House General & Housing committee takes Bill 429 off the wall, directs staff to draft long form

The House Committee on General & Housing voted on May 6 to take short-form Bill 429 off the wall and directed committee counsel Sophie to prepare a full, long-form draft for further consideration.

The move came during an extended committee discussion that also reviewed the committee’s next draft of S.120, debated whether to take up H.173 now or hold it “on the wall,” and reviewed recent budget actions adding positions for the Human Rights Commission and the Vermont Labor Relations Board.

Committee members said the next draft of S.120 will strip provisions already addressed by Commerce and workers’ compensation, retain provisions on supervisors and courts and on decertification, remove certified payroll requirements, and expand certification language to reach all statutes where appropriate. The chair described the change as a technical cleanup and asked staff to produce a revised draft quickly.

On H.173 — a separate bill under consideration by advocates — the chair said she was exercising her prerogative to leave the bill on the wall for now and would not move it out of committee this session. She summarized testimony the committee heard about two different regimes for labor disputes: a strike regime and a regime that allows the imposition of a contract, and reviewed how Vermont’s current process uses fact-finding and, if impasse remains, binding arbitration before the Vermont Labor Relations Board or an arbitrator. The chair said that in past cases a decision to hire replacement workers was later deemed an unfair labor practice, producing reinstatements and significant disruption.

Committee members discussed a related proposal to expand Human Rights Commission (HRC) investigatory authority over complaints involving certain statewide officeholders. The chair said HRC jurisdiction over constitutional officeholders could raise constitutional issues: the legislature cannot delegate core constitutional functions, and any HRC authority would need to be narrowly limited to investigatory, non-core duties and return jurisdiction or final judgment to the legislative body. Members agreed the idea was “doable” but would require substantial drafting work to avoid constitutional problems.

Members also noted budget activity: the Senate budget included two positions for the Human Rights Commission and two positions for the Vermont Labor Relations Board; committee members expressed differing confidence about whether the VLRB positions would ultimately survive budget negotiations.

During the meeting a member moved — and another seconded — to take Bill 429 off the wall and direct Sophie to prepare a full draft. The committee conducted a voice/hand-raise vote and the motion passed; the committee later confirmed it had voted to take the bill off the wall. The motion’s maker, the seconder and the vote tally were not specified in the transcript.

The committee asked Sophie to return a revised draft quickly; Sophie estimated she could have a slightly revised version back as soon as the next day. Members set a follow-up committee meeting for 9 a.m. the next day to continue discussion and possible action on S.125 and other agenda items.

Next steps: staff will draft the long form of Bill 429 for committee review; the committee will reconvene for further consideration and may ask the drafter to revise language or hold additional hearings before taking further formal action.