By Michael Bielawski

This week lawmakers in the House will continue work on ‘ghost guns’ and gun serialization, a public hearing on collective bargaining added to the state constitution, and more.  Agendas published weekly on the Legislature’s website are subject to change. The agenda for all the committees can be seen here.

Vote on serializing all guns? S. 209 (Tuesday, House Committee on Judiciary) Sponsored by Sen. Richard Sears Jr., D-Bennington, and others.

The bill would prohibit “unserialized firearms and unserialized firearms frames and receivers.” There will possibly be a vote.

John Lott Jr., an economist, political commentator, and gun rights advocate, has informed the committee that the only initiative serialization tangibly serves is as a precursor for gun confiscation.

He gave House lawmakers examples of police departments across the nation that committed much time and resources into serialization without any benefit towards solving crimes.

Public meetings without a public space? S. 55 (Thursday, House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs) Sponsored by Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, and others.

This bill would authorize “public bodies to meet electronically under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.” Kate Larose, the Pandemic Equity Coordinator for the Vermont Center for Independent Living is invited to speak.

Larose has recently argued favorably to continue the trend of embracing online meetings. It’s unclear if Larose will argue for or against not having the option to meet in person, as currently required by open meeting laws.

Maple industry challenged by rough economy – (Wednesday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry)

Allison Hope, the executive director for the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, will speak. According to FarmingInsider.com, “Vermont’s maple syrup industry is a significant part of the state’s economy. With over 1,500 maple syrup producers … The industry employs innovative techniques such as tubing systems and vacuum pumps, enhancing efficiency and sustainability.”

One concern for the industry is its sensitivity to economic trends. FarmCreditEast.com states, “An extended period of inflation has increased the cost of living across the U.S. and consumers are becoming more cost-conscious with food shopping. While the maple industry has many loyal pure-maple consumers, it becomes more difficult to recruit new users and wholesale buyers to the high-quality and high-cost maple sweetener.”

Pet shops working with shelters – H. 567 (Tuesday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry) Sponsored by Rep. Emilie Krasnow, D-South Burlington.

This bill deals with the sale of “dogs, cats, and wolf-hybrids” by pet shops.

It seeks to “prohibit a pet shop in the State from selling dogs, cats, or wolf-hybrids, unless the pet shop is providing space to an animal shelter or a rescue organization offering dogs, cats, or wolf-hybrids to the public for adoption for an adoption fee or the pet shop was selling dogs, cats, or wolf-hybrids prior to July 1, 2024, and the pet shop maintains its ownership and license and does not exceed the number of dogs, cats, or wolf-hybrids sold prior in calendar year 2023.”

Huge economic boost from eclipse (Wednesday, House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development)

Heather Pelham, Commissioner from the Department of Tourism & Marketing will speak with lawmakers about all the visitors and economic activity that the solar eclipse on April 8 brought in.

Steve Wright, the owner of the Jay Peak resort, told CBS News last week that the impact on his business was massive.

CBS reported, “All of Jay Peak’s 900 rooms have been fully booked for April 7 — at a cost of about $500 per night — for a year and a half. By comparison, the resort had roughly 80 bookings on the same day last year. Roughly 800 rooms are booked for April 8, the day of the eclipse.”

Money for damaged dams? – S. 213 (Tuesday, House Committee on Environment and Energy) Sponsored by Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, and others.

This deals with new rules for managing wetlands, river corridor development, and dam safety. Legislative counsel Michael O’Grady will speak and there may be a vote.

This bill would “amend the Unsafe Dam Revolving Fund to be the Dam Safety Revolving Fund to provide loans for emergency and nonemergency funding of dam repair.”

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’s 2023 report card on Vermont’s infrastructure, the state gets a ‘C’ grade for the status of its dams.

The report states, “Vermont’s 1,115 dams serve a variety of purposes, including recreation, flood-control, and hydropower. 6% of Vermont dams are high hazard – if they fail loss of life is probable, as are damages to property and the environment. In the past four years, dam inspections went up 30% and the number of Vermont’s dams known to be in poor condition dropped from 40% to 31%. Two dams experienced partial failure in the past four years.”

A separate initiative in this bill deals with wetland management and a new “net gain” policy which means for every portion of wetland disturbed by development a greater area must be restored.

More public money for climate mitigation – S. 259 (Wednesday, House Committee on Education) Sponsored by Sen. Anne Watson, D-Washington County, and others.

This deals with “climate change cost recovery.” This ‘retroactive carbon tax’ would ask that past energy companies pay for actions they’ve already taken, specifically paying for carbon emissions between Jan. 1, 2000, and Dec. 31, 2019. Ben Edgerly Walsh, the Climate & Energy Program Director for the Vermont Public Interest and Research Group, is among three who are invited to speak.

The funds would then be taken by the state and used for climate-related projects. It states, “Any cost recovery payments received by the Agency would be deposited into the Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund to provide funding for climate change adaptive or resilience infrastructure projects in the State.”

Stripping Fish and Wildlife Board of its powers – S. 258 (Wednesday, House Committee on Education) Sponsored by Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, and others.

This would “transfer the authority to adopt rules for the taking of fish, wildlife, and fur-bearing animals from the Fish and Wildlife Board to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.” At least 12 speakers have been invited to speak.

The Board and lawmakers in the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) exchanged harsh criticisms of each other. Board member Michael Kolsun expressed his frustrations in the comments of a VDC story.

He wrote, “To then be accused of not caring, not listening, and not including their ideas is deeply offensive. EVERY courtesy was extended, and the animal welfare ideas that were suggested were all about banning the ethical pursuit of harvest.”

Divestment from carbon fuels – S. 42 (Tuesday, House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs) Sponsored by Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, and others.

In all, there are eight speakers invited. One of them is Roger Dumas, chair of the Vermont State Employees Retirement System Board. The idea is that the state’s investments in retirement funds for various state employees be completely divested from carbon-based fuels by 2030.

Fox News has reported that the true costs of divestment are high and they are put on economically vulnerable populations.

Their report states, “The costs of divestment do not occur in a vacuum. When a university or pension fund takes that action, the fund must reduce either current or future spending or payouts, or find another source of cash to offset the costs. In other words, divestment effectively transfers wealth to the financial sector, and leaves the costs to be borne by students, faculty, or pensioners.”

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle