Trial Bar Proposes Anti-Ride-Sharing Amendments to Insurance Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee considered amendments this week proposed by the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association that would likely force Uber out of Vermont by requiring minimum insurance coverage in amounts that are ten to twenty times higher than any other state.

The amendments were proposed to H.143, a House-passed bill that is intended to establish uniform insurance requirements for ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft. The bill as passed by the House establishes insurance standards that are similar to those adopted by 43 other states. The trial lawyer amendments would require ride-sharing services to obtain coverage of $1 million for drivers when they are not carrying passengers. The proposed amendments would also strike a provision in the bill that is intended to allow drivers to be considered independent contractors.

The Judiciary Committee is scheduled to discuss the amendments and vote on the bill next Tuesday.

Brattleboro Retreat Testifies on Value of Telemedicine

The House Health Care Committee devoted more time this week to a bill that would expand coverage under Medicaid and private health insurance for telemedicine. The current draft of S.50 would allow the same number of consultations by live interactive audio and video services as if the service were performed in person. The bill requires a provider delivering health care services through telemedicine to obtain and document a patient’s oral or written consent prior to each session and to include the consent in the patient’s medical record.

On Wednesday, the committee heard from Brattleboro Retreat Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark McGee on the importance of telepsychiatry to the Retreat. McGee said telepsychiatry offers opportunities for access to care where none currently exists. It also helps the Retreat with the ongoing challenge of recruitment and retention of skilled psychiatrists. McGee said one of the hospital’s licensed physicians has provided telepsychiatry services from her home in the Boston area to patients admitted to an inpatient unit.
 
McGee also described a potential partnership with Brattleboro Memorial Hospital that involves providing telepsychiatry services to mental health patients in the emergency department. The psychiatrist will perform a full psychiatric evaluation and provide the primary treatment team with a comprehensive assessment and treatment plan. Followup evaluations will be available as needed, as well as technical and clinical assistance with after care and discharge planning. Acute care hospitals across the state are experiencing a significant increase in mental health patients awaiting placement for inpatient hospital beds, and telepsychiatry has the potential to assist individuals in crisis.

Committee Nears Approval of Grid Battery Storage Bill

The House Energy and Technology Committee took additional testimony this week from utilities on H.501, a bill that is intended to encourage the development of electricity storage on the grid. The bill requires a study of the issue by the Department of Public Service, including ways to promote the development of energy storage.

Electric utilities have argued that the bill is not needed because electricity storage technology is advancing without governmental intervention or support. Utilities submitted amendments to the bill that are likely to be approved by the committee, and the bill will be added to a Senate-passed bill since the crossover deadline has passed.

Appraisal Legislation Raises Lender Concerns

A House-passed bill, H.506, adopts wide-ranging amendments to the state’s regulated profession statutes and includes a provision that has raised significant concerns among the state’s lending community. The provision (section 23) would eliminate the statutory regulation of appraisal management companies. AMCs manage panels of appraisers on behalf of lenders and ensure compliance, quality and cost-effectiveness.

H.506 would allow the state’s board of appraisers to determine whether AMC’s should continue to be regulated. AMC’s and lenders seek continued state regulation due to the complicated interplay between state and federal law. The state Office of Professional Regulation is likely to propose an amendment in the Senate that would require the board to continue regulating AMCs.

Insurance Private Right of Action Bill Gets Chilly Reception in Finance

A bill to create a private right of action against insurers for violations of the Insurance Trade Practices Act received a frosty reception in the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday.

Under current law, enforcement of the insurance code rests solely with the Department of Financial Regulation. A Bennington trial lawyer proposed the bill, S.145, which was sponsored by Sen. Brian Campion, D-Bennington. The lawyer argued that his client’s claim against the Town of Ira was not treated fairly by the insurer, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. Committee Chair Ann Cummings, D-Washington, asked him if he or his client had complained to the department, and the attorney responded that they had not.

The department testified strongly against the bill, as did insurers. Further consideration this year seems unlikely.

Finance Approves Loan Solicitation Bill with Broker Exemption

The Senate Finance Committee gave its approval on Friday to a House-passed bill, H.182, that among other provisions creates new licensing requirements for loan solicitors and education requirements for mortgage loan originators. The Finance Committee approved an amendment that exempts broker-dealers from the new requirements.

Panel Prioritizes Mental Health

House Health Care Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, announced to the committee this week that passing legislation that strengthens the mental health system will be their top priority before adjournment. The committee began review of a Senate-passed bill, S.133, that addresses workforce compensation at the designated mental health agencies, crisis services that will offer short term help for individuals, and care management that takes a team-based approach.

On Wednesday, Agency of Human Services Secretary Al Gobeille said the state has a vested interest in the mental health system since the state runs the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital. He also shares the frustration providers feel with the bureaucracy at the Department of Vermont Health Access. Lawmakers were outraged last week when they were informed that seven children across the state were waiting in hospital emergency rooms for inpatient beds. In one case an inpatient bed was found in a neighboring state but payment was denied by DVHA because the state did not have a contract with the facility.

Rep. Mike Hebert, R-Vernon, asked Gobeille if the agency can streamline its case management and give a single case manager authority to manage complex cases across AHS departments so that one integrated plan considers clinical interventions, payment and the management of all resources. Gobeille said he does not yet know the answer.

Housing Advocates Press for Large Housing Bond

Vermont Housing and Conservation Board Director of Policy and Special Projects Jennifer Hollar asked the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Friday to move ahead with a proposal to issue up to $35 million in state-backed revenue bonds for affordable housing. If adopted, the plan would help to draw down an estimated $70-$100 million in federal money and aid in the construction or renovation of 550-650 units of multi-family apartments and single-family homes. The housing would be targeted at both very low-income families and those earning up to 120 percent of median household income.

