By Guy Page

Published below: the Friday, March 12 Journal of the House of the Vermont House of Representatives, edited, abbreviated, and faithfully translated from the original Parliamentary. 

Bills introduced

H. 428, sponsored by Committee on Judiciary, hate-motivated crimes and misconduct.

H. 429, sponsored by Reps. Gannon of Wilmington and Ode of Burlington, establishing an advisory group to address bias in State-used software; sent to Committee on Energy and Technology.

Committee relieved of bill 

Natural Resources, Fish, and Wildlife was relieved of H306, developing a State Planning Office. Sent to Government Operations.

Bills pass the House, sent to Senate 

H. 133, court-ordered relinquishment [forced seizure] of firearms as part of emergency relief-from-abuse orders, passed 102-44, sent to Senate. (House needs only 100 votes to override any potential veto by governor.)

Those who voted yes are:

Ancel of Calais

Anthony of Barre City

Arrison of Weathersfield

Austin of Colchester *

Bartholomew of Hartland

Beck of St. Johnsbury

Birong of Vergennes

Black of Essex

Bluemle of Burlington

Bock of Chester

Bongartz of Manchester

Bos-Lun of Westminster

Brady of Williston

Briglin of Thetford

Brown of Richmond

Brumsted of Shelburne

Burke of Brattleboro

Burrows of West Windsor

Campbell of St. Johnsbury

Chase of Colchester

Cina of Burlington

Coffey of Guilford

Colburn of Burlington

Colston of Winooski

Conlon of Cornwall

Copeland Hanzas of

Bradford

Corcoran of Bennington

Cordes of Lincoln

Dolan of Essex

Dolan of Waitsfield

Donahue of Northfield

Donnally of Hyde Park

Durfee of Shaftsbury

Elder of Starksboro

Emmons of Springfield

Gannon of Wilmington

Goldman of Rockingham

Grad of Moretown

Hooper of Montpelier

Hooper of Burlington

Houghton of Essex

Howard of Rutland City

James of Manchester

Jerome of Brandon

Jessup of Middlesex

Killacky of South Burlington

Kimbell of Woodstock

Kitzmiller of Montpelier

Kornheiser of Brattleboro

LaLonde of South

Burlington

Lanpher of Vergennes

Lefebvre of Newark

Lippert of Hinesburg

Long of Newfane

Masland of Thetford

McCarthy of St. Albans City

McCormack of Burlington

McCullough of Williston

Morris of Springfield

Mrowicki of Putney

Mulvaney-Stanak of

Burlington

Murphy of Fairfax

Nicoll of Ludlow

Nigro of Bennington

Notte of Rutland City

Noyes of Wolcott

O’Brien of Tunbridge

Ode of Burlington

Pajala of Londonderry

Partridge of Windham

Patt of Worcester

Pearl of Danville

Pugh of South Burlington

Rachelson of Burlington

Redmond of Essex

Rogers of Waterville

Satcowitz of Randolph

Scheu of Middlebury

Scheuermann of Stowe

Sheldon of Middlebury

Sibilia of Dover

Sims of Craftsbury

Small of Winooski

Squirrell of Underhill

Stebbins of Burlington

Stevens of Waterbury

Sullivan of Dorset

Surprenant of Barnard

Taylor of Colchester

Till of Jericho

Townsend of South

Burlington

Troiano of Stannard

Vyhovsky of Essex *

Walz of Barre City

Webb of Shelburne

White of Bethel

White of Hartford

Whitman of Bennington

Williams of Granby

Wood of Waterbury

Yacovone of Morristown

Yantachka of Charlotte

Those who voted no are:

Achey of Middletown

Springs

Batchelor of Derby

Brennan of Colchester

Brownell of Pownal

Harrison of Chittenden

Helm of Fair Haven

Higley of Lowell

LaClair of Barre Town

Lefebvre of Orange

Norris of Shoreham

Page of Newport City

Palasik of Milton

Parsons of Newbury

Peterson of Clarendon

Burditt of West Rutland

Canfield of Fair Haven

Cupoli of Rutland City

Dickinson of St. Albans

Town

Fagan of Rutland City

Feltus of Lyndon

Goslant of Northfield

Graham of Williamstown

Gregoire of Fairfield

Hango of Berkshire

Leffler of Enosburgh

Marcotte of Coventry

Martel of Waterford

Martin of Franklin

Mattos of Milton

McCoy of Poultney

McFaun of Barre Town

Morgan, L. of Milton

Morgan, M. of Milton

Morrissey of Bennington

Norris of Sheldon

Rosenquist of Georgia

Savage of Swanton

Seymour of Sutton

Shaw of Pittsford

Smith of Derby

Smith of New Haven

Strong of Albany

Terenzini of Rutland Town

Toof of St. Albans Town

Rep. Austin of Colchester explained her vote as follows:

“In August 2006 I was at the Essex Middle School preparing for the opening day of school the next day. An announcement came over the intercom that the District was in lockdown – this was not a drill. Later I learned that my friend and colleague Alicia Shanks was randomly shot and killed by a jilted lover in search of his girlfriend at the Essex Perhaps if this relief from abuse order had been in effect back then Alicia would be alive today.”

Rep. Vyhovsky of Essex explained her vote as follows:

“As a gun owner myself and a person who grew up in a family of hunters, I respect the tradition of gun ownership and sportsmanship in Vermont. I am struck today by the one-sided argument that we must protect the right to wield a weapon at all costs with no regard given to the constitutional right to life. This is a relief from abuse bill that not only does not fundamentally change what is already allowable and common practice, it is also temporary and thus not an issue of rights but a temporary inconvenience to protect the constitutional right to life. I believe based on the statistics that it will save the lives of those who have been abused and terrorized and therefore I vote yes.”

H420, miscellaneous agricultural subjects

H421, animal cruelty investigation response and training

Action Postponed

H87, establishing a classification system for criminal offenses, postponed until March 17.

Adjourned