“It’s very standard for speakers or committee chairs to come in and say, ‘Here are the key pieces of legislation, here are the things that I want to pass,’” said Johnson, a Democrat from South Hero. “And I’m trying to flip that around a little bit, to develop a little more of a culture of evaluation and spending time considering the situation rather than jumping forward with the solution.”
Johnson said she has worked to bring a more deliberative process to the House Appropriations Committee, which she chaired last session, but made clear that she thinks many other committees don’t adequately evaluate the agencies and areas they are responsible for overseeing.
Johnson said she hopes to have committee assignments finalized by Wednesday, the first day of the session. The first task for each committee likely will be evaluating the effectiveness of programs and associated spending, she said.
“There is a real imbalance of basic information between the executive branch and the citizen Legislature that we have,” she said.
Johnson sees data as key to making the Legislature more efficient and effective, and she hailed so-called Results-Based Accountability information, which has been collected by a number of state agencies since the passage of two “outcomes bills,” in 2010 and 2014.
Still, Johnson thinks more numbers are needed for legislators to scour.
“Don’t expect reams and reams of data on all this stuff, because it doesn’t exist,” she said. “But that’s part of the problem: the Legislature not having the information.”
By creating this systematic approach, Johnson thinks budgeting will be made easier and that Vermonters will benefit.
“Without better evaluation and prioritization across other committees, the budget situation is never going to improve,” she said. “By looking at making government work better and focusing on what Vermonters need most, we can do our best work to deliver those services in the budget.”
Johnson’s new approach may rankle some longtime committee chairs, who prefer autonomy in their committee work, and the presumptive speaker acknowledged that a couple of weeks of work won’t allow for a totally comprehensive evaluation.
Another step aimed at promoting efficiency will be weekly status report meetings with presumptive Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe to discuss what big bills are coming out of committees in one chamber and going to the complementary committee in the other.
“My hope of hopes — and this will require Mitzi and myself to work together — is to work harder to avoid the crunch of big bills that come out of crossover and at the very end of the session,” said Ashe, a Chittenden County Democrat/Progressive. “It will require a lot of coordination, but that, to me, would be a really good indicator of whether we are successful in working together.”
Johnson, a graduate of the University of Vermont and Harvard, began her speaker’s race as an underdog but is now poised to replace outgoing Speaker Shap Smith.
House Majority Leader Sarah Copeland Hanzas, D-Bradford, was Smith’s right-hand woman and the early favorite to succeed him. But she dropped out in late November after legislators began coalescing around Johnson, a 14-year veteran of the chamber.
Outgoing Speaker Smith didn’t take a position in the race to replace him, citing close relationships with both Copeland Hanzas and Johnson.
And while he said he wasn’t sure how Johnson’s leadership style would differ from his, Smith said his likely successor was “whip-smart” with “an enthusiastic energy that will serve her well.”
“She probably has — or is perceived as having — a more collaborative style,” Smith said. “Now I think that belies the fact that I spent a lot of time behind the scenes trying to figure out what everyone wanted and how we could square the circle. But I think there is that public perception of Mitzi working well with others when she was chair of the Appropriations Committee.”
Johnson, 46, was indeed known to solicit ideas from all parties as chairwoman of Appropriations, according to Rep. Peter Fagan, R-Rutland, who served as the committee’s vice chair.
“Mitzi is open to discussing anything, period,” Fagan said. “That’s her biggest strength. She will listen, she will engage, and then she will make up her mind.”
House Minority Leader Don Turner, a Republican from Milton, said he has known Johnson for many years, as her legislative district includes a small slice of Milton.
Though Turner said his Republican caucus would continue to push for Essex Rep. Linda Myers as speaker, he acknowledged that Johnson likely has the votes to win, with Democrats holding an 84-seat majority in the 150-seat House.
While Turner has been sharply critical of the budget work spearheaded by Johnson in recent years, he said Thursday that he has a generally good working relationship with Johnson.
“I’m happy and hopeful to hear her speaking about that,” Turner said. “I’ve written op-eds on the need to deeply delve into state programs for the last six years.”
Turner contended that if Johnson is truly serious about taking a hard look at state agencies and associated programs, fresh eyes are needed.
“When you have tenured committee chairs, they don’t want to touch programs that are sacred to them,” Turner said. “If Mitzi wants to do this she has to shake up the committees and shake up the chairs.”
Turner said that as speaker, Smith never allowed Republicans to have any input over committee assignments, claiming he “was a control guy and ran the House the way he wanted to.” Committee assignments are up to the speaker.
Turner said he and Johnson have been communicating regularly and that “she gave me her word that I would have input.”
“I hope that she doesn’t lose sight, where Shap did, that the speaker represents everyone in the House, not just their own caucus,” Turner said.
For her part, Johnson said the election of Republican Phil Scott as governor sent a strong message that many Vermonters are struggling financially.
“The lower and middle class — and people outside Chittenden County — have been really left behind,” said Johnson, who has met with Scott during his transition process to discuss legislative priorities.
Johnson describes potential budget cuts as “nibbles,” arguing that every state program provides help to some constituency.
“We are not, in this process, going to find the magical unicorn program that somehow is costing a ton of money and serving nobody that we can easily get rid of and solve our budget woes,” Johnson cautioned. “That’s not going to happen.”
On taxes, Johnson also diverged from Republicans, who have pledged to fight any new taxes.
“We do need to look at our tax policy in general to make sure that we have a 21st century tax policy that looks at aligning our revenue with where our economy is at this point,” Johnson said.
While remaining vague on whether she would support a carbon tax in the next session, she blamed Republicans for mischaracterizing it during the election season, adding that “people who never supported it were accused of supporting it.”
On marijuana legalization, Johnson said she wanted to honor the work done over the summer by legislators on the House and Senate Judiciary committees and have some discussion on the topic. She made clear, however, that “a bigger priority for that committee is access to justice in the state and how the courts are functioning and resourced.”
Johnson said she is looking forward to reading the independent Vermont Health Connect study she helped push the Legislature to authorize last session and that her views on the future of the exchange would be guided by the report.
“The option that lets us serve the Vermonters with the policies we think are important at an appropriate cost with decent service, that’s what I’m looking for,” she said.
Johnson said cleanup of Lake Champlain was a top priority and that she would push for extra state dollars if Republican President-elect Donald Trump slashes the budget at the Environmental Protection Agency, which has given millions to Vermont for those efforts.
She said she is also worried about a potential repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which has brought millions in federal subsidies to help lower-income Vermonters afford care.
Johnson cautioned that there are many other potential cuts at federal departments, like Housing and Urban Development and Homeland Security — or from community development block grants — that could hurt many state agencies.
“Those are the things we really need to look out for, because frankly they are quieter and easier to cut than the big headlines that would happen for cutting the Affordable Care Act,” she said.
