Asking questions in committee.

2024-01-05

Dear friend,

Happy Friday! Or if it hasn't been a happy Friday, I hope it looks up from here. I have a feeling there's something right around the corner...

Writing to you from the southwest corner of the State House, Room 34: Corrections & Institutions, around the corner from me is my car. I filled the tank when I arrived in Montpelier on Tuesday night, so I'm ready to get in and drive home to Halifax.

Before I do, I want to share a little about my week.

Speaker Jill Krowinski of Burlington gaveled us in for the 2024 session on Wednesday just after 10 a.m.

Here's how the press covered it:

*VT Digger coverage of Speaker Jill Krowinski gaveling in the session, as photographed by Glenn Russell*

Here was my view from Seat 26:

*The press photographers, VT Digger is far left*

You can see that photo and others that I post from time to time on my Instagram.

I felt that Speaker Krowinski summed up the moment today in Vermont and in America when she said:

"When we all work together, we can do hard things."

and

"Vermonters are counting on us to pass legislation for the storms we have encountered, and the storms yet to come."

What storms is your Vermont Legislature working on?

Over 100 bills were introduced and assigned to a committee on the first day of the session. I am reading through them and getting to know what bills will be committee priorities, and which will wither "on the wall." (See Things are getting “off the wall”) By number, most bills won't go anywhere. A measure of success is how a bill starts a conversation.

Here are the bills in play for the 2023-2024 biennium so far: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/all-house/2024

See any that you're interested in? Any holdovers from last year you are curious about? This is a good time to contact me and your other legislators to tell them what matters to you. Here are some things I'm already tracking based on local interest:

The bill that I've been most fascinated with for how it intersects with everything that's hard today in Vermont is H.72, that would allow the state to allow overdose prevention centers (OPCs), places that users of illegal street drugs can use in a safe environment with clean needles and access to treatment.

Two such facilities (they have also been referred to as "safe injection sites," but they're about much more than injectable drugs) are operated in New York City by OnPoint NYC. Driven by curiosity and the upcoming H.72 vote, I organized a tour to one last Friday with Rep. Michelle Bos-Lun and Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky. (I posted four pics to Instagram here.)

*Group pic post-tour with Rep. Roberts far right -- more* *here*

One "OPC" is wanted by some city leaders in Burlington, and a second has been discussed for "southern Vermont," which from the perspective of Chittenden County means Rutland, or perhaps Bennington or Brattleboro.

I've been skeptical about OPCs since I learned about the topic. Open drug use in Vermont is an issue that fills me with despair. Gathering that despair up in a building that might even attract more such despair does not seem like a good idea.

My trip to Harlem didn't change my mind, but it left me more open to seeing a path for OPCs. I can see a lot of things working at OnPoint NYC, one of which is that it started in 1992 and has developed a strong relationship with the community since then. But I also have questions about whether or how this very urban, community-based clinic translates to Vermont.

I will share more as H.72 is discussed in the House. What are your questions and impressions about overdose prevention centers and how they fit into the opioid response in Vermont?

***
Gov. Phil Scott gave his State of the State address yesterday.

See his full address here, or read it here.

How did you feel about the Governor's address?

I felt inspired to take action. "Who will water the flowers?" read the Governor, pointing to our aging population and shrinking labor force. (I'm excited to share with the Governor how I'm doing my part on that.)

Here in the Legislature, we are doing the work of answering that question.

Here in House Corrections and Institutions, we are scrutinizing the impact of the July 10, 2023 flood on the Capitol Complex, affecting all three branches of government.

But today was more about prison healthcare.

Search VT Digger for keyword "WellPath," the private healthcare contractor for our State prisons, and you'll have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with concerning incidents over years about how medical care is doled out -- or withheld -- in state prisons.

I've been hearing from incarcerated individuals and their families for months about this issue. I've listened to incarcerated individuals talk about poor medical care, having injuries go untreated, not being given key prescriptions, and allegedly punitive behavior from medical providers.

I've also heard constituents talk about life-saving medical care that family members have received in state correctional facilities. I've heard gratitude stories about the Department of Corrections fulfilling its role for the State of Vermont -- providing a secure facility where someone who has done harm to their community and harm to themselves can consider their actions and have the chance to heal themselves.

In light of all that, and of the $30 million a year we're spending for privatized, substandard medical care, I was happy to have the opportunity to hear today from the excellent, very experienced, very competent Annie Ramniceanu, Mental Health Systems Director for the Department of Corrections.

House Corrections and Institutions held a joint hearing with House Healthcare on medical care in State correctional facilities.

Legislators on committees in the Vermont Legislature seldom if ever have a conscripted amount of time to ask questions. But out of respect for our witnesses, and with double the committee members in one room, we try to get right to the point.

Another thing about committee questions of State employees. Asking a very specific constituent question usually results in "can't comment on a specific case." And as a legislator, I know there are always multiple angles on a story, so I don't want to get into an argument about details.

Today, I asked a question where I tried to get at the problem in both a broad and specific way.

A number of folks reading this have asked me to follow up with the Administration on the topic of prison healthcare. May I recommend the following?

I wish I had one follow-up, and we didn't even get to talk to Wellpath yet, but the entire testimony learnt me a lot.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It's 3:50 p.m. in Montpelier. I'm going to leave and get home in time for dinner. I should file my expense report before I leave, but I'll do it this weekend. Time to get home.

How about you -- are you starting your work day or ending it?

I hope it is/was/will be a good one.

Warm regards,

Rep. Tristan Roberts
Vermont House of Representatives

P.S. Keeping with today's multiple vantage points, here's that same committee scene from my corner of the room:

Asking questions in committee.

Ignorantia juris non excusat.

Love.

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