The Vermont legislature on Wednesday gave eight superior court judges six more years on the job, including Judge Samuel Hoar, who has faced criticism over his alleged treatment of women who have appeared before him or work in the court system.

During a joint assembly of the state House and Senate, legislators voted 129 to 36 to keep Hoar on the bench. Each of the other judges up for a vote Wednesday were approved by even larger margins. Five were approved unanimously.

At a late February meeting of the legislature's Joint Committee on Judicial Retention, two female attorneys testified that Hoar had treated them in a sexist and condescending way, as VTDigger.org and the Burlington Free Press reported at the time. The lawyers, a deputy state's attorney and a former law clerk of Hoar's, said the judge had acted aggressively and dismissively toward women in the courtroom.

The Vermont Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would give new flexibility to all school districts facing orders to merge from the state Board of Education.

The measure would force districts that were ordered to consolidate to form a new school board together. That board could then vote to delay the merger by one year, to July 2020, or chose to move forward with it this year, as originally mandated by the state.

The proposal is the Senate's take on H.39, which the House approved in February by a 134 to 10 vote. Both versions of the bill are designed to address the concerns of districts ordered to merge under Act 46, the state’s 2015 school consolidation law. But the version passed by the House would only give an extension to certain districts that haven’t yet presented a merger plan to voters.

The Vermont Agency of Education wants to unload student academic records from the now-closed Burlington College onto the Secretary of State's Office — which doesn't want them either.

Who should store and manage student transcripts when a colleges closes is no idle concern in Vermont. So far this year, three private colleges in the state have announced they will close this summer: Green Mountain College in Poultney, Southern Vermont College in Bennington and the College of St. Joseph in Rutland. St. Joe's announced last week that it will shut down after a failed campaign to stay open.

The Agency of Education has managed Burlington College's records since the school closed in 2016. At the urging of the agency, the Vermont House Education Committee drafted a bill that would transfer the orphaned records to the Vermont State Archives & Records Administration by August 1. That's a division of the Vermont Secretary of State's Office. 

Lawmakers are moving quickly to address lead in drinking water at Vermont’s schools and childcare centers, but the House and Senate disagree on how strict the state’s standards should be.

The Senate has approved legislation that would require lead testing at all schools and childcare facilities and would mandate plumbing work at any schools with lead levels higher than three parts per billion. The Senate also approved $2.5 million to fund the tests and half the costs of replacing any faucets.

The legislature's urgency is due in part to a 2018 Agency of Education pilot program that tested water at 16 schools. Of the 900 faucets and fountains checked, 27 had lead levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit of 15 parts per billion. In response, Gov. Phil Scott called on the legislature to act quickly to expand the program statewide.

House Education chair Kate Webb (D-Shelburne) said Monday that her committee fully supports lead reduction, but its members have concerns about the Senate plan. The House panel is working this week on the bill that the Senate passed and could make significant changes.

“What we’re finding in hearing from facilities managers is that some of the assumptions that [Senators] made … are not always accurate,” Webb said.

The Vermont Senate on Thursday advanced legislation that would impose a 24-hour waiting period on those purchasing handguns. The preliminary vote came despite opposition from gun-rights supporters, who claimed the bill would infringe upon their rights, and from those who said the restrictions weren't strict enough.

The 20-10 vote suggested that supporters in the Senate would be able to override a potential veto from Gov. Phil Scott, who has expressed opposition to new gun laws. The measure is expected to face a final vote in the Senate on Friday and would then move to the Vermont House.

All six Senate Republicans opposed the bill, as did Sens. Dick Mazza (D-Grand Isle), Alice Nitka (D-Windsor), John Rodgers (D-Essex/Orleans) and Bobby Starr (D-Essex/Orleans).

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), said he was proud that the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, found middle ground between the two divergent positions. “I hope folks won’t be put off by the word compromise, because if we’ve come to that, we’re in deep trouble,” Sears said.

Sears, who had previously opposed the measure, said he learned from experts who testified before his committee that suicide attempts with guns are far more successful than by other means, and that those who make such attempts usually do so impulsively.

“The vast majority of the people who decide to commit suicide [do so] based on an impulse, and that decision was made within eight hours,” he said.

If enacted, the law would require gun buyers to wait a day after undergoing a federal criminal background check before taking possession of a firearm.

After the vote, the family of Andrew Black released a statement supporting the Senate's move. The 23-year-old Essex man shot and killed himself in December, hours after buying a gun.

"If this handgun purchase waiting period was the law last year I know it likely would have saved our son’s life,” Alyssa Black wrote. “I sincerely hope that this effort will save other families from experiencing the heartbreak we are going through."

Leading the opposition was Sen. Rodgers, who argued that those who commit mass shootings or suicide are often more influenced by social media than by gun access. “I believe the internet is much more dangerous than firearms are,” Rodgers said.

Similarly, far more teenagers are killed texting while driving than from guns, he said, and yet there is no rush to take phones away from them. He did not mention that lawmakers recently toughened laws against texting while driving.

The Senate rejected an amendment Rodgers offered that would have limited the waiting period to new gun owners. It did approve other suggestions he made, including allowing law enforcement officers from other states and those competing in organized shooting events to possess high-capacity magazines. He said the Second Amendment should not just be viewed as a right for sportsmen.

