VT Digger issued the following announcement on March 17.
Rebecca Dragon, Rebekah Henson and Ellie Lane drove from different corners of the state to watch the vote in person. They looked down from the gallery as the results were announced: The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would allow adult adoptees to access their original birth certificates.
Dragon wiped tears from her eyes.
“We live as state secrets to ourselves,” Dragon said.
As Dragon wasn’t adopted in Vermont, her original birth certificate wouldn’t be made accessible through this bill, H.629. But to her, and other advocates, ensuring adoptees’ access to their own records is a matter of civil rights.
When someone is adopted, Vermont seals the original birth certificate and writes a new one, listing the adoptive parents in place of the biological parents. Adoptees are not guaranteed the right to see the original, unamended document.
Henson and Dragon said they were surprised how quickly the bill was approved in the House. They expected pushback, but the bill proceeded on a voice vote.
(Rep. Ken Goslant, R-Northfield, who presented the bill on the floor, said he did so because “it wasn’t political.”)
This sealing process, codified in Vermont in the 1940s, prioritized parents’ privacy because of stigma, Dragon said. Biological parents may have wanted to hide they had a child out of wedlock, or adoptive parents might feel shame around infertility.
Prior to 1986, a birth parent would have to give explicit written permission to allow an adoptee to access the original birth certificate. For adoptees born after that date, the records are presumed open, unless a birth parent requests otherwise.
Lane was born in Vermont after the 1986 change but still only has a watermarked photocopy of her original birth certificate, she said.
For many adoptees, accessing the original birth certificate often isn’t about “search and reunion” with biological relatives or medical history, Lane said. For her, the information is not just a means to an end but valuable in itself.
“It’s about understanding who we are at a fundamental level,” Lane said. “Where do we come from … what is our place in history, in the places we live in? It’s a fundamental truth.”
— Riley Robinson
IN THE KNOW
In an unadvertised hearing Thursday afternoon, the Senate Reapportionment Committee greenlit the updated map of Vermont’s Senate districts, divvying up representation among 30 state senators for the next 10 years.
The conclusion of the 26-minute-long hearing was not an official vote to send the map to a floor vote. The Senate still has to wait for the House to send over H.722, which is the official reapportionment bill for both chambers. The House gave their final stamp of approval to their map Thursday.
From there, Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, who is vice chair of the Senate Reapportionment Committee, said the Senate will insert their map into H.722. The bill will then go to a vote in the committee and Senate, then back to the House for concurrence and finally to Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Bragging rights are in order: According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s recently released Elections Performance Index, Vermont had the best-run elections systems in the country in 2020. It’s the second presidential election cycle in a row that Vermont has scored the No. 1 spot.
In a March 14 statement, Secretary of State Jim Condos said the top ranking “means that across numerous measures we have increased accessibility, and decreased roadblocks, for Vermont voters, while ensuring that our elections process is functioning effectively as the bedrock of our democracy.”
Vermonters can also pat themselves on the back for boasting above-average voter turnout at 74.2%. Vermont’s voter registration rate, at 89.7%, was also higher than the U.S. average (and significantly higher than Vermont’s 63.7% in 2016).
— Sarah Mearhoff
Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, received a standing ovation from her colleagues on the House floor Thursday. She is one of five “politicians of the year” recognized by One Young World, an organization that holds international summits for young people in politics.
The award celebrates “five of the world’s most outstanding politicians between the ages of 18-35, who are using their positions to have a positive impact on young people in their communities and countries,” according to the organization’s website.
This year’s other honorees hail from Iceland, Panama, Nigeria and Pakistan. In the announcement, One Young World cited Small’s work on the LGBTQ+ “panic” defense ban, which became law last year.
— Riley Robinson
ON THE MOVE
The House approved S.4 Thursday evening 90-42, advancing a bill that would strengthen firearms background checks and ban guns in hospitals.
“I would like to start by warning the members of the body not to be frightened as I present this bill,” said William Notte, D-Rutland City, who introduced the background check component of the bill earlier this session. “If anyone feels a deep sense of déjà vu, there’s nothing eerie going on here.”
Legislators may have done a double-take because just last month, the House passed S.30, a nearly identical bill that Gov. Phil Scott eventually vetoed. But whereas S.30 would have required background checks to come back clean before the purchase of a firearm, S.4 allows seven business days — a number chosen by Scott — for the completion of background checks. If the check isn’t completed by then, the sale could proceed.
Read more here.
— Ethan Weinstein
After years stuck in committee limbo, a bill to establish Vermont’s first code of ethics for state employees and officials cleared a Senate floor vote Thursday without so much as a whimper of debate.
Just weeks ago, it seemed that S.171 could shrivel up in the Senate Government Operations Committee yet again. But it prevailed, passing by a unanimous committee vote last week. On the Senate floor Thursday, the voice vote was a resounding yes.
Vermont remains one of only five states in the country without a universal code of ethics for its public servants. Sen. Anthony Pollina, P/D-Washington, said on the floor that the bill is “generally good, but it’s not groundbreaking,” echoing past committee testimony from experts.
Vermont State Ethics Commission Executive Director Christina Sivret celebrated the vote Thursday afternoon and said in a written statement that the bill “is a solid foundation for governmental ethics in Vermont.”
S.171 has one more vote to clear in the Senate before it heads to the House, then Gov. Phil Scott’s desk.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Despite higher spending, school tax rates could go down this year. The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday passed out the so-called yield bill, which sets education property taxes for the year. The vote was 8-3, with all Republicans — save for Rep. Scott Beck, R-St. Johnsbury — in opposition. It next moves on to the floor.
If the measure passes into law as is, the average homestead property tax rate in 2023 would be $1.369 per $100 in assessed property value, down from $1.523 this year. The non-homestead rate would be $1.449, down from $1.612 this year. Most Vermonters actually pay their school taxes based on income, and that rate would tick down to 2.29%, from this year’s 2.5%.
The bill also suggests momentum — in the House at least — for the idea of keeping free school meals for all in place once the feds stop picking up the tab in every district. It puts $36 million from the Education Fund surplus aside in reserve to pay for a transition to universal meals.
— Lola Duffort
MARCH MADNESS
Did everyone get their brackets into the Statehouse pool in time? I’m proud to report that I sent mine to my dad and asked him if it was “really dumb,” and he replied, “actually, no.”
Lola, always the contrarian, is putting her money on Purdue. Riley drew up her bracket “based on nothing but cool mascots and general vibes” (her words, not mine), ultimately choosing Kentucky as her champion. As for myself, who could I pick but Villanova? I’m loyal to Pennsylvania, perhaps to a fault.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Friday’s special is a beef stew, made with locally sourced New England beef, chef Bryant Palmer said.
Original source can be found here.
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