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For the week ending January 10, 2003
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Week in Review Ceremonial activities dominated this week as newly elected members of the House and Senate returned to Montpelier to kick off a new biennium. Governor Douglas, the state’s Constitutional officers and the members of the General Assembly were sworn into office and Governor Douglas gave his inaugural address. The Governor’s speech stressed economic development and contained only a passing reference to making health care more affordable in Vermont. As expected, Rep. Walter Freed, R-Dorset, comfortably won a second term as House Speaker by an 82-68 vote in the tightly split House. Senator Peter Welch, D-Windsor, unanimously won the post of Senate Pro Tem in a Senate dominated by a 19-11 Democratic majority. Committee assignments in both the House and the Senate were released Friday. Of particular significance to hospitals are the House and Senate Health and Welfare Committees. The members of those committees are listed below. Sen. Jim Leddy, retired executive director of the Howard Center for Human Services, will chair the Senate committee, while Rep. Tom Koch, a lawyer, will return as chair of the House committee. With a split government, bipartisan cooperation is necessary to get anything accomplished. Signs were not good on the House side that such a spirit exists. Some House Democrats had bad feelings about the committee assignments, with some alleging they were punished for supporting Burlington Representative John Tracy as the Democratic candidate for Speaker. Hope for progress on key issues therefore will depend on a positive relationship developing between Speaker Freed and Senate President Pro Tem Welch. No key health care bills were introduced this week. However, numerous bills aimed at hospital governance are being drafted. We also learned that Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, is interested in working on nursing workforce issues contained in the Final Report of the Blue Ribbon Nursing Commission. Committee priorities will become clearer next week after the committees meet and begin work. Budget issues are always a priority for VAHHS because of the role of the Vermont Medicaid program as a payer for hospital services. The size of the challenge this year will not be known until January 23rd, when Governor Douglas is scheduled to deliver his budget address to the General Assembly and details of the administration’s budget proposal become known. There is no doubt, however, that the cost shift to commercial payers due to under funding of the Medicaid program will continue to be an issue. SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH & WELFARE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH & WELFARE
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