Senate lawmakers on Thursday took up H.72, a bill that would set aside $2 million to fund a pilot program of two overdose prevention centers in Vermont.
As written, the bill provides the funding and establishes a legal basis for two centers — also known as safe injection sites — which would provide a space for people to use substances with clean equipment and staff on hand to prevent overdoses. It passed out of the House in January.
On Thursday, epidemiology researchers told the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare that studies have shown overdose prevention centers can prevent deaths and reduce hospitalization and crime.
Brandon Marshall, a public health professor at Brown University, pointed to data from the Vermont Department of Health showing that 41% of Vermonters who died of an overdose in the past 10 years passed away without a bystander present.
With access to an overdose prevention site, “rather than using alone, they may have used in a supervised safe environment, which could have saved their lives,” Marshall said.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, the chair of Senate Health and Welfare, said her committee will likely spend several weeks discussing the bill.
“I think first we’re trying to understand, is this a good idea?” she said.
Another outstanding question: How would the sites be paid for?
As currently written, the bill would set aside $2 million from fees paid by pharmaceutical companies to stand up the two sites.
Last year, the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, a state body tasked with making recommendations about how to spend legal settlements with pharmaceutical companies, suggested that the state could use settlement cash to fund the pilot facilities.
Earlier this year, though, Vermont’s Commissioner of Health Mark Levine removed that suggestion from an official memo to lawmakers explaining the committee’s recommendations. The reason, he said, was that the Legislature was already considering funding the sites with pharmaceutical fees.
That caused a dustup between Levine and the Vermont ACLU, which accused the commissioner of unilaterally and unlawfully altering the committee’s recommendations without adhering to the state’s open meeting law. Levine denied this.
Gov. Phil Scott has said he is opposed to H.72. In an email Thursday, Ben Truman, a spokesperson for the Vermont Department of Health, did not say whether Levine supported the specific bill.
“Dr. Levine continues to support the committee’s recommendation for Opioid Prevention Centers as part of a multi-pronged, evidence-based continuum of harm reduction strategies for saving lives and getting people the help and treatment they need,” Truman said in the email.
But, he said, “There are important nuances for when, where, and to what extent OPCs can be most effective. It may not be an approach that works everywhere.”
As for funding sources, he said, that would be up to the Legislature.
Lyons, the chair of the committee, said that she was leaning toward using settlement funds.
“If we can get that moving forward, it’s a good use of those settlement dollars,” she said.
— Peter D’Auria
ON THE MOVE
Senators granted preliminary approval to S.58, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s omnibus crime bill, on a roll call vote Thursday afternoon. The vote was 24-4.
S.58 would again delay the next stage of a Vermont law, known as “raise the age,” that’s meant to keep more young people out of the criminal justice system. It also would make it easier to prosecute certain existing drug crimes, create a new felony for illegally selling xylazine, and add new crimes to the list of major crimes for which someone 18 or younger may be charged in adult court.
The bill also includes a measure requiring prosecutors to arraign someone on the next business day after they are arrested for certain drug crimes, provided an offense took place at a residence where the person is not a legal tenant.
S.58 no longer includes measures to expedite the timeline under which someone could be evicted if a landlord suspected them of committing a drug crime. That measure drew opposition from tenant advocates and members of Senate Economic Development in recent weeks.
— Shaun Robinson
The Senate has also signed off on legislation that would create new regulations for the state’s river systems, wetlands and dams in response to last summer’s flooding.
Senators voted 24-4 to advance the measure Wednesday and gave it final approval on a voice vote Thursday. It now heads to the House.
The bill, S.213, would require Vermonters to obtain a state permit to build in a river corridor, which includes the river itself and surrounding land where water can flow during flooding. If the bill clears the Legislature — and overcomes a likely veto by Gov. Phil Scott — that new permitting process would start in 2028.
— Emma Cotton
House members voted to advance H.289, a bill that would update Vermont’s renewable energy standard. If the bill becomes law, most utilities would need to purchase 100% of their energy from renewable sources by 2030, with a portion of that produced in the state.
In recent weeks, the bill has received attention and scrutiny from state officials and lawmakers who have tried to decipher how much the bill would cost ratepayers over the next decade. Lawmakers in the House spent roughly three hours on Wednesday talking about cost and other issues in a back-and-forth on the floor.
— Emma Cotton
The House also gave final approval to H.661, which would increase the standard of proof in child abuse and neglect investigations and make other changes to the process for placing a caregiver on the child abuse and neglect registry received preliminary approval.
Names on the registry are not open to the public but are visible to employers who can ask for a background check. Being on the registry impacts lives and livelihoods, unjustly so, when DCF gets it wrong, advocates from the Vermont Parent Representation Center concluded in a 2022 report.
Check VTDigger.org for the full story soon.
— Babette Stolk
Visit our 2024 Bill tracker for the latest updates on major legislation we are following.
CORRECTION SECTION
Yesterday’s newsletter used an incorrect number for the bill that would adopt a state mushroom. It is H.664.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Medicaid pharmacy claims system is back online, but problems may linger for providers, VTDigger
‘The chief’: Tim Hayward, adviser and confidant to Vermont Republican leaders, dies at 82, VTDigger
Clarification: An earlier version of this newsletter imprecisely described the process in Vermont for charging someone 18 or younger with some major crimes in adult court. The law makes it an option for state prosecutors but not a requirement.