By Michael Bielawski
The Crossover deadline is coming up quickly, that’s March 15 for policy bills and March 22 for bills requiring financing. Bills must be voted out of their original committee of jurisdiction by these dates or they will likely not see more attention for the legislative session.
Committees this week will look at decriminalizing “magic” mushrooms, allowing private meetings for a public group, having a standard policy for selecting library books, and more. Agendas published weekly on the Legislature’s website are subject to change.
Decriminalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms? – S. 114 (Friday, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare) Sponsored by Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and others.
This bill is to remove “criminal penalties for possessing, dispensing, or selling psilocybin and establishment of the Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group.”
Legislative counsel Michele Childs will be going over a markup of the bill.
Psilocybin is considered a hard hallucinogenic drug beyond the strength of marijuana. According to Brittanica, “Often called ‘magic mushrooms,’ psilocybin mushrooms produce two primary psychoactive compounds, psilocybin, and psilocin, which are responsible for their mind-altering effects.”
The right to repair – H. 81 (Thursday, Senate Committee on Agriculture) Sponsored by Rep. Anne Donahue, R-Northfield, and others.
This bill is for “fair repair of agricultural equipment.” On Wednesday lawmakers are taking a field trip to United Ag and Turf in Montpelier, where farm equipment is sold. Then Thursday, they get testimony from several agricultural equipment experts including the president of Champlain Valley Equipment Brian Carpenter, and others.
The text includes “do not impose on an owner or an independent repair provider any substantial obligation to use or any restriction on the use of the part to diagnose, maintain, or repair equipment sold, leased, or otherwise supplied by the original farm equipment manufacturer…”
Teens’ library book selections confidential from parents – S. 220 (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Appropriations) Sponsored by Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, and others.
This bill will deal with the controversial issue of which books will be allowed in children’s public libraries, among other initiatives. Its language includes that it will “require public libraries to adopt policies governing the selection and reconsideration of library materials.” It also allows children 12 and over to take out library books without their parents permission or knowledge.
Legislative counsel Tucker Anderson will go over the bill and there will possibly be a vote.
Lt. Governor David Zuckerman has been making headlines by traveling across the state and hosting “banned books” readings in various community libraries and bookstores. “These bans often target books that feature LGBTQ+ characters; talk about gender and sexuality; highlight racial disparities; or talk about difficult issues such as substance abuse and cases of police violence,” reads the description on the official Vermont website.
Vote on public meetings without a location – S. 55 (Wednesday, Senate Committee on Appropriations) Sponsored by Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, and others.
The bill would “amend the Open Meeting Law to authorize public bodies to meet through electronic means without designating a physical meeting location.”
Legislative counsel Tucker Anderson will go over the bill and then there will be a possible vote. The lawmakers have previously heard from local media leaders that this bill could violate Constitutional rules concerning people’s right to assemble at a physical location for public meetings.
Charging electric vehicles – S. 271 (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs) Sponsored by Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden-Central, and others.
Amy Demetrowitz who is the Chief Operating Officer for the Champlain Housing Trust and Bronwyn Cook, the Planning and Policy Manager for Commerce and Community Development, will speak.
It proposes “to establish right-to-charge laws to permit property owners and tenants to install electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE).”
EV charging continues to be a hot topic nationwide due to the cost of installing them, the sometimes lengthy charge times, their impact on the electric grids, and other concerns.
A liveable wage? – S. 246 (Wednesday, Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs) Sponsored by Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, and others.
This is “to amend the statute governing the biennial report on Vermont’s basic needs budget and livable wage.”
While the bill doesn’t put numbers to what constitutes a liveable wage, it does state that “This calculation may serve as an additional indicator of wage and other economic conditions in the State and shall not be considered official State guidance on wages or other forms of compensation.”
Cash is still needed – S. 175 (Thursday, Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs) Sponsored by Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, and others.
