The Vermont House of Representatives held its first full, online floor session on Thursday, a legislative response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s need to stay apart while finding a way to pass legislation.
From homes across the state, 153 members of the House and a handful of staff, some of whom were in the Montpelier Statehouse, met electronically. A few lawmakers called in and weren’t visible online.
The session came after lawmakers held 14 committee practice sessions and many smaller online meetings since the House gave preliminary approval last month to a resolution authorizing the online sessions.
The first order of business was to formally adopt the online voting system, which under the rule governing the meetings required approval by three-quarters of the lawmakers online.
“This remote system for representing our constituents and meeting our constitutional responsibilities is clearly flawed,” Rep. Anne Donahue, a Northfield Republican. “I cannot pretend that I feel able to function in the way I would normally consider to be necessary to meet those duties.”
Despite her misgivings, Donahue was a vocal supporter of the idea.
“To the extent that we are meeting crucial needs of the people of Vermont, however, working under an impaired system is as necessary as it is for our health care system to postpone ordinary services in order to respond to urgent needs,” she said.
The rule was approved unanimously by a roll-call vote in which members responded after their names were called. Members who called in by telephone rather than video had to identify themselves and give their votes in a complete sentence.
Among the first pieces of legislation that was approved by the House was a bill, already passed by the Senate, that makes it possible to approve wills remotely during the emergency.
Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, said current Vermont law requires that wills must be authorized in person, which is contrary to Vermont’s pandemic requirements that people stay apart.
Grad said probate attorneys are saying that many elderly Vermonters who don’t have wills or want to update them would like to do so without endangering themselves.
“They feel particularly vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic,” Grad said. “However, many are reluctant to travel or be in the same room as other people during the pandemic.”
The bill allows such wills to be approved electronically. The proposal also passed unanimously.