Friday, May 6, 2016
House negotiators won concessions from their Senate counterparts for new guidelines governing how motorists and bicyclists interact on roads. The House had proposed new rules for sharing the road following four cyclist fatalities last year, but the Senate preferred to rely on education to improve safety.
Tags: bicycle safety , cannabis related , driver interlock , Lamoille Valley Rail Trail , transportation , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 5, 2016
In morning talks on the transportation project bill, negotiators went back and forth over the new restrictions that the House wanted to add to improve safety for bicycle riders. “That is a huge issue for the House side,” Rep. Tim Corcoran (D-Bennington) told the senators across the table.
Senators countered that bikers and motorists need to share the road. “I’m reluctant to put all the responsibility on the motorists,” said Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland).
Neither side was ready to budge at this stage in their talks.
Tags: Rep. Tim Corcoran , Sen. Dick Sears , Sen. Peg Flory , Rep. Chip Conquest , Sen. Alice Nitka , license suspension , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
With the legislature braced to adjourn for the year on Saturday, that defeat likely means lawmakers will leave without any marijuana legalization — or even a commission to study it.
“Fuck the commission,” a frustrated Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Sears (D-Bennington) said after his effort to create a public advisory vote failed. “The commission was unnecessary.”
A couple of hours earlier, Sears had been willing to go along with creating a marijuana legalization study commission if lawmakers also agreed to the public advisory vote.
Tags: Cannabeat , Dick Sears , marijuana legalization , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
But the crowd of GOP legislators appeared uninterested in weighing in on the the man who became their party’s de facto presidential nominee a day earlier: New York reality television star Donald Trump.
When Seven Days asked for a show of hands of those who would vote for Trump in November, Scott quickly intervened.
“I will say that this press conference is about electing me,” he said. “So I would like to ask everybody that’s going to vote for me to raise their hands.”
Scott’s fellow Republicans cheered and raised their hands.
Tags: Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Donald Trump , Image , Video , Web Only
The move came three weeks after federal and state officials charged Stenger and his business partner, Ariel Quiros, with misappropriating more than $200 million worth of foreign investment raised for a series of Northeast Kingdom development projects. Stenger and Quiros have both denied the charges.
Shumlin spokesman and deputy chief of staff Scott Coriell said the governor removed Stenger from the volunteer advisory board after Seven Days requested an updated copy of its membership.
“They serve at the pleasure of the governor,” Coriell said. “I became aware that he was on the list when you made your request. He shouldn’t have been on there, so as a consequence we updated the list.”
Tags: Peter Shumlin , Bill Stenger , Council of Economic Advisers , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Sweaney said she told her committee members the news Wednesday.
Sweaney said without hesitation that the 2000 passage of civil unions was the highlight of her career. “We just did something phenomenal and I was glad to be part of it,” she said.
Sweaney is the second longtime committee chair to announce retirement this year. Rep. Tony Klein (D-East Montpelier), chair of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, is leaving after 14 years.
Sweaney’s departure adds to the significant turnover that will take place in the Statehouse next year. Gov. Peter Shumlin, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) and Senate President Pro Tempore John Campbell (D-Windsor) are all either leaving politics or seeking other positions.
Tags: Donna Sweaney , Vermont legislature , Image , Web Only
In its initial advertisements, the Republican State Leadership Committee focused its attention on House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown), Sen. Mark MacDonald (D-Orange) and Rep. Stephen Carr (D-Brandon). But according to RSLC spokeswoman Ellie Wallace, “every incumbent Democrat who votes to make Vermont less affordable should be on notice” that they could be targeted next.
In a digital advertisement and new website, the RSLC used a mugshot of Carr snapped by the Berlin Police Department in January, when the second-term lawmaker was charged with driving under the influence. Carr settled the case last week by pleading guilty to a reduced charged of negligent driving.
According to Smith, use of the photograph was utterly inappropriate.
“I think it’s about the lowest thing I’ve seen in my time in politics,” he said. “The fact that they would use somebody’s mugshot is, I think, beneath the Vermont level of politics.”
Tags: Republican State Leadership Committee , Shap Smith , Mark MacDonald , Stephen Carr , Image , Web Only
The legislation codifies in Vermont law the guarantee in the federal Affordable Care Act that women will have access to free contraception — in case the federal law gets repealed.
It also expands the federal birth control guarantee by requiring insurance companies to offer vasectomies to men without requiring co-payments or other forms of cost-sharing. Vermont is the first state to mandate this benefit.
The bill also makes Vermont the second state to allow women to obtain up to 12 months of hormonal contraceptives in a single visit.
Tags: Catholic Diocese , Rep. Ann Pugh , Planned Parenthood , Blue Cross Blue Shield , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Still up for consideration in the House on Tuesday afternoon is a separate measure to decriminalize home cultivation of up to two marijuana plants. It’s unclear whether that will pass.
But first came a vote on the Senate’s version. By a 121-28 vote, the House nixed all provisions related to legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana from the bill.
Though that effort passed the Senate 17-12 and had the support of Gov. Peter Shumlin, House leaders had long signaled that legalization lacked support among their members. Tuesday’s vote affirmed that.
Tags: Cannabeat , Dick Sears , marijuana legalization , Peter Shumlin , Shap Smith , Vermont House , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 2, 2016
Speaker Shap Smith (D-Morristown) announced the delay at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, after a day of jockeying and counting votes.
“It’s better to not be debating this at 10 o’clock,” Smith said. “I thought that was not fair to the House members.”
House Democrats have crafted a bill they expect to vote on Tuesday, he said. Though his caucus leaders had been counting votes all day, Smith said he still didn’t know whether the decriminalization measure would pass.
Tags: Cannabeat , marijuana legalization , Shap Smith , Vermont House , Image , Web Only