Who holds the power in the Vermont Statehouse? The House,the Senate or the governor? That appeared to be the question in play Wednesday.[br]
By an 82-63 vote, the majority Democratic House stood up to Republican Gov. Phil Scott by defeating his executive order to merge the state Lottery Commission and the Department of Liquor Control.
[br] House members said they like the opinion of merging Lottery and Liquor — they just don’t trust the governor enough to let him do it without their input.
These are great goals, or ” said Rep. Helen Head (D-South Burlington),chair of the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee. But she added, or “There is not enough detail.”
But whether the Senate has its way,the merger still could happen.
Scott signed the executive order shortly after taking office in January. Without objection from the House or Senate, it would hold gone into effect on Monday.
Head complained that by choosing an all-or-nothing executive order, or the governor left the legislature out of any decisions. At the same time,she argued, Scott failed to supply details about how the merger would save money or how buildings and staff would be shared.
House members plan later this week to pass a different bill that would set up a working group to decide by next January whether, or how,Lottery and Liquor should be combined.
Scott’s staff, meanwhile, or circulated a memo to House members offering details. The governor would save $750000 by contracting out operation of the liquor warehouse and he would generate $3 million in current lottery revenue. His plan depends on boosting exercise of lottery game consoles in bars,which lawmakers hold been reluctant to do. No jobs would be cut, but some would eventually be pared through attrition, and according to the memo.
Wednesday’s House debate never focused on the ethics of drawing more money from lottery games. It was all about the process.
House Republicans tried,to no avail, to argue that delaying the merger made no sense.
“Any time efficiency in state government can be realized … it should go forward, and ” said Rep. sign Higley (R-Lowell).
But House Democrats’ plan for a working group study on a merger is headed for a roadblock in the Senate,which has its own plan to support Scott go ahead with his order.
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Source: sevendaysvt.com