By Guy Page
Bills released today for introduction into the Vermont House would:
Make heroin and fentanyl ‘personal use’ drug possession a misdemeanor (H505). Lead sponsor House Judiciary Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown) would allow defendants charged with felony possession to claim the drugs are for personal use only. If they can convince the court, the sentence would be downgraded to a Class B misdemeanor.
Impose a 5% annual gross receipts tax on cannabis wholesalers (H502). Sponsored by Rep. Dan Noyes (D-Wolcott), it would leave the retail excise tax intact, and would add a 5% tax on the annual gross receipts of all cannabis wholesalers.
Protect health care providers’ rights of conscience (H497). The proposed passage of Proposal 5, making all abortions an absolute constitutional right, would place in legal peril health providers whose consciences forbid them from participating in abortions. The bill creates a Health Care Freedom of Conscience Act to protect the conscience rights of health care providers and health care institutions against forced participation in abortion, artificial birth control, sterilization, artificial insemination, assisted reproduction, human embryonic stem-cell research, fetal experimentation, human cloning, physician-assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Rep. Anne Donahue (R-Northfield) is lead sponsor, others include Lisa Hango (R-Franklin),
Mark Higley (R-Lowell), Marcia Martel (R-Waterford), and Carl Rosenquist (R-Georgia).
| H.510 | An act relating to creating a Vermont child tax credit |
| H.509 | An act relating to Act 250 jurisdiction in one-acre towns |
| H.508 | An act relating to refunding property tax overpayments by the City of Barre |
| H.507 | An act relating to certain civil process fees of sheriffs’ departments |
| H.506 | An act relating to preserving the rights of a parent with a disability |
| H.505 | An act relating to reclassification of penalties for unlawfully possessing, dispensing, and selling a regulated drug |
| H.504 | An act relating to the reorganization, enhancement, and enforcement of animal welfare requirements in the State |
| H.503 | An act relating to regulating the use of wake boats on State waters |
| H.502 | An act relating to the cannabis wholesale gross receipts tax |
| H.501 | An act relating to physical contaminant standards for residual waste, digestate, and soil amendments |
| H.500 | An act relating to prohibiting the sale of mercury lamps in the State |
| H.499 | An act relating to the use of sluice boxes for recreational mineral prospecting |
| H.498 | An act relating to the Green Mountain Care Board’s duties and reappointment processes |
| H.497 | An act relating to protecting health care providers’ rights of conscience |
| H.496 | An act relating to establishing an extended producer responsibility program for out-of-service solar panels |
| H.495 | An act relating to prohibiting the sale of mercury-containing lamps |
| H.494 | An act relating to workforce development |
| H.493 | An act relating to withdrawal from a unified union or union school district and to electoral functions of a union school district where a member district is also a union school district |
| H.492 | An act relating to the structure of the Natural Resources Board |
| H.491 | An act relating to the creation of the City of Essex Junction and the adoption of the City charter |
| H.490 | An act relating to elections and holding elected office |
| H.489 | An act relating to miscellaneous provisions affecting health insurance regulation |
| H.488 | An act relating to the authority of the Commissioner of Corrections to collect supervisory fees |
| H.487 | An act relating to a secure facility for justice-involved youth |
| H.486 | An act relating to health insurance coverage for newborns |
| H.485 | An act relating to extending Medicaid postpartum benefits |
| H.484 | An act relating to regulating health care expense-sharing arrangements |
| H.483 | An act relating to potential new models of funding and governance structures to improve the quality, duration, and access to career technical education in Vermont |
| H.482 | An act relating to the Petroleum Cleanup Fund |
| H.481 | An act relating to prohibiting mobile billboards |
| H.480 | An act relating to adopting COVID-19 test to stay guidance for child care facilities |
| H.479 | An act relating to portable benefits for intermediary workers |
| H.478 | An act relating to reinstatement of an operator’s license after a lifetime suspension or revocation |
| H.477 | An act relating to leave for crime victims |
| H.476 | An act relating to State-paid sheriff’s deputies |
| H.475 | An act relating to the classification system for criminal offenses |
| H.474 | An act relating to exempting common law ways of necessity from the Marketable Record Title Act |
| H.473 | An act relating to defense of others and justifiable homicide |
| H.472 | An act relating to establishing the Vermont Nursing Scholarship Program |
| H.471 | An act relating to entering a vehicle without legal authority or consent |
| H.470 | An act relating to referral of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking cases to community justice centers |
| H.469 | An act relating to creditable service for temporary State employment |
| H.468 | An act relating to establishing a remote learning pilot program for CTE students |
| H.467 | An act relating to extending the baseload renewable power portfolio requirement |
| H.466 | An act relating to surface water withdrawals and interbasin transfers |
| H.465 | An act relating to boards and commissions |
| H.464 | An act relating to the medical review process in the Reach Up program and Postsecondary Education Program eligibility |
| H.463 | An act relating to the Working Group to Address the Presence of Toxigenic Mold in Buildings |
| H.462 | An act relating to miscellaneous Department of Health programs |
| H.461 | An act relating to excluding the income of asylum seekers and refugees from household income |