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Committee gives straw‑poll thumbs up to Ways and Means amendment to H.5954 amid criticism of late‑session process
Summary
The House Government Operations & Military Affairs committee took a nonbinding thumbs‑up straw poll on a Ways and Means amendment to H.5954, with the chair counting six in favor and three opposed. Several members criticized the timing and transparency of how the amendment was introduced.
The House Government Operations & Military Affairs committee took a nonbinding straw poll May 22 on a Ways and Means amendment to H.5954, a proposed charter amendment; the chair counted six members as favorable and three as opposed.
The chair opened the session and said staff from the Joint Fiscal Office were present before moving that the committee find the Ways and Means proposal of amendment on H.5954 favorable. The motion was presented as a recommendation in support of the Ways and Means amendment to the charter.
Committee members aired sharp disagreement over process. One member said the amendment "deviates quite far from what the voters voted on in March" and expressed worry about impacts to transportation and municipal infrastructure. Another member said the way the amendment was brought forward had been a "train wreck" and stated unequivocally they were opposed to the amendment in its current form.
Other lawmakers expressed frustration with late‑session bargaining. Several called out what one member described as "horse trading" and "smoke‑filled room decisions," arguing bills should stand on their merits rather than be linked through backroom deals. A separate member said they would nonetheless support the amendment because they trusted testimony from the representative from Stowe and believed Stowe residents wanted the change; that member noted the possibility of undoing the change with a charter amendment next year if residents objected.
A different member defended the process in part, saying the committee had posted a notice about a vote on the committee web page the prior morning and that the action was not entirely without notice; that speaker nevertheless said they would keep a 'no' vote because the new language was unfamiliar.
One member suggested the amendment was not the right vehicle to add funds to a new special transportation fund and recommended exploring surplus funds in a pilot fund or other mechanisms instead of tying more dollars to the proposed Stowe‑related special fund.
After brief further discussion the committee conducted a thumbs‑up/thumbs‑down poll. The chair counted six favorable responses and three opposed and said members could take the matter offline for additional discussion. The straw poll is nonbinding and does not itself enact the charter amendment.
Formal next steps were not specified in the meeting record; the committee did not record a formal roll‑call vote and no second was recorded for the motion as noted on the transcript.
