, the HEC recommended changes to the bill that are outlined in this side by side of the Senate and HEC versions. Some of the HEC recommendations include:
Changing the name of the council from the Task Force on School Exclusionary Discipline Reform to the Task Force on Equitable and Inclusive School Environments;
Clarifying the availability of and access to school discipline data;
Specifying task force membership; and
An additional focus on professional development.
S.16 will be taken up by the House on May 4, 2021.
Family & Community
H. 265: Establishing an Office of Child, Youth, and Family Advocate
We were incredibly excited that H.265 passed the House this session. Unfortunately, the bill has not yet been assigned to a Committee in the Senate and therefore does not have time to progress through the necessary Senate Committees this year. While we are deeply disappointed that this means that the OCYFA does not have the opportunity to be established on its original timetable, we see this as an opportunity to further work through the nuances of the legislation. Voices plans to continue our work outside of the session and will advocate for this bill to be prioritized in January. If H.265 is taken up quickly, we may only have a short delay in implementation.
Voices plans to continue our work outside of the session and will advocate for this bill to be prioritized in January. H.265 currently allows the advocate to be hired on January first. If this bill is taken up quickly, we may only have a short delay in implementation.
Action steps you can take:
Dig into H.265’s progress by listening to the presentation of the bill during second reading at just after the 4 minute mark and to the unanimous vote during the third reading at the 2 minute 30 second mark here. Stay tuned for more opportunities to engage over the summer, and help spread the word that an Office of Child, Youth, and Family Advocate is critical for Vermont!
S.99, An act relating to repealing the statute of limitations for civil actions based on childhood physical abuse,
S. 99 passed the House on April 30th! Once again, Voices would like to commend the legislature for listening to impacted people and creating space for justice and healing. Read our testimony here.
Economic Security
Reach Up
We're making progress for kids and families on Reach Up! The Senate Committee on Health and Welfare made two important recommendations in their budget memo to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which were accepted and will return to the House for concurrence:
1) The Committee recommended appropriating $2,770,000 from the General Fund for additional Reach Up base funding in order to increase Reach Up grant amounts for participating families by increasing the basic needs standard from the 2008 to 2021 level, while maintaining the current ratable reduction at 49.6 percent. Voices deeply appreciates this shift and supports continuing to match the basic needs level with the calendar year.
2) For the fiscal year 2022, any underutilization of funds in the Reach Up program will be redistributed as one-time payments to participating families or allocated to the supportive services matrix. Prior to this, if the state’s caseload projections for Reach Up were less than anticipated, any “caseload savings” would have been reallocated to other areas of the Department of Children and Families or Agency of Human Services budgets that had costs exceeding projections. We strongly support this change as an important shift in the budgeting process. Until the state meets its statutory requirement of meeting people’s basic needs, all funds allocated to Reach Up should remain with families who are supported by this benefit.
Action steps you can take:
Thank the Senate for the work to support kids and families.
If your Representatives are on House Appropriations, reach out and ask them to concur with the Senate’s recommendations!
S.10 Unemployment Benefits
Voices was asked to weigh in on the proposal to increase dependent benefits for UI recipients with dependents. Since family economic security is a core priority for Voices, we submitted public comment, and then testified as business groups amplified their opposition. The bill that passed the Senate included a flat $50/week additional benefit, regardless of the number of dependents in the household. It then moved to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, which amended the benefit to apply only to families with dependents, and now seems poised to eliminate the benefit entirely. This decision undermines the health and well-being of kids whose families are currently unemployed, and Voices stands strongly against it.
Action steps you can take:
Join Tuesday’s (4/4) joint public hearing from 5-7pm to share your experiences about issues faced with unemployment insurance during the COVID Pandemic, or submit written testimony.
To register as a speaker at the hearing, please sign up here: Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, and testimony time will be limited to two minutes per person.
To submit written testimony, please email an MS Word or PDF file to testimony@leg.state.vt.us
Follow the hearing’s live stream on the Legislature’s Joint Committees YouTube channel here
If you can’t testify but are represented by legislators on the House Commerce Committee, let them know you support the dependent benefit!