Legislation

16-17 marriage ban, universal meals, license suspension for non-payment go to House floor

Vermont House of Representatives in session last week

By Guy Page

Bills prohibiting teens age 16-17 to marry, requiring public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge, and eliminating license suspension as a punishment for non-payment of traffic fines cleared their respective House committees last week and will go to the full House this week.

H. 148, prohibiting any marriage of 16 and 17 year olds, was voted out of House Judiciary unanimously last week and will go to the House floor this week. 

The bill removes the parental consent clause for 16 and 17 year-olds to marry. Instead, it prohibits all marriages under 18. Critics of teen marriage say children must be legally protected from consequences of abuse, economic privation, and divorce. Some critics liken under-age marriage to child sexual assault. 

H165, voted out 9-2 of the Committee for Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry, would require all public schools in Vermont to make available school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. 

It also allows approved independent schools to provide school breakfast and lunch at no charge to students attending on public tuition if the approved independent school participates in federal food programs. The cost of these school meals that is not reimbursed through federal or State funds or other sources would be paid for by an appropriation to the Agency of Education out of the Education Fund. 

H53, eliminating suspension of a driver’s license based on nonpayment of civil penalties for moving violations, was approved by House Ways & Means last week and will go to the full House this week. State statistics show that 5500 licenses were suspended last year for non-payment of moving violation fines, up from the previous year but far below the 11,000 high of 2016.

Categories: Legislation

12 replies »

  1. We are living in a Bernie Sanders Socialist/Communist era. We soon will all be slaves of the government

    • Only if we stay in Vermont. As a third generation Vermonter, it saddens me that moving to a real Conservative state that abides by, and supports the U.S. Constitution is my only resort for not selling myself into slavery.

  2. We are living in a Socialist/Communist era. Soon we will all be slaves of the government.

  3. Can’t wait to see how many more dangerous high speed violators we’ll see on the Interstate. I get not suspending licenses for parking tickets, or unpaid child support, but moving violations? Seems unsafe, given that we see over 100 mph arrests nigh weekly these days. But then, that seems right in line with letting violent criminals go free, while threatening to punish law abiding citizens for not disarming themselves against home invasion by keeping their guns inaccessibly locked away.

    Just more anarcho-tyranny, folks, from the usual leftists.

  4. cannot support free meals for all students courtesy of Vermont taxpayers. part of life is being responsible for yourself and your family. can understand helping needy but

    • I totally agree Russell. Having spent time helping with lunch time in my local elementary school, I predict there will be a lot of wasted food because a lot of kids are fussy eaters. I have a question. Will students be allowed to bring their own (preferred) lunches? I ALSO agree with providing meals for the needy ones. I could go on and on.

  5. Suspending licenses for non payment of anything is stupid. driving is needed to ern money to pay anything.

  6. 16 and 17 yo people can have body parts added or removed because they FEEL like another gender. But don’t you dare get married.

  7. Not suspending licenses probably won’t pass, but it would put a limit on towns that set up speed traps. And there aren’t many places in VT where can go much over the speed limit anyway, except I-91 and I-89.

    Mostly the tickets are used for revenue, and people are punished anyway by the insurance companies. Some states like Georgia have laws that say local police cannot ticket someone until they are going more then 10 mph over the posted limit. They leave it to the state police for tickets of 7 or 8 mph over.

  8. I know this comment will bring a lot of opposition, but I maintain there is a huge number of people currently on the roads that shouldn’t be, regardless of how fast/slow they are driving. There are also those able to be focused and drive well over the “limits”. Automatic transmissions, lane departure (and other similar technologies) along with mobile phones has created the most unengaged driving population ever! I would love to see an express lane (or two) (think autobahn) that would require separate registration, licensure and training that would allow for higher speeds parallel to the the existing interstate roads. New jobs, (to build), extra revenue (registration/tolls) and better commuting experience for those able to demonstrate their ability.

  9. Does anyone see the irony in preventing people who are 16 -17 years of age from getting married, even with parental permission, while a child of 10 can be provided “transitioning” drugs without parental permission or even knowledge. Doesn’t anyone see anything wrong with this?