“It’s about protecting oneself, one’s community, one’s state, one’s country,” Rodgers said.

The Northeast Kingdom Democrat got some backup from Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), who argued that he wouldn’t support a waiting period on a woman’s right to choose, nor would he support one on when newspaper reporters could file their stories.

Benning argued that, while suicides are tragic, there is no evidence that a waiting period would really work. “But make no mistake, it is an impediment placed in the path of someone who would choose to exercise their right to self-defense,” he said.

Sen. Ruth Hardy (D-Addison) said she was disappointed that the bill didn’t impose stricter rules. She grew up in and lives in a rural area and supports firearms for hunting and sport, she said, but is keenly aware of the dangers they present.

“I also know that guns pose a significant public health, domestic violence and public safety threat,” she said.

The mother of three school-aged children said she knows firsthand the impact gun violence — especially school shootings — is having on children today. “Our children are stressed and scared, and they have been demanding that we do something,” Hardy said.

She said she considered 24 hours too short of a waiting period, noting that many states require waits of a week or more. She also lamented the limitation to handguns, noting that someone could just as easily kill himself, herself or others with a rifle. She said she would support the bill out of the spirit of compromise Sears expressed.

“More change will come and I will be here in this chamber to help make it happen,” she said.

Updated March 21 at 10:04 a.m.

A Vermont fish hatchery slated to close next year over water quality concerns appears to have won a temporary reprieve from Gov. Phil Scott’s budget ax after angler and hunter groups agreed to pay more for licenses.

If approved by the legislature, the deal would provide an additional $310,000 to keep the Salisbury Fish Culture Station open for another year while the state explores ways to prolong its life or move the hatchery operations elsewhere.

“I feel like people have come together in good faith to try to keep the hatchery operating, and they’re working toward that goal,” Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter said Wednesday.

The hatchery, which opened in 1931, raises brook, brown, rainbow and lake trout that produce eggs used by the four other fish hatcheries in the state. Most of the fish stocked in Vermont streams and lakes begin their life cycles in Salisbury.

Wastewater discharged from the facility contains nutrient levels that exceed water quality standards, according to Julie Moore, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources. That water runs into an unnamed tributary of Hanlon Brook that is considered an impaired water body, Moore said.

Future candidates for Vermont’s top military office would undergo a new vetting process and be elected at a different date under a bill approved Friday by a House committee.

The measure aims to bring some structure and greater accountability to an election process for the state’s adjutant general post, a process candidates and legislators have described as an awkward “free-for-all.” Lawmakers elected Col. Greg Knight adjutant general on February 21.

The bill, unanimously approved by the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee, would create a nine-member Adjutant and Inspector General Nominating Board that would review the credentials of candidates for
the position, which oversees the state’s National Guard.

The board would then forward the names of qualified candidates to the rest of the legislature for election or reelection to the post every two years.

The committee considered whether those names should instead be forwarded to the governor for appointment, but the committee chose to retain legislative control over the election process, Rep. Tom Stevens (D-Waterbury) said.

Updated at 2:08 p.m.

After a bitter debate Friday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee narrowly approved a compromise bill proposed by Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington) that would require a 24-hour waiting period for handgun sales in Vermont.

The measure is a scaled-back version of a bill introduced by Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden), who wanted a 48-hour waiting period for all gun sales. His proposal had support from the family of 23-year-old Andrew Black, an Essex man who shot and killed himself in December, hours after purchasing a gun.

Baruth, who sits on the five-member Judiciary Committee, was unable to find two allies for his proposal. Instead, he signed on to Sears' compromise, which still needed support from one more committee member in order to pass.

A proposal to mandate waiting periods for gun purchases in Vermont faces an uncertain fate ahead of a Senate Judiciary Committee vote Friday.

Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) sponsored the measure and is for it, while Sen. Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) plans to vote no. That leaves three Democrats — Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington), Sen. Alice Nitka (D-Windsor) and Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham) — who have yet to state their positions on the legislation.

The votes of two undecideds will sway the outcome.

Baruth, who advocated for universal background checks for years before that policy became law in 2018, said he’s "not hard-selling anybody" on the bill.

“They’re going to look at the evidence and make up their minds, and we need two other votes,” Baruth said, adding that he believes the evidence clearly shows that waiting periods for gun sales could save lives. A second part of the bill would require guns to be safely locked up when not in the control of their owner.

White and Sears each said Thursday that they hadn't decided whether they will support the bill. Nitka said she'd made up her mind but wouldn't tip her hand to Seven Days. "I’m not telling you where I’m at," she said.

A proposal to ban single-use plastic bags and curtail the use of plastic straws in Vermont is poised for a vote this week in the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

Industry groups and a lobbyist for movie theaters voiced opposition to the proposal Wednesday, arguing that such a law would do more harm than good for the environment and human health.

Students and environmentalists, on the other hand, said the bill, S.113, represents the first step in tackling Vermont’s share of the global plastic waste problem, which is fueled by disposable products that decompose slowly.

The proposal doesn’t ban other single-use containers such as takeout boxes and coffee cups but calls for a study committee to look into the consequences of banning those items.