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Staff explains VOSHA expedited-rulemaking language removed from S.117 and other labor-technical changes
Summary
Legislative staff on May 13 briefed the House General & Housing Committee on language removed from S.117 that would have created an expedited rulemaking process for the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration and on other technical labor law corrections and updates.
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Legislative staff on May 13 briefed the House General & Housing Committee on provisions that had been pulled from S.117 concerning expedited rulemaking for the Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration (VOSHA) and on other technical changes to labor-related statutes that now appear in S.125 or in committee calendars.
"VOSHA essentially just adopts rules that are promulgated by the federal OSHA. It's literally a cut and paste, which is unusual," Sophie, a legislative staff member, told the committee while walking members through the language the senate had proposed and later removed from S.117.
Nut graf: the Department of Labor requested removal of the expedited-rulemaking sections from S.117 so department staff and the Secretary of State's office can work over the summer to refine an approach; committee members received the information and did not take formal action.
Sophie explained the intent behind the removed language: the Department of Labor had sought an expedited rulemaking process for VOSHA because Vermont presently adopts many federal OSHA rules verbatim, and an expedited process would allow the state to adopt federally vetted rules more quickly. The senate had proposed a three-year trial period for the expedited process, after which the expedited mechanism would automatically sunset unless the legislature repealed the sunset.
Members asked whether the Department of Labor and the Secretary of State would be required to report back; Sophie said there was no statutory requirement in the draft for a formal check-back — the office asked to pull the language and indicated it would work on the approach over the summer.
Sophie also described other items tied to S.117 and S.125: technical corrections the Department of Labor requested, changes related to unemployment compensation modernization (including electronic notices and adjustments to implementation dates), and a provision clarifying unpaid-wage penalties so a claimant would recover at least half of the penalty collected by the Department of Labor in a willful-withholding case. On the unpaid-wages provision Sophie said the change would make a penalty provision mandatory rather than discretionary, aligning practice with current procedure.
Representative Greer told the committee that an amendment she had filed on accrued vacation/wage-medium matters was ruled not germane to this bill by the House clerk's office; she said she would withdraw it rather than pursue committee action because it was not germane to S.125.
The committee chose to "receive the information" rather than take a straw poll or formal vote on the draft technical fixes. Chair and staff said conversations with Commerce and leadership would continue to resolve jurisdictional overlap on items that had moved between committees.
