By Michael Bielawski
Editor’s note: As a reminder that all legislation faces a long slog before safely becoming a law, news stories of recently-introduced bills may henceforth include images of one baby sea turtle; bills that have progressed into committee, two baby sea turtles; bills that have passed at least one of the two chambers in the Legislature, three baby sea turtles.
Senate bills and subjects under committee review this week include banning all sales of new, gas-powered cars, trying to get Vermont children reading proficiently again, and financing Vermont’s aging public infrastructure and more. Agendas published weekly on the Legislature’s website are subject to change.
A ban on gas-powered cars? (Friday, Senate Committee on Transportation) Megan O’Toole, the Climate Change Mitigation Program Manager for the Climate Action Office, of the Agency of Natural Resources is invited among others to speak.
The ‘Clean Car Rule’ is based on a policy started in California. According to The National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, it is “a new precedent with its newly minted Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) II rule approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in November 2022. The highlight of this new program is the requirement for 100% of new passenger vehicles sold in-state to be zero-emission by 2035.
Teaching children to read – S. 204 (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Education) Sponsored by Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and others. Ted Fisher who is Director of Communications and Legislative Affairs for the Agency of Education, and others will discuss the pressing issue of getting Vermont’s children proficient in reading again.
Political commentator Rob Roper wrote last year that Vermont’s children have done well in reading (and math) tests. “It’s a point hard to argue against, especially since the latest NEAP (a.k.a. the National Report Card) scores just came in showing dramatic declines in math and reading throughout the system.”
Restricting electronics in schools – S. 284 (Wednesday, House Committee on Education) Sen. Terry Williams, R-Rutland, and others are sponsors.
Dr. Mark Levine, M.D., Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Health will give his take on the notion of banning personal electronics and social media from schools.
Over the years major tech CEOs have admitted they either ban or strongly restrict the use of electronic screens for their children. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, tech billionaire Mark Cuban, and others are cited as examples.
Public meetings without a location? – S. 55 (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Government Operations) Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, and others are sponsors.
Lawmakers will continue to discuss “authorizing public bodies to meet electronically under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.” Scott Gillette who is Chair of the Hancock Selectboard and Chris Plumb who is Chair of the Andover Selectboard among others will speak.
Current Vermont Open Meeting Law states that boards must “require that the agenda designate a physical location where a member of the public can attend and participate in a meeting if a quorum or more members of a public body are attending remotely.”
Financing Public Infrastructure (Thursday, Senate Committee on Government Operations)
Ted Barnet who is Fiscal Analyst for the Joint Fiscal Office will talk about how municipalities can handle infrastructure costs.
Last year the American Society of Civil Engineers produced its 2023 Report Card for Vermont’s Infrastructure. It states, “Overall, Vermont’s infrastructure gets a ‘C’, the same as the 2019 report card. Progress is real, but challenges remain. Vermont has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country. Substantial maintenance backlogs have accrued in several areas as recent investment runs into new challenges such as inflation, shortage of a trained workforce, and a deficit of resiliency to withstand climate change.”
‘New Americans’ – S. 194 (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Government Operations) Sponsored by Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and others. Jay Greene who is the Racial Equity Policy & Research Analyst for the Office of Racial Equity will speak among others.
The essence of this bill is to look into providing new services and support for ‘New Americans’. The bill states that a newly created office will create, “a summary or survey of varying and successful approaches to providing government services to New Americans in other states, with particular focus on the topics of the role of education and training institutions, professional licensing, housing, and support for employers and municipalities.”
Decriminalizing hard hallucinogens? – S. 114 (Wednesday, Senate Committee on Health and Welfare) Sponsored by Sen. Martine Gulick, D-Chittenden Central, and others.
This bill deals with the “removal of criminal penalties for possessing, dispensing, or selling psilocybin and establishment of the Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group.”
Psilocybin is found in hallucinogenic mushrooms and is popular for recreational (and illicit) use as a stronger alternative to marijuana. Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research has suggested that there is more potential for medicinal uses.
Increased penalties for drug dealers – S. 58 (Thursday, Senate Committee on Judiciary) Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, is the lone sponsor.
This bill is an “act relating to increasing the penalties for subsequent offenses for trafficking and dispensing or sale of a regulated drug with death resulting.”
Overdose deaths have been climbing substantially over recent years, with 430 reported in 2023, 252 in 2022, 145 in 2021, and 100 in 2020, and much fewer still in the years prior.
Serializing all guns? – S. 209 (Friday, Senate Committee on Judiciary) Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, is a sponsor along with others.
This is “an act relating to prohibiting unserialized firearms and unserialized firearms frames and receivers, and to juvenile offenses in the Criminal Division.”
International firearms expert John Lott told the committee two weeks ago that there were no documented benefits of the serialization of guns to solve crimes but it could be used for future gun confiscations.
This time Henry Parro who is the owner of Parro’s Guns in Waterbury has been invited to speak.
Property Tax Bill (Tuesday, Senate Committee on Finance) Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, will talk about the next property tax bill. Currently, lawmakers have been advised that property taxes are forecasted to go up 20 percent.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: Legislation
i guess you should not have a vehicles identity number to find a stolen automobile/// all stolen firearms have a serial number/// if stolen and reported it should be in the database of stolen weapons/// who is checking this and are these stolen properties being returned to the owner///
is the state house parking lot half full of bicycles/// these clowns need to go home/// how many will leave very fast when you send in the drug dogs/// start in the parking lot and get there attention and watch how many look out the window///
“A ban on gas-powered cars.” If California decided that it was a good idea to place nuclear devices along the San Andreas Fault, and detonate them, sending California into the Pacific, our wackos in Vermont would say wait for us !
Where do we find these feckless fools, my God, the state is in disarray with debt, crime, drugs, and homelessness and this list of BS is prevalent ……………………..
Government jobs must mean you have no common sense, on why you were elected
or what your job description is, you know their names, and they need to go before they totally ruin the state !!
Martine Gulick seems great!
any thing dr. mark levine m. d. has to say, you have to question/// this was the u. v. m. model man for the covid kill shot/// how well has that worked out for you///
“Megan O’Toole, the Climate Change Mitigation Program Manager for the Climate Action Office, of the Agency of Natural Resources is invited among others to speak.”
Source Vermont Law School and Graduate School: “Megan earned her JD and MELP from Vermont Law School in 2009. Prior to starting at DEC, Megan worked as an Attorney-Advisor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of General Counsel Natural Resources Section where she assisted with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and related work of the multi-state and federal agency Trustee Council. Before joining NOAA, Megan was a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow with the U.S. Department of State, Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs. In law school, Megan interned for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and NOAA’s Office of General Counsel International Law Section. Megan worked part-time for the Environmental & Natural Resources Law Clinic during the Fall of 2008. While at the Environmental & Natural Resources Law Clinic, Megan worked with attorneys from the Conservation Law Foundation drafting briefs related to an appeal of a wastewater treatment facility’s NPDES permit before EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, and coordinated and reviewed FOIA requests made to support of the work of the Clinic.”
Source State of Vermont Human Resources: Salary $96,262.00 (reported January 2024)
Considering I watch the chemical sky dusting across the State and raw sewage emptying into Lake Champlain: Megan’s history of involvement in Federal level NGOs and Departments on her journey from the District of Corruption to a cushy seat in Montpelier making nearly $96K a year, makes me wonder if her allegience is with the Davos crowd and not Vermont citizens. What’s in her wallet or stock portfolio I wonder. Is she concerned her belgians are grazing on aluminum by-products?
Re: Teaching children to read.
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them”. – George Orwell