Now that their first legislative session has ended, The Reporter spoke with State Representatives Todd Nielsen of Brandon and Alicia Malay of Pittsford-Proctor to ask about their experience in Montpelier and plans for next session.
Todd Nielsen (Brandon)
Republican Representative Todd Nielsen won his seat last November, replacing 3-term Democrat Stephanie Jerome in a contentious election that saw numerous Democrats across the state lose their seats in a backlash against Vermont’s high taxes. With no government experience, and a host of Brandon residents who openly questioned whether he was up to the job, Nielsen went to Montpelier with a lot to prove.
“Thank God for orientation,” he laughed in a recent conversation at the Brandon Inn. “I would’ve been lost without it. They explained how the process worked. It made my life so much easier.”
“People were a little leery of me in the beginning,” he added. “I had to overcome that. But I liked 80% of the people I met in Montpelier and admired the other 20%. There wasn’t a single person I didn’t like at all. I was surrounded by excellent people who care about Vermont.”
As was his wish, Nielsen was assigned to the Human Services Committee (HSC), which oversees the state’s social-service agencies.
“We’re responsible for $5.8 billion out of the state’s $9.2 billion budget,” he said.
And though Nielsen campaigned on a promise not to vote for new taxes, he came to realize in Montpelier that cutting costs isn’t as easy as one might think.
“There are certain places where you can’t keep costs down,” he said. According to Nielsen, HSC doubled the spending for Meals-on-Wheels, increased spending on SNAP benefits by 6%, and increased by 6% the compensation paid to families who take in people in the state’s care.
“In the long run, it’s cheaper to keep people in homes,” he said, explaining his willingness to approve these increases.
Nielsen also voted to increase the state’s contribution to hospitals from $14m to $18m because of payroll shortages at those facilities. Hospitals are not generating enough revenue to cover their expenses, explained Nielsen.
“I didn’t agree but didn’t think we had a choice,” he added. “Medicare doesn’t pay enough to hospitals. There’s been a massive staffing shortage since COVID. Hospitals are relying on traveling staff and it’s expensive.”
Nielsen believes, however, that the experience he gained in his first session will position him to push back on spending next year.
“There’s a big learning curve,” he said, adding that his inexperience sometimes held him back from pushing harder for spending cuts. However, the doubling of Meals-on-Wheels in the state budget is one of his proudest accomplishments of the session.
“The program had a $1 million budget but actually cost $2 million to run,” he said.
His biggest disappointment of the session was the education-reform bill that passed at the very end of the session. The bill was a response to Governor Phil Scott’s proposal to reform education spending. The bill, as passed, doesn’t implement any specific changes but instead initiates a process for the Statehouse to decide how to reform the funding scheme.
One of Scott’s most publicized proposals was the reduction of the number of school districts in Vermont to just 5. Currently there are 120 districts organized into 52 supervisory unions. For example, Otter Valley Unified Union is its own school district but falls under the supervision of Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union, which also oversees the Barstow school district.
“I voted yes but the bill was not what it should have been,” Nielsen said. He also noted that the voting process on that bill was unorthodox, with members of both parties complaining that there wasn’t enough time for debate before a vote was demanded. The first vote to approve the bill recorded only yea versus nay without members’ names. A second vote to send the bill to the Governor did record names, but fewer members voted yes when their names were recorded, according to Nielsen.
“The bill wants to standardize a lot of things from one district to another,” said Nielsen. “Things like salaries, so that wealthier districts can’t outbid rural districts for teachers.”
As for the impact on Otter Valley specifically, Nielsen predicted that the bill would save the district $1.8 million over five years if implemented. He also said, though, that it was likely that the consolidation of districts would entail the closure of at least some schools within OVUU.
Nielsen also expressed frustration with the state’s juvenile justice system.
“There’s only one juvenile center in Vermont, in Brattleboro,” he said. The state needed to do more to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, he added.
“I used to think we needed jails and prisons. But after hearing from experts, I agree we need to ‘retrain their brains’ rather than imprison them. There’s a downside to long prison sentences. It’s killing our system.”
Though Republicans are still in the minority in Montpelier, the Democrats’ loss of their supermajority has forced them to be more “thoughtful” with bills, said Nielsen. Nevertheless, Republicans’ ability to control the agenda is still limited.
“If we had the majority, I’d ask that all remote workers in state government come back to the office,” he said. “If you force them all to come back, a lot of them will quit. I have no problem with half of state employees quitting.”
He also noted that there are a lot of nonprofits and NGOs in Vermont seeking taxpayers dollars to perform the same services, and too often they end up receiving the money they asked for.
“These services should be more centralized,” he said. “We don’t need to give money to all these organizations doing the same work.”
Nielsen emphasized that he’s in it for Brandon and is using his new experience and knowledge to help better the community.
“I have a new mission,” he revealed. “I want to turn the old Boys & Girls Club on Rossiter Street into a nonprofit community center with a laundromat. I’m trying to get funding from the Vermont Community Loan Fund to get this going. It would not be owned or operated by the town. It would be a nonprofit. No taxpayer money would be used. We’d have a laundromat, which we really need, and the food pantry would move there. There’d be showers for people who need them. I’ve got meetings set up with town management.”