Enabling language was adopted by the Senate when it added housing and tax increment financing language to S.135, but the plan calls for an additional appropriation of $1 million from the state General Fund to VHCB. Hollar said her organization was willing to allocate up to $1.5 million from existing revenue toward the $2.5 million annual allocation needed to retire the bonds over 20 years.

The language was omitted from S.135 for lack of the $1 million additional allocation, but the concept remains alive if the legislature can find additional money. VHCB Executive Director Gus Seelig made a similar plea before the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday afternoon.

Senate Committee Votes to Place Renewable Energy Goals Into Law

The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee on Thursday approved a draft bill that would place the state’s aggressive renewable energy goals into state law and require state agencies to plan to meet them. The bill would also require the commissioner of the Department of Public Service to report annually on how the state is doing to achieve the goals and to provide specific information about electricity, nonelectric fuels for thermal purposes, and transportation. The report would include information on major changes in markets, technologies and costs, Vermont prices compared to other New England states, and incentive programs available to Vermont residents and businesses.

The provisions in the draft bill were added to H.411, a House-passed bill dealing with energy efficiency standards for appliances and machinery. The bill also contains sections dealing with customer-owned net-metering systems and energy conservation in residential and commercial buildings. The bill would require a property seller to disclose information about a building’s energy efficiency prior to the sale of a building.

House Committee Supports Two Plates; DMV Flips on the Issue

The House Transportation Committee voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to maintain the state’s requirement that passenger cars display both front and rear license plates. The vote occurred only moments after a representative for the Department of Motor Vehicles testified that the department had changed its mind and now supported eliminating the front plate

The committee had heard from a parade of witnesses representing law enforcement agencies, including sheriff’s departments and the border patrol, and from the retail and convenience store industries that front plates help to prevent and solve crimes. DMV had testified in favor of keeping the front plate in both the House and Senate. Committee members learned from DMV that the last two states that had made such a move 40 years repealed the laws within three years. Several cited the information in remarks explaining their votes.

The surprise change-of-course by DMV was blamed on an edict from the office of Gov. Phil Scott. The issue will now be decided in a House-Senate conference committee later in the session.

Workers’ Compensation Bill Poised to Pass House Appropriations Committee

A clerical error postponed the committee’s vote, but the House Appropriations Committee heard from policy committees on H.197, a bill that would create a presumption that post-traumatic stress disorder claims are work related if they are filed by police officers, ambulance workers or firefighters. The bill also expands the ability of all workers to file stress-related claims.

A worker must now show that the job-related stress that he or she experienced is greater than that experienced by employees with similar positions, and H.197 would eliminate that requirement. The bill would impose some limitations on the filing of mental-health-only claims by requiring a worker to demonstrate that a work-related event or stress was “extraordinary and unusual in comparison to pressures and tensions experienced by the average employee across all occupations.” Mental health claims based on adverse personnel actions would not be allowed.

A joint fiscal note presented to the committee states that in fiscal year 2019, this expansion of workers’ compensation coverage would cost the General Fund about $60,000. Some lawmakers argued that this was a small cost for an issue that is a priority for both the House Commerce and Economic Development and the House Health Care committees.

Insurers, business groups and the Vermont League of Cities and Towns oppose the bill due to concerns that it would impose significant new costs on the workers’ compensation system. Opponents asked for a study of the potential financial impact before expanding coverage. Rep. Bill Botzow, D-Pownal, rejected this idea, saying that “there are those who would say do a whole bunch of studying. You learn how to swim in the water, and you have to get some experience. The best study is to do it.”

The Appropriations Committee will vote on the measure on Tuesday.

Universal Primary Care Stalled for This Year

Senate Health and Welfare Committee Chair Sen. Claire Ayer, D-Addison, announced to the committee and spectators on Friday that a bill to guarantee universal primary care will not move this session. Ayer said with the start of accountable care organizations and the all-payer model, she believes implementation of universal primary care would be a disaster.

In lieu of legislation, Ayer will send a letter to the advocates of universal primary care and ask them to look at previous reports and provide recommendations on a financial and operational plan, as well as waivers that may be needed by the federal government to guide the committee on legislation next year.

Additionally, Ayer will ask the secretary of the Agency of Human Services to provide a feasibility plan for a government-run primary care health clinic for state employees. Ayer said the governor of Montana did this is 2012 and the state has seen dramatic savings and earlier treatment for employees.

House Panel Hits Pause Button on Independent Contractor Bill

After weeks of testimony on a proposal to define who is an independent contractor for purposes of workers’ compensation, the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee determined that stakeholders weren’t close enough to consensus on bill language to continue work on the bill.

This is the fourth session in which the committee has struggled with the definition of independent contractor. The sticking point between labor and business – as it has been for years – is whether a contractor who performs work that is an “integral part” of an employing unit’s business should be considered an employee. A similar requirement exists under current law, and employers have argued that it casts a net that is far too broad to reflect the realities of business relationships. Organized labor has insisted that the phrase be included in the bill.

Chairman Rep. Bill Botzow, D- Pownal, appeared frustrated as he addressed the committee informally on Friday afternoon, telling his members that “we’re trying to solve people’s problems, but I don’t think that they’re ready to have their problems solved.” He acknowledged that the power to stop the bill is just as significant as it was last year, and that there is little support for the bill overall. Other committee members echoed his frustration at the difficulty in coming up with a widely acceptable test and agreed that it was time to step away and focus on other economic development bills. Botzow suggested that parts of the bill may return for consideration later in the session, but that the current draft language would be pulled from the committee’s agenda for the near future.