2006 Legislative Updates:

 May 8, 2006

H. 861: The Health Care Conferees signed their report (an amended H.861) Friday afternoon May 3rd. This was after intense negotiations with the administration over key provisions in H.861. Significantly, the two Republicans (Rep. Topper McFaun and Senator Kevin Mullin) signed the report as did the four Democrats.

The most important change the administration wanted was to drop the Plan B option to make Catamount Health a state administered program if -- and only if --the governor's private insurance scenario failed. This represents a wide difference in political philosophy between the governor and the Democratic leadership. The Democrats drew a line in the sand over their position on this issue and held firm.

The Democrats did agree to phase in the employer assessment. The Democrats wanted to exempt 4 fulltime equivalent employees (FTEs) starting with the first year of implementing Catamount Health. Legislators agreed to a phase in, granting 8 FTE exemptions for the first two years of Catamount, then 6 FTE exemptions for the next two years, and finally 4 FTE exemptions in year four. FTE exemptions would ease the financial burden for small businesses.

The Democrats also agreed to increase the rate of growth used for financial projections from 4.5% to 6%.

S.310: The Democrats merged key provisions of the Common Sense Initiatives (S.310) into H.861. The money provisions of S.310 were moved to the budget bill.

Senate: Immediately after the conference committee approved H.861, the Senate voted on the bill. As expected, the Senate gave easy passage 20-4.

Governor: The governor announced that he would veto the bill in its "current form".

House: Tuesday (May 9), the House is to debate and vote on the conference report for H.861. House rules prohibit amending the bill. The vote is an up or down vote meaning it is approved or rejected.

Adjournment: The Speaker announced May 9 would be the last day of the session. But it will be a busy day with nine major bills to be debated and voted on.

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Vermont Health Care for All would like to thank VPIRG for their generous support of the 2006 Legislative Updates. They are also available on the VPIRG website http://www.vpirg.org. They will be produced throughout the 2006 Legislative session by Paul Forlenza. Forlenza can be contacted at paul@forlenza.us or 802-453-3592.