Lawmakers in the Vermont House began the first day of the 2024 legislative session Wednesday morning with an acknowledgement of one of the darkest incidents in the state’s recent history: the apparently unprovoked shooting of three Palestinian-American men in Burlington less than six weeks ago.
On the evening of November 25, three 20-year-old Palestinian-American college students — Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Aliahmad — were shot on North Prospect Street in Burlington. A day later, police arrested a 48-year-old man, Jason Eaton, who pleaded not guilty.
The shooting touched off an international wave of grief and shock. In Vermont, the violence has led to an uncomfortable soul-searching: How could such a horrific act take place in a state that takes such pride in its culture of acceptance and neighborliness?
“The reverberating effects are still felt in this state, in the city of Burlington, and in my own personal life,” Rep. Mary-Katherine Stone, D/P-Burlington, said on the House floor Wednesday morning.
The shooting took place just blocks from her home, she said. After the violence, Stone, who is Egyptian-American and a member of the Legislature’s newly formed Middle Eastern North African caucus, said she fled her house for days fearing for her safety.
After the House gaveled in on Wednesday, Stone introduced five of Awartani’s family members. Lawmakers responded with a 30-second standing ovation.
In an interview with VTDigger at the Statehouse Wednesday, Awartani’s mother, Elizabeth Price, said that her son’s life has been “overturned.”
Awartani, a junior at Brown University, is currently undergoing rehab at a facility in Massachusetts. The bullet shot by the assailant is lodged in his spine, Price said, and it is still too risky to remove it. Family members have said he is paralyzed from the chest down.
Awartani “has a lot of equanimity,” she said. “He’s resolute and he’s just very practical. I’ve asked him sometimes how he manages things and he says, ‘Well, I just have to get done.’”
It’s not clear yet whether the shooting will be classified as a hate crime, which could lead to a longer prison sentence in the event of a conviction. Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George said in an email Wednesday that there was “no update” on whether that might happen.
But Price said family members were mulling the possibility of a civil lawsuit over the incident. Such a lawsuit wouldn’t add any criminal penalties but could establish the incident as a hate crime, Price said.
“It’s very important for the families of the three boys that this be recognized as a hate crime,” she said.
Price, who lives in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and spends part of the year in Vermont, said the recognition from Vermont lawmakers Wednesday was “a balm to the soul.”
“What happened was a tragedy for Vermont and its community as much as for our family,” she said. “Because of how terrifying it was to see one of their own taking this action against another of their own.”
— Peter D’Auria
In the know
When Vermont legislators convened in Montpelier on Wednesday, one topic had already clearly emerged as their top priority for the next four months of lawmaking: the state’s response to last year’s catastrophic floods — and how to mitigate the inevitable floods to come.
And part of that work, according to legislative leadership, is helping the Vermonters still reeling nearly six months after the initial flooding hit last July.
“This year, we’ve weathered multiple catastrophic floods that forced people from their homes, destroyed businesses, and left in its wake over a billion dollars in losses,” House Speaker Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, said in her opening floor speech of the session. “Vermonters are remarkably resilient in the face of adversity, but they are counting on us to take bold action.”
All of the flood talk reached its highest, and most personal, pitch at a noon rally on the Statehouse steps. Flanked by central Vermont House members who have released a sweeping flood response omnibus bill, impacted residents of Montpelier, Barre, Plainfield and more made it clear that they have not been made whole since July.
Mary Zentara, a teacher and single mother living in Montpelier, stood before the Statehouse and gestured toward her city’s downtown. With a glimmer of optimism, she said the capital city “has begun to rebuild on many levels, and that is just wonderful.”
But roughly a half mile away at her State Street home, Zentara said she and others like her are “stuck in limbo.”
Read more here.
— Sarah Mearhoff
On the first day of the session, state education officials presented lawmakers with the latest estimates for Vermont’s school construction needs — a whopping $6.3 billion over the next 21 years.
And that number, Agency of Education staff cautioned, is likely a significant underestimate.
Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, chair of the House Committee on Education, called the figure “eye-popping.” He signaled that his committee would make addressing school construction needs a priority this session.
With Gov. Phil Scott’s administration predicting an 18.5% rise in property taxes driven by a projected 12% increase in education spending, the cost of school construction could further strain local budgets.
Read more here.
— Ethan Weinstein
Gov. Phil Scott’s administration is urging lawmakers to increase the consequences for people accused of crimes who violate conditions of release — and to make changes to Vermont’s bail policies that could result in more people being held in jail ahead of a trial.
Jaye Pershing Johnson, Scott’s general counsel, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the administration has heard during recent community meetings that, when it comes to the state’s criminal justice system, “it seems like all carrots and no sticks.”
Judiciary committee members said that they’ve heard similar perceptions about public safety, too, though several questioned whether those perceptions are rooted in data.
The administration’s rhetoric — which a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont characterized on Wednesday as “tough-on-crime policies” — is set to spur fresh debate this year as lawmakers attempt to address persistent public safety challenges that frequently intersect with the state’s opioid epidemic.
“I don’t disagree with most of the governor’s priorities,” Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, who chairs the judiciary committee, told Johnson at the hearing, though he later added that he looked forward to “healthy” committee debates this year.
Read more here.
— Shaun Robinson
While the Green Mountain State regularly tops national lists naming supposed climate havens, Vermont state climatologist Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux appeared before lawmakers on the first day of the session to present a different perspective.
Much of her 58-slide presentation focused on the question, “Why is Vermont so hazard-prone?”
The answer, at least in terms of flooding, is Vermont’s physical geography: Moisture travels along the western flanks of the Appalachian Mountains and condenses as it rises up steep slopes in Vermont, setting up conditions for “very heavy rainfall,” she said.
Testifying before both the House Environment and Energy Committee and the House Transportation Committee, the University of Vermont professor didn’t limit her testimony to floods.
Vermont is also vulnerable to all colors of severe storms — drought, extreme heat, fires, air pollution, invasive and problematic insects, disease and other climate-related risks — she told the combined group.
— Emma Cotton
Data dispatch
Secretary of Agriculture Anson Tebbetts and Agricultural Development Division director Abbey Willard presented statistics on the situation for Vermont farms after July flooding to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry on Wednesday.
Among their reports was information about the state’s Business Emergency Gap Assistance Program, which provided aid to farmers but also to businesses across sectors that suffered flood losses.
The 712 applicants to the program reported losses of more than $152 million. The amount awarded: $19.5 million, or an average of $24,000 per applicant, Willard said.
— Erin Petenko
Just for funsies
Among Wednesday’s Statehouse visitors were two “wise women weaving the webs of wellness,” aiming to offer wellness packages to Vermont's legislators, in throwback dress.
— Babette Stolk
Would the second senator please stand up?
Rather than offering his customary first-day-of-session agricultural token, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman had a different offering to senators during Wednesday’s floor session: a turnpike toll bill.
It turns out, according to Zuckerman’s telling, that the New York State Thruway mistakenly sent him the bill for Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Orleans. The two have similar state license plate numbers.
“If you happen to be in Senate seat 2, please see me,” Zuckerman quipped at the dais Wednesday morning.
Starr later told Digger that he didn’t even remember driving through New York this year, but Zuckerman, upon seeing the photo attached to the bill, “recognized my Lincoln.”
— Sarah Mearhoff