Now that he’s got his first session under his belt, Nielsen is looking forward to next year.
“It’s a tough job,” he said. “It takes a lot. Human Services is very demanding. For the first two months, I felt like I didn’t belong. Now I feel like I fit in.”
Alicia Malay (Pittsford-Proctor)
Representative Alicia Malay ran unopposed for her seat last November, having been endorsed by longtime GOP incumbent Butch Shaw. A moderate Republican, Malay had been Chair of the Pittsford Selectboard for several years and came to her new office with some knowledge and experience.
“I was surprised how inefficient the process was [in Montpelier],” said Malay in a recent phone conversation about her first legislative session. Compared to her experience on the Selectboard, where each meeting addresses items on a set agenda, Malay found the legislative process at the Statehouse to be a bit frustrating.
“We spent a lot of time in committee,” she said. “There was actually very little movement on bills. But people said this was an odd year because of the shakeup last November.”
According to Malay, the Democrats’ loss of their supermajority slowed down the process, as neither party could force through any bills without the help of the other side and the Democrats were worried about the Governor’s reclamation of his veto power.
“Not a lot of bills passed,” she said. “They were even concerned about having split votes coming out of committee. I was on Judiciary, which had six Democrats and five Republicans. I was surprised that we didn’t get more done, given that public safety was a big issue for voters in November.”
“We did pass a bill on sealing criminal records, which was a success for us,” Malay continued. “Instead of expunging records, sealing them allows someone’s record to be considered if they get in trouble again but they can’t be used against them in employment or housing. It’ll help people who stay out of trouble.”
One bill that did pass was H.454, the education reform bill that was put together in response to Governor Scott’s proposal to reduce the number of school districts in Vermont from 120 to 5 in order to curtail spending. Malay voted for it “to get the ball rolling,” even though she considered the bill less than perfect.
“At first, I wasn’t going to vote yes, because I believe in local control of school finance,” Malay explained. “But local control of school finance is kind of an illusion, since we pay school taxes to the state. The bill forms a committee that will draw on a lot of different people from education and government to decide the number of school districts the state will have. Nothing else will be done until that decision is made.”
As for the bill’s impact on Otter Valley, Malay said she thinks it’s large enough to survive consolidation, though smaller schools like Proctor and West Rutland might be affected differently. Malay also said she believed five districts would be too few.
“The bill didn’t address pre-K or Career and Technical Education,” she added. “There was an idea being discussed that maybe the number of districts would revolve around the 17 CTE centers in Vermont, so every district would have a CTE center. I thought that seemed like an interesting idea.”
Yet despite the drubbing they took in last year’s elections, Malay didn’t sense much urgency among Democrats to reduce spending in this session.
“I don’t think Democrats got the message in November,” she said. “The budget for next year is still very spendy. There are a lot of great programs, but can we afford them all?”
“The way things shook out in November should have been an eye-opener, but maybe they’re not hearing from their constituents,” Malay added. “The budget was reasonable enough for the Governor to sign, but it’s doubled over the last 15 years. That’s not realistic.”
Another inefficiency Malay perceived was in the number of nonprofits in Vermont that perform essentially the same services, echoing an observation made by her GOP colleague Rep. Todd Nielsen. Malay said she hadn’t discussed the issue with Nielsen but was not surprised they had both perceived the same problem.
“The first year was meeting a lot of people and learning how state government works,” she said. “It was very helpful to have a chance to learn the ropes. I tended to hang back a bit and observe and learn.”
“Everyone who goes to Montpelier thinks they’re going to solve all the problems right away,” she said. “But that’s not how the process actually works.” As a member of the minority party, and as a newbie as well, Malay’s influence over the legislative agenda is still minimal, but she believes she can still lower taxes for her constituents by finding grant opportunities for Pittsford and Proctor.
“I’m going to spend a lot of time before next session talking with people in Pittsford and Proctor to figure out what they need and want. I like constituent services and dealing with local issues.”
Malay does harbor some regrets about her first session, however.
“I wish I’d sponsored a bill just to learn that process,” she said. “I signed on to a bunch of bills and sponsored a resolution, but I wish I’d sponsored a bill and met with legislative counsel and learned that process.”
The resolution that Malay sponsored was HCR129, which commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Vermont Covered Bridge Society, an organization with particular significance to Malay.
“I love covered bridges and Pittsford has a lot of them,” she said. The town will celebrate their bridges in August, to coincide with Pittsford Day. Next year, Malay hopes to introduce legislation to fund measures to prevent tractor-trailers from damaging covered bridges, a not infrequent occurrence in Vermont.
Rep. Malay’s first session was a months-long lesson in the legislative process.
“I try to pay attention,” she said. “I want people to feel comfortable reaching out to me and asking for my help. After this year, I feel like I can hit the ground running next session.”
