By Guy Page
This afternoon of Tuesday, April 13 will see several Vermont House Committees taking up high-profile, controversial bills.
House General, Housing, & Military Affairs will take testimony on H. 273, “promoting racial and social equity in land access and property ownership.”
The bill’s introduction says it “proposes to promote racial and social equity in land access and property ownership by creating grant programs, financial education, and other investments targeted to Vermonters who have historically suffered from discrimination and who have not had equal access to public or private economic benefits due to race, ethnicity, sex, geography, language preference, immigrant or citizen status, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, or disability status.”
Scheduled to testify are:
- Kenya Lazuli, Director, Everytown, VT
- Steffen Gillom, President, NAACP – Windham County
- Beverly Little Thunder, Lakota Elder and Co-founder, Kunsi Keya Tamakoce
- Chelsea Gazillo, New England Policy Manager, American Farmland Trust.
House Government Operations will take another stab at legislation “relating to the membership and duties of the Vermont Pension Investment Committee and the creation of the Pension Design and Funding Task Force.” A previous proposal was killed by Speaker Jill Krowinski after state employee and teachers’ unions objected.
House Energy and Technology will review S. 1, providing rate subsidies for the Ryegate biomass power station, H. 263, eliminating discrimination by the State’s automated decision systems, and H. 410, reestablishing the Artificial Intelligence Commission to “support the ethical use and development of artificial intelligence in the State.”
Corrections and Institutions will hear a Correctional Facilities Feasibility and Conceptual Design Study by HOK consultation group.
House Education will discuss S. 16, creation of the Task Force on School Exclusionary Discipline Reform. This bill, already passed by the Senate, would study why Black students are expelled and suspended at higher rates than non-Black students and recommend policies to keep these students in school.