Thursday, May 9, 2019
“This is the definition of bargaining in bad faith,” Senate Education Committee chair Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) said of his colleagues in the House.
Both chambers have passed versions of H.39, a bill designed to forestall some of the forced mergers ordered by the state board last October.
The Senate’s version of the bill offered a deadline extension to any of the districts ordered to combine, as long as those districts elected a new, merged school board and that board voted for the delay. The House-passed version provided that option to fewer districts.
Baruth's frustration stems from the fact that House members are now trying to offer even fewer extensions instead of compromising toward the Senate's position.
Tags: Kate Webb , Phil Baruth , Act 46 , Heidi Scheuermann , Mitzi Johnson , education , school district merger , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Hashim handed in his resignation on Monday, citing a need to stay in his legislative district. He told Seven Days that he's accepted a job as a clerk at Costello, Valente & Gentry, a Brattleboro law firm.
“I’ll be doing the law office study program and in four years, as long as I pass the bar exam, I’ll be an attorney,” he said in an interview Wednesday evening.
Announcing the change on Facebook, the 30-year-old lawmaker said it was the most difficult decision of his life, but he had to resign from the force in order to fulfill his role as a lawmaker.
Tags: Nader Hashim , Vermont State Police , Department of Public Safety , legislator , Vermont House , Web Only , Image
H. 511 would extend or remove the statute of limitations on multiple sex crimes and other serious offenses, giving prosecutors more time to bring charges.
The other bill, H. 330, concerns civil claims against institutions alleged to have failed to adequately protect children. Current law allows cases to be brought within six years of the underlying allegations or of their disclosure by victims. The proposal would allow victims to sue regardless of how many years have passed.
Tags: Maxine Grad , Martin LaLonde , sexual assault , sexual exploitation , statute of limitations , deadline , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
"I'll definitely miss it," he said. "But it was kind of an opportunity. Being someone who wants to live and work in Vermont — and Montpelier in particular — opportunities at National Life don't come up all that often."
Samsom, who has led the Department of Taxes since January 2017, knows a thing or two about his future employer. He spent a decade at the state Department of Financial Regulation, serving for two years as deputy commissioner of its insurance division.
"We were their primary regulator," he said of National Life. "So there was a lot of contact."
Samsom sent a formal resignation letter to Gov. Phil Scott on May 3 and announced his departure to staff on Monday, as VTDigger.org first reported. But Samsom told Seven Days he accepted the job months earlier — on February 28 — and began serious conversations with National Life a month before that.
Tags: Kaj Samsom , Phil Scott , Susanne Young , Rebecca Kelley , Department of Taxes , National Life , Web Only , Image
House lawmakers voted 106-38 to approve an amendment to the state’s constitution that originated in the Senate. The Senate, meanwhile, approved a bill, known as the Freedom of Choice Act, that originated in the House and was designed to ensure protections for abortion rights to Vermonters regardless of the outcome of the constitutional amendment, which won’t be decided until 2022.
Abortion has been a legally protected right in Vermont since the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. In response to the unpredictable nature of the federal government under President Donald Trump, lawmakers this year pursued a two-pronged approach to making those protections clear at the state level.
Tags: abortion , reproductive rights , reproductive health , sterilization , contraceptives , birth control , Phil Scott , Cynthia Browning , Ann Pugh , Heidi Scheuermann , Ginny Lyons , Web Only , Image
Thursday, May 2, 2019
The bill would also establish a saliva-testing protocol to help police investigate impaired driving. The committee also changed the way the proposed legislation would empower local governments to restrict weed business. New language would require a community vote before any retail pot shops could open in a given municipality.
The legislation passed the Senate with no measures for roadside testing or other highway safety policies. Gov. Phil Scott has repeatedly said that he wouldn’t approve any retail cannabis bill that doesn't include saliva testing for drivers and dedicated funding for education and prevention programs.
The new House version comes close to meeting Scott’s demands. It would create a substance misuse prevention fund with 30 percent of the tax revenues from pot sales, and it would establish a saliva-testing protocol to help police investigate driving under the influence.
Tags: cannabeat , marijuana , cannabis , tax and regulate , saliva test , John Gannon , Jim Harrison , Phil Scott , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
On Wednesday, Yang asked the Senate Judiciary Committee to create a more proactive investigative process that would allow the commission to check police records without a complaint in order to make sure cops aren't discriminating against anyone. But after a law enforcement lobbyist objected to the proposal as a broad expansion of the commission's power, the committee refused the request.
The existing complaint system is designed to allow workers, renters or anyone else facing discrimination to approach the commission and make a complaint. The process requires multiple steps before the commission can formally investigate potential discrimination. Yang said the commission can make its own complaint and launch an investigation, but only if there’s enough information to justify one.
Tags: fair and impartial policing , Human Rights Commission , Bor Yang , Beth Novotny , Vermont Police Association , Web Only , Image
But on Wednesday, the conversation about the pot bill left the topic of cannabis entirely. House Transportation Committee chair Curt McCormack (D-Burlington) is trying to tack a new seat belt law onto S.54, the bill that would establish a regulated marijuana market in Vermont.
McCormack wants to make Vermont’s seat belt law a “primary enforcement” matter, meaning officers could stop drivers for not wearing a belt. Currently, seat belts are required by law, but police can only ticket drivers for a violation as a “secondary” offense during a traffic stop; drivers cannot legally be pulled over for just a seat belt infraction.
Tags: Cannabeat , Tim Ashe , saliva , Curt McCormack , Phil Scott , cannabis , marijuana , tax and regulate , road safety , roadside test , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 26, 2019
The House committee didn’t make many changes to the bill, but this week’s deliberations were occasionally tense as lawmakers argued for protections to prevent the bill from hurting the business community.
The bill, S.23, would raise the minimum wage to $11.50 in 2020, $12.25 in 2021, $13.10 in 2022 and $14.05 in 2023.
Tags: minimum wage , Tom Stevens , House General Housing and Military Affairs Committee , Medicaid , Web Only , Image
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
The Vermont Constitution currently reads: “no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after arriving to the age of twenty-one years, unless bound by the person's own consent, after arriving to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.”
The amendment approved by the Senate Wednesday would replace that entire passage with the words: “slavery and indentured servitude in any form are prohibited.”
Tags: slavery , indentured servitude , racial justice , racial equality , constitutional amendment , prop 2 , Dick McCormack , Debbie Ingram , Web Only , Image