Things got a bit chaotic at the Vermont Statehouse Friday as House and Senate leaders took differing plans of action in moving toward the conclusion of the legislative session.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said mid-afternoon Friday that the Vermont House would be adjourning, meaning no passage for two of this session's closely-watched bills: paid family leave and minimum wage.
House Speaker says she鈥檚 abandoned hope for a compromise with the Senate on paid leave and minimum wage, and that the House will adjourn for the year without passing either
— Peter Hirschfeld (@PeteHirschfeld)
Following the speaker's announcement, Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe about the two particular pieces of legislation.
"At this point the Senate is sending compromises on both the paid leave bill H107 and the minimum wage bill S23 along with the budget to the House for action," Ashe wrote.
And by the end of the day, both leaders followed through on their intentions. The House adjourned for the session Friday, while the Senate passed paid leave and minimum wage bills with a plan to return to Montpelier Wednesday.
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Earlier on Friday morning, in to Ashe, Johnson gave her fellow Democrat until noon to agree to one of five compromise proposals on paid family and medical leave and an increase in the minimum wage.
As of 1:17 p.m. Ashe had not responded publicly yet to Johnson鈥檚 letter. The two legislative leaders met around 2 p.m. 鈥� and it was after that meeting that Johnson said the House would adjourn.
The correspondence marks a last-ditch effort to salvage a compromise on two of Democrats鈥� top legislative priorities this year.
The House and Senate have been at loggerheads over the two bills for weeks now: The House prefers a more robust paid family and medical leave program, but a less aggressive increase in the minimum wage; Senate lawmakers want a larger increase in the minimum wage than the House prefers, but a scaled-back paid leave bill.
"At this point, we seem to be at impasse,鈥� Johnson wrote to Ashe Friday morning.
For more 鈥�
In the following paragraph, the Johnson wrote: 鈥淭he House is not interested in accepting your version of minimum wage while making a significant concession on Paid Family Leave.鈥�
Johnson said in her letter that she鈥檚 still open to 鈥渢rue compromise,鈥� but gave Ashe only until noon today to agree to one of five proposals to which House lawmakers say they鈥檒l agree to.
Updates:
- 6:19 p.m. Post and headline updated following update from VPR's Peter Hirschfeld.
- 4:08 p.m. Post and headline updated following Ashe's statement.
- 3:00 p.m. This post and its headline were updated with Johnson's announcement of adjournment.
- 1:20 p.m. This post was updated after the letter's noon deadline to note Ashe had yet to publicly respond.
