Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Vermont Bar Journal, Summer 2019 | Page 5

by Therese M. Corsones, Esq.
FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
VBA Advocacy at the Statehouse
The Summer Edition of the VBA Journal
typically includes a legislative overview of
the bills that became law during the last
legislative session that affect the courts
and the bar. You can find this year’s legis-
lative overview in the What’s New depart-
ment of this issue. Early returns from our
VBA Membership Survey (there’s still time
to take it if you haven’t already!) show
VBA advocacy as one of the highest val-
ued benefits that the VBA offers its mem-
bers. I thought it might be helpful to ex-
plain what VBA advocacy involves. Given
that the 2019 session was Bob Paolini’s last
as the VBA Government Relations Coordi-
nator, I wanted to take this opportunity to
thank Bob for all that he’s done to make
VBA advocacy in the legislature the strong
force that it is today.
The work starts in the fall, when section
chairs are asked to identify any legislation
that they would like to see brought be-
fore the Legislature. Examples include any-
thing from minor revisions to statutes that
are ambiguous or inconsistent with other
statutes, to full scale overhauls of areas of
the law that might need modernizing. The
most recent example was the probate bill
intending to update and modernize Ver-
mont’s decades-old laws on trusts and es-
tates. Sponsors are identified, depend-
ing on what committee would likely be as-
signed the bill given its subject matter and
Legislative Counsel is contacted to assist
with the drafting. Section members willing
to testify about the bill are enlisted so they
are “on call” when the committee sched-
ules time for the bill to be taken up. We also
reach out to the committee chair to gauge
when testimony would best be scheduled.
Since the Legislature can change every two
years (sometimes significantly – there were
40 new members in 2019) identifying spon-
sors and key committee chairs is an ever-
changing challenge.
For the past three years the VBA has
jointly organized with the judiciary a “Leg-
islators Day” in each of the 14 counties in
the fall. During the Legislators Days, all
of the county legislators are invited to sit
in on court hearings for whichever dock-
et most interests them. They’re also invit-
ed to a luncheon, attended by the judicial
officers in the county, and “bar ambassa-
dors” representing each of the dockets, to
give legislators a chance to ask questions
about what they observed in the hearings.
It’s an excellent opportunity to discuss
challenges in the courts and legal system,
www.vtbar.org
and the resources available locally to meet
those challenges. The Legislators Days are
a great way for legislators to see first-hand
how the courts and the legal system are im-
pacting their constituents, and for the VBA
to forge connections with legislators.
Once the legislative session starts, we
check the new bills introduced daily, and
alert affected sections about any bills that
might impact a specific legal field. Thanks
to the relationships that have been cultivat-
ed with many committee chairs, the chairs
may also alert the VBA of bills that are be-
ing introduced in their committees and
may seek testimony about ramifications of
the bills. In those instances, we notify the
sections and typically the section chair or
others in the section are very generous in
their willingness to testify when asked.
During the session, we continue our out-
reach efforts to all legislators through a
legislators’ reception in mid-January, when
all legislators, section chairs, bar ambassa-
dors and VBA Board members are invited
to a late afternoon social hour in the Cedar
Creek Room, and a legislators’ breakfast
in mid-March, when the same groups are
invited to coffee, donuts and apple bread
pudding (nine trays’ worth last March) in
the statehouse cafeteria.
Except for Town Meeting Day week in
March, when legislators take the week off
to attend Town Meeting Day events in their
home districts, we check the weekly House
and Senate calendars for progress on bills
that we’ve introduced, or bills that we’re
following. If one of those bills is scheduled
for testimony, we check with the commit-
tee chairs to see if additional testimony is
needed and check with affected section
chairs to see if testimony is requested. The
goal is to make sure that committee mem-
bers have as much information as possible
about the proposed legislation before they
cast their votes.
Other work involves seeking out and
meeting with legislators outside of the
committee rooms, to answer questions and
to get information about specific bills, es-
pecially ones that we’ve proposed, to best
facilitate their passage. Some bills are eas-
ier than others to see through the process.
And oftentimes the legislative work con-
tinues through the summer months. Such
work includes either summer study groups
or task forces that include a VBA appointee;
this summer VBA appointee Jeffrey Nolan
will work on a “Task Force on Campus Sex-
ual Harm” that was created during the last
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SUMMER 2019
session. Informal working groups also col-
laborate on particular issues during the
summer months. For example, this summer
a working group including members of the
bar, bankers, realtors, and municipal clerks
and treasurers are meeting to identify best
practices in town clerk recording practices.
The same group of stakeholders worked
together to bring about the “best practic-
es” recently codified in Act 38.
With respect to the VBA taking a posi-
tion on a bill, there’s a “Legislative Advo-
cacy Policy” that Bob Paolini recommend-
ed to section chairs in 2002 still followed
today. It provides that the VBA Board will
take one of four positions regarding Board
support of specific legislation: support, op-
pose, information only, or no position. Be-
fore taking a position, the Board is asked
to answer three questions about the pro-
posed bill: Does the bill affect the courts,
the practice of law or the administration of
justice? Is the subject matter of general in-
terest to the members of the Bar? Would
there be a general consensus among the
Board supporting the position of the Asso-
ciation? If the answer to each question is
yes, the Board can take a position on a bill -
to support, oppose, offer information only
on the bill, or take no official position.
When Bob Paolini became Executive Di-
rector of the Vermont Bar Association in
1996, he was a natural fit for legislative ad-
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