By Guy Page
It’s Tuesday morning, and Vermont’s lawmakers are all back from their Town Meeting break and bracing for Crossover Week, when bills (with a few exceptions) must be voted out of committee in order to proceed to passage this year. Here are just a handful of developments as of this morning.
Education Committee to seek extension on Act 73 implementation? – Chris Taylor (R-Milton), vice chair of House Education, says the Act 73 implementation bill will be voted out this week – or next week, if an extension is granted. Likely language on size and number of school districts and other legislative language passed by lawmakers last year? “It’s all up in the air,” Taylor said.
Burtt Amendment amendment on vax bill rejected – House Human Services this morning voted against the Burtt amendment to H.545, the immunization bill rejecting federal vaccine guidelines. The amendment would have required more informed consent for parents about children’s vaccination. “Great discussion, what came out is that people need more information,” Amy Hornblas said. “Maybe this is part of the broader issue, that patients aren’t getting information they need.”
Town Meeting fallout – Rep. Brenda Steady lost her bid to re-election to the Milton selectboard. Her successful challenger has only been involved in Milton civic affairs for less than a year, and spent $6000 compared to Steady’s $350. Also, the small towns of Windham and Baltimore both passed a vote of no confidence in the state school funding system, their House Rep. Tom Charlton told VDC this morning.
Anti-trapping rodent poison bill downgraded – Project Coyote has diminished its expectations for banning rodent poison and baiting in the wild. The bill is opposed by trappers who sometimes use bait to attract beavers, which are rodent, and other animals. Instead, the House Agriculture Committee is poised to rewrite state regulations to restrict rodenticide use to licensed users.
Posting bill is Crossover priority in House Environment – Rep. Amy Sheldon told VDC this morning that H.723, the Purple Paint and Posting bill, is a crossover priority. This bill would set requirements for paper posting signs prohibiting hunting and fishing, and also calls for purple paint to be applied to trees – which Rep. Mike Tagliavia this morning told VDC is much more restrictive. Paint, unlike posted signs with one or two year limits, lasts a long time and suggests an indefinite period of posting.
Municipal tax delinquency study under Senate finance review – The Senate Finance Committee is being urged by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns to undertake a thorough review of property tax delinquencies. Current state law requires a list of the top 100 delinquent taxpayers, but doesn’t collect town-by-town data of what VLCT is a growing problem. Property tax delinquency is growing due to rising taxes and other homeowner costs-of-living.