By Michael Bielawski

This week lawmakers in the House may look at police interrogations, legalizing hard drugs, and more.  Agendas published weekly on the Legislature’s website are subject to change. The agenda for all the committees can be seen here.

Hard drug decriminalization? – H. 72 (Monday, House Committee on Human Services) Sponsored by Rep. Taylor Small, P/D-Winooski, and others.

Legislative Counsel Michele Childs will be on hand to talk about the latest proposal of amendment.

This bill would decriminalize at least certain amounts of certain hard drugs. It “proposes to eliminate criminal and civil penalties for operation of a safer drug consumption program; repeal the crack statute; repeal the sunset of the decriminalization of small amount of buprenorphine.”

In all 29 lawmakers are supporting this bill.

In addition, it creates new bureaucracy via the Drug Use Standards Advisory Board which would be part of the Vermont Sentencing Commission. This would be the body that would determine what constitutes “personal use dosage” for certain drugs.

It would also “require the Sentencing Commission to use benchmark recommendations from the Drug Use Standards Advisory Board to make recommendations regarding adjustments in the amounts for possession, dispensing, and sale of regulated drugs.”

Avian Flu the next big thing? (Thursday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry)

Dr. Kristin Haas, the State Veterinarian for the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the Assistant State Veterinarian Kaitlynn Levine will give an “Avian Flu and Cattle Update.”

Some media outlets are already hyping this bird flu to be the next big virus. Tasting Table, a media outlet for the food industry, wrote, “As bird flu infections continue and spread, experts are weighing in about severity of the outbreak and the potentially alarming paths H5N1 appears to be taking. Of particular concern are the multi-state reports of avian influenza showing up in dairy cattle, and whether the disease could spread to humans.”

$300 million EVERY YEAR for over two decades for school buildings?  – H. 871 (Tuesday, House Committee on Education) Sponsored by the House Committee on Education.

The bill highlights a state Agency of Education plan calling for $6 billion to upgrade decaying school buildings in the next two decades. This bill states, “The goal of a facilities master plan shall be to facilitate an evaluation of the capacity of existing facilities to deliver on identified 21st-century educational goals. A facilities master plan shall also enable and require supervisory unions to engage in intentional and robust conversations with the larger community that will hopefully lead to the successful passage of bonds needed to support the renovation or construction needs of the supervisory union.”

The School Construction Aid Taskforce report released earlier this year states, “The findings underscored urgent needs, with an estimated annual spending requirement of $300 million over 20 years to address facility deficiencies and create 21st-century learning environments.”

Prohibiting unserialized firearms? – S. 209 (Monday, House Committee on Judiciary) Sponsored by Sen. Richard Sears Jr., D-Bennington, and others.

This is for “prohibiting unserialized firearms and unserialized firearms frames and receivers.” It would establish “a process that permits Federal firearms dealers and licensees to print serial numbers on unserialized firearms and unserialized firearms frames and receivers.”

America1stFreedom.org is one of numerous Second Amendment outlets to point out that serialization can be a prelude to gun confiscation.

“But gun registration [or serialization] is very good for one thing—confiscation. And even more immediately, gun registration is ideal to bolster the quickly growing public persecution of gun owners,” their report states.

Both registration and serialization require revealing who gun owners are, a step necessary if confiscation were to be pursued.

Cannabis Update – (Wednesday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry)

Policy Director for Rural Vermont Graham Unangst-Rufehacht will speak. The Policy Director for NOFA VT Maddie Kempner will speak. Executive Director for the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance will speak. And Geoffrey Pizzutillo, the Executive Director and CoFounder of the Vermont Growers Association will speak.

Newser reports that states with legalized marijuana selling are still seeing lively black markets with connections to foreign mafias including from southern China.

Their report states, “They set up farms in states where marijuana cultivation is legal—the story focuses on Oklahoma in particular—and smuggle in Chinese immigrants from Mexico to work the high-security farms under abusive conditions. The pot is then sold across the US as the crime groups—generally known as “triads”—exploit gaps in state laws and steep taxes on the legal stuff in a lucrative and ‘massive black market.’”

Rewriting the rules for interrogations? – S. 285 (Tuesday, House Committee on Judiciary) Sponsored by Sen. Richard Sears Jr., D-Bennington.

This is “to prohibit the use of threats, physical harm, or deception in the tactics employed by a law enforcement officer or government agent during the custodial interrogation of a person under 20 years of age.”

It continues, “This bill also proposes that the Vermont Criminal Justice Council creates a model interrogation policy for all law enforcement agencies and constables with law enforcement powers to adopt and incorporate into training that is provided.”

Property Transfer Tax (Monday, House Committee on Ways and Means)

The real estate transfer tax in Vermont is currently 1.45% of the property’s value. Legislative Counsel Kirby Keeton and Fiscal Analyst Ted Barnett will speak with the committee.

Lists With Clever, a company for realtors and buyers, states, “Vermont’s current transfer tax rate is variable, ranging up to $1.45 per $100. For a house worth $381,042 — the median home price in the state — the transfer tax due will be $4,573.”

It continues, “The specifics on who pays the transfer tax in Vermont are sometimes up for negotiation, but usually the buyer is responsible.”

Farm First program (Friday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry)

Marc Adams, the Director of Invest EAP, and their Program Manager Leanne Porter and the Agricultural Development Division Director for the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Abbey Willard will speak.

According to Agriculture.Vermont.gov, “Farm First, is a Vermont-based program that tries to tackle issues that farm owners and their families might be facing, including but not limited to financial and family concerns, alcoholism, and illness. These services are free and confidential in order to best suit their needs.”

A report by the Associated Press in April suggested that Vermont’s agriculture industry is still recovering from last year’s flooding event.

“Hundreds of Vermont farms are still recovering from last July’s catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather as they head into this year’s growing season,” it states.

Vermont Way Foods (Friday, House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry)

Managing Director of Vermont Way Foods Matt Landi will speak. According to their website, this organization “is an initiative of The Vermont Food Hub Collaborative, which was formed to support Vermont farmers and promote food access in their communities. They aggregate, store, and distribute the bounty of Vermont so our farmers can farm and our makers can keep making great food.”

Vermont Public (VPR) wrote that grocery bills are going way up. A new documentary called “Ramen Day” alleges that many Vermonters are “food insecure”. Food insecurity does not mean running out of food, but it can mean being relegated to diets that are not as nutritious as people would like.

The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle