Montpelier
“It is important that Vermont’s first responders have the best service and access to an interoperable network that is expected to advance and adapt with new technology through the next 25 years,” Scott said in a statement issued by his office after a legislative committee meeting in which the panel was told of the decision.
“Vermont faced the choice of building its own network or using the federal solution,” the governor said. “After thoroughly considering the technological, financial and operational aspects of both options, I believe the federal plan will more quickly and sustainably provide our public safety community with the network it needs to continue its valuable service to Vermont.”
Vermont would have been eligible for up to $25 million in federal aid to build its own network with the vendor of its choice.
Scott’s announcement came a month ahead of the state’s deadline for making such a decision. It was announced to the House Energy and Technology Committee as the panel began a hearing at which it was expected to weigh whether to recommend that Vermont opt out of the plan drawn up by the federal FirstNet program and AT&T.
Committee members expressed surprise at the announcement, coming as it did before the deadline FirstNet and AT&T officials faced to answer detailed questions from Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Those questions followed a Nov. 1 hearing of a U.S. House subcommittee on the FirstNet plans, of which Welch is a member. Welch had said his goal was to provide the maximum available information to Scott and other state officials.
Rep. Stephen Carr, D-Brandon, who is chairman of the Vermont House energy committee, said he was among those surprised by the timing of the governor’s announcement. As to whether he would have preferred to wait for Welch’s questions to be answered, he said, “More information is always better.”
A lack of sufficient information has been a constant concern among critics of the FirstNet-AT&T plan. Members of the Vermont House committee continued to focus questions on Wednesday on the fact that the contract between FirstNet — a program of the U.S. Department of Commerce — and AT&T has never been made public, so state officials can’t be certain what they’re to get under the program.
Scott’s decision also came 13 days after a staff attorney with the Legislative Council, which provides legal research and analysis to the Legislature, questioned in a legal memo whether the governor can make the decision unilaterally. Scott’s announcement before that question was resolved was seen as setting up a possible separation-of-powers confrontation between the legislative and executive branches.
“There is no explicit delegation of decision-making power to the governor in either the Vermont statutes or the Constitution authorizing him to act unilaterally here,” wrote the legislative lawyer, Maria Royle, in her legal memorandum.
John Quinn, secretary of the Agency of Digital Services, who provided the legislative committee the news of the governor’s decision, said in an interview outside the meeting that FirstNet officials had urged a quick decision, saying AT&T would build more cellular towers in Vermont than planned, if the decision could be made by the end of November.