Legislation

Statewide rental housing registry, gun control, bottle bill expansion, Art in State Buildings all survive House Crossover

By Guy Page

The following bills were voted out of House committees last week ahead of the Crossover deadline of adjournment Friday. 

These bills are among the many House bills now eligible to be passed out of the House and sent over to the Senate for consideration this year. Bills that did not pass Crossover may still be resurrected through various parliamentary means.

H. 476 tightens restrictions on domestic abuse committed by on-duty or off-duty law enforcement officers, including surrendering weapons if under a relief-from-abuse order.  

H. 31, the ‘Lake Bomoseen Bill’ introduced as a moratorium on the use of pesticides to control aquatic nuisances, passed the Environment and Energy Committee after it was amended to be a ‘study bill.” It creates an Aquatic Nuisance Control Study Committee to submit to the Vermont General Assembly recommendations regarding whether and when pesticides, chemicals other than pesticides, or biological  controls should be used to control aquatic nuisances in Vermont.

The Lake Bomoseen Association tried unsuccessfully to remove eurasian milfoil, a particularly virulent and noxious form of seaweed. Frustrated, it sought state permission to use pesticides. Pesticide opponents pushed back with H.31.

H. 102 The Art in State Buildings Program, allocates $75,000 to purchase art for state buildings and creates a per-diem advisory council to oversee its administration.

H. 158, revision of the Bottle Bill, increases recycling center fee from four cents to five cents, expands beverages to include teas and juices and others, and requires the beverage industry to set up and pay for the recycling system.  

H. 213 creates a study committee on mobile homes and mobile home parks, including converting to cooperative ownership. 

H. 222 titled “Reducing overdoses,” provides kiosks for opiate overdose treatment, studies needle exchange programs, and relaxes permitting for sober houses and does not require sobriety as a condition for living there. 

H. 230, “Implementing mechanisms to reduce suicide,” has had suicide-reduction aspects moved to other legislation, but does include (at least) the following gun control restrictions: 1) jailtime for allowing youth to access guns for lack of gun storage; 2) family members may seek extreme risk protection orders (not just the authorities); 3) 72 hour waiting period for transfer after buyer clears federal background check.

H. 276 Creating a rental housing registry and state housing inspectors; all rental housing owner identity and contact information, unit location, number of units, school tax info, and any other information deemed necessary will be collected by the State from municipalities and building owners. 

The list above does not include all of the bills voted out on the House Friday, nor any by the Senate. More information on Crossover survivors will be published all week long. 

Categories: Legislation

14 replies »

  1. Just say no to H230, as it will not accomplish any of the intended objectives, unless one of the objectives is to make our 2nd Amendment rights more onerous to exercise. JMO, but it strikes me as being disingenuous for a state which is presenting it’s self as a destination for those who wish to commit suicide through a “Death With Dignity” law, to institute a 72 hour waiting period for those who choose to commit suicide at their own hands. I guess it’s better for a Doctor to turn out the lights, than to do it yourself ?

  2. H 102; yea its only 75k but….creates a per-diem advisory council to oversee its administration
    more bureaucracy…which surely isnt included in the 75k

    • they CAN’T STOP thinking of ways to spend spend spend! WOO Must be fun to be that ignorant and apathetic to their fellow Vermonters…oops. I forgot most of them aren’t from here.

  3. I’d love to see exactly how many times someone bought a gun and killed themselves within three days, because I bet it’s wildly rare. I also highly doubt that waiting three days would prevent someone from committing suicide, if that were their intention. People don’t just spontaneously kill themselves. They plan. What’s a few more days? This law is either emotional nonsense, or just a disingenuous way to disarm Vermonters who might have a real need to protect themselves on short notice. Let’s say… a woman being threatened by an abuser, because otherwise no one would care. Disarming victims of domestic abuse? Someone needs to check in with all those Lady Representatives sponsoring this bill, and point out that it harms women.

    • One of my reps, Theresa Wood (D) mentioned the need for gun-control re: suicide prevention during our debate at ORCA Studio/Montpelier on Oct 11, ’22. So, she/they have been planning this all along…under guise of mental health. BTW: Theresa is a native Vermonter. It doesn’t seem to matter to her whether a bill is immoral or unconstitutional. People like her are more dangerous than outsiders, because they know the lay of the land and how to ‘snow’ her constituents.

  4. Converting trailer parks to “collective ownership”. Much as I despise the ruthless tactics of many trailer park owners, this amounts to confiscation of private property.
    This is unconstitutional.

  5. H102…how about you legislators purchase artwork to enjoy and not force Vermont taxpayers to subsidize artists? Another waste of money under the golden dumb.

  6. Has the Vermont legislature done anything positive FOR Working Vermonters and not just their personal agenda of social justice and equity?

  7. Seems $75,000 is a lot of investment for art in state buildings as the state is running a $7.6 Billion debt. Seems more frivolous than the funds wasted on seat cushions in the statehouse cafe. Gosh, if you all want to further waste the people’s money why not donate your personal expenditure funds allocated to you all.