This bill is to require “retail businesses to accept cash.” It establishes a penalty too. It states, “A seller or lessor who offers goods or services to consumers shall not
refuse to accept cash as a method of payment unless the transaction exceeds $1,000.”
Legislature picks State Board of Education – S. 203 (Wednesday, Senate Committee on Education) Sponsored by Sen. Martine Larocque Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and others.
This bill states it would “create a new appointment process for State Board of Education members by allowing the Governor four appointments, the Senate Committee on Committees three appointments, and the Speaker of the House three appointments.”
This would be a substantial shift of power away from the governor. The current rule is “The Board consists of eleven members (nine voting members and two non-voting members) appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.” according to state policy.
Open Meeting Law exemption for Truth & Reconciliation Commission – H. 649 (Thursday, Senate Committee on Government Operations) Sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Burrows – D/P, West Windsor.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is asking that they get special treatment regarding public meeting rules, they want an exemption from the Open Meeting Law to be able to meet in private without public scrutiny.
Language in the bill calls for “to create certain exemptions from the Open Meeting Law for meetings of the Commission and to permit commissioners to confer with each other” among other initiatives.
The committee had already been advised earlier this year that this would undermine the public’s right to transparency for bodies that are considered the creation of an elected legislature.
Bypassing parental consent for vaccination – S. 151 (Wednesday, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare) Sponsored by Sen. Virginia “Ginny” Lyons, D-Chittenden.
The portion of this bill “relating to pay parity and transparency in health care” that continues to attract attention concerns where it states, “A minor 12 years of age or older may consent to medical care by a licensed physician related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted infection.”
Vermont Health Choice has been warning that this could include the Gardasil vaccine which is for STDs and has been associated with negative health side-effects.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
Categories: Legislation
I’m sensing a trend of Democrats and Progressives wanting to get kids to do things without their parents’ permission.
Ya think…??
Separating parents from their children…right out of the communist manifesto. Look around you…a majority of your neighbors voted for this.
Hallmark of communist society. Families are the largest resistance to their totalitarian, marxist rule so they pound the wedge deeper and deeper between parents and their kids. Nothing democratic about it.
That state employee that was skipping and frolicking around in the middle of route 25 in bradford with his pants down around his ankles was said to be on mushrooms.. Not a poster child for legalization.
Was this reported in an article somewhere?
What pedophiles in the state house came up with this garbage
The United Nations, World Health Organization and trans activists are responsible for this stuff: Gender theory and Gender Affirming Care.
They rewrote that word too….minor attracted people (MAP). According to queer theory, adults lusting after children is not only acceptable, it’s a marginalized group that should be celebrated.
Vermont is becoming a groomers paradise and that isn’t referring to mountain snow maintenance .
I find it interesting that Lt. Governor Zuckerman can read sexually explicit material aimed at children with impunity. When a representative in Utah attempted to read the same material aloud in the House chamber, he was shouted down and warned to clean it up or he’d be silenced. Any parent who reads the same material aloud at a school board meeting is shouted down and threatened to be silenced. Make no mistake people, predatory, sexually charged behavior toward childen is allowed by perverts and the guardians of perverts in charge – those who try to stop it are silenced and threatened. Pure evil.
So the books that Lt. Gov. Zuckerman is reading feature LGBTQ+ characters; talk about gender and sexuality; highlight racial disparities; or talk about difficult issues such as substance abuse and cases of police violence.
I just love it when “freedom loving” conservatives get hysterical and start demanding censorship of anything that makes them uncomfortable. Disagree with me and I’ll shout you down or silence you – yikes!
What part of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and/or sexual exploitation of a minor are you grappling with to understand? Keep personal bedroom follies and your internal bias out of children’s faces and minds. Only a fellow perverted predator approves such behavior toward a child or teen.
Mark, the books being disgusted. One in particular discusses sexuality explicit acts between children and multiple children, including how to strap on sexual apparatuses, use them and execute sexual actions on other children, with graphic images and sexual language.