A Breath of Spring
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| A Sure Sign of Spring |
Ghosts from January - Marijuana
Starting July 1st the possession of a small amount of marijuana and the growing of several plants will not be against state law. Back in January we had that debate and part of the debate was a Tax and Regulate system. That idea failed. But now, two weeks before the end of the session, an effort was made to revive the scheme with an 80 page amendment to H.167 which was tabled about a year ago. Since it's tabling, H.511 which is the one that legalized small amounts, passed the House and Senate and was signed by he governor. Now a couple members wanted to give Tax and Regulate (T & R) another try.
The new marijuana bill came to the floor on Friday but action on the bill was quickly "postponed indefinitely." That means it's dead. The vote to postpone was a roll-call vote with 106 in favor and 28 opposed. There was little interest in taking up such a controversial issue this late in the session. However, there is enough interest in the scheme to bring it back next session and I'm sure we will see it again. I voted in favor of postponing even though I am a supporter of taxing and regulating marijuana in Vermont.
Minimum Wage in the Wings
S.40 is a bill to stage increases in Vermont's minimum wage (now $10.50 and hour) for the next 6 years in order to reach $15/hr by 2024. The bill is in the House Appropriations committee but should be coming out this week. There was been much talk.
The majority whip asked what my vote will be and I've hedged. But I told him Friday that I would come up with a decision this weekend. There is a bunch of research I need to do on this. It's not easy. I plan to update the minimum wage page of my website before Tuesday and make a decision.
Attempt Bill
S.267 is referred to as the Attempt bill. It is in response to the Jack Sawyer incident in Fair Haven, VT. The bill wants to make it possible to arrest a person who is about to commit a crime, but has not yet done it. So, essentially, you are arresting a person who has not done anything wrong . . . yet. There are already crimes for Attempting Murder or Attempting Arson but to prove the attempt is not easy. If a person shoots another person, but the other person did not die, then it's possible to arrest them for attempting murder.
The bill uses what is called the Substantial Steps test of the attempt. Here's a recent draft of the bill. The bill allows for the arrest and conviction of Attempting crimes if the Substantial Steps test is proved true. There is a bit of controversy about this bill and it may not make it to the House floor this session. But there is also a growing frustration outside the State House. People think we are not doing anything to prevent a mass shooting in a school. So there's all kind of things mixed up in the discussion.
The bill uses what is called the Substantial Steps test of the attempt. Here's a recent draft of the bill. The bill allows for the arrest and conviction of Attempting crimes if the Substantial Steps test is proved true. There is a bit of controversy about this bill and it may not make it to the House floor this session. But there is also a growing frustration outside the State House. People think we are not doing anything to prevent a mass shooting in a school. So there's all kind of things mixed up in the discussion.
Reporting Out H.874
H.874 is the bill I've been shepherding through the process of becoming law. I didn't propose or sponsor the bill, but when it left our committee for the first time I was appointed by the chair as the one to report it and follow it along. The bill has to do with continuing prescriptions for those who enter a corrections facility while taking prescription medication prescribed by a doctor outside corrections. The bill passed the House and went to the Senate. The Senate made a couple small changes and sent it back. We agreed with those changes and added a couple more. Those new changes had to be approved by the House. So Thursday I gave a short speech describing all this. The House then voted to approve it all and send it back to the Senate to see what they think of our most recent amendments.There has been a lot of background talk between the committees in the House and Senate, so there is no doubt they will approve what we sent and the bill can finally go to the governor.Elections Around the Corner
May 31st is the deadline for turning in petitions (with at least 50 signatures) for those who want to have their names on the August primary election ballot. As Chair of the Colchester Democrats I've been running around looking for candidates. Both Jim Condon and Maureen Dakin are not running again and I hope to find good candidates to replace them. There are a number of favorable possibilities.
Weekly Summary
These weekly summaries are getting shorter. The committee is, indeed, dealing with fewer issues. There are only a couple bills that can get done by the end of the session, so we are concentrating on those. And we are taking testimony about a long range plan for Corrections and Mental Health facilities.
- Tuesday
- 10:00 On the floor - announcements etc. Nothing too exciting
- 12:00 Recess for photos on the Capitol steps
- 12:36 Committee workgroup on Offender Files - This is work with DOC on which offender files are to be available to inmates. We're making progress.
- 1:30 Done with work group
- 1:50 Steve Howard of Vermont State Employee's Association in committee regarding the proposed changes in mental health facilities. He's concerned that State Employees will get the short end of the stick.
- 2:30 Brad Ferlin from the Agency of Administration on the $1.9 million that seemed to have slipped everyone's attention. This is the Vermont Telecom money left over from a $10 million grant for expanding broadband to rural areas. It's complicated and everyone wants a piece of it.
- 3:00 Back on the floor
- 3:30 Adjourn for caucuses for discussion of Miscellaneous Education bill.
- 4:10 Done for the day
- Wednesday
- 9:00 John Gorczyk, Former Commissioner, Department of Corrections testimony on the future of Corrections facilities. No one likes big prisons. No one like privately run prisons.
- 10:45 Brief talk with Legislative Council about Offender Files. Helena Gardner is working on drafts of the legislation.
- 11:05 Back in committee for Matthew Valerio, Defender General, Defender General's Office testimony on long term plan.
- 12:00 Lunch break
- 1:00 On the floor
- Some sparks with S.272, a miscellaneous transportation bill. There was a proposal by a fairly conservative member that changed the definition of "resident" in the Transportation law. The change is that if you register to vote you will be considered a resident when it comes to registration of vehicles, licenses etc. The gist of this is that the member didn't like the idea of students who are not residents in terms of some fees but can registered to vote. It's interesting, but would be a sort of backwards poll-tax in that, if you register to vote, it can cost you money. This proposed change was voted down.
- 2:20 Short Recess
- 2:52 Veto vote. The governor has vetoed S.103 regarding toxic chemical. The Senate had the two-thirds vote needed to override the governor's veto. Now it was the House's turn. This was a roll-call vote. The House did not have the votes to over-ride so the veto stands. The vote was close: 94 to override, 53 not. I voted to over-ride.
- 4:00 In committee to hear Representative Kate Webb from the Education Committee to talk about providing capital funds for radon testing in school. The funds may also be used for mitigation efforts.
- 5:00 - Done for the day
- Thursday
- 8:00 Meeting with Legislative Counsel and Rep. Morrissey about offender files.
- 9:00 John Campbell, Executive Director, Department of State's Attorneys & Sheriffs to talk about Corrections facilities
- 10:00 Chris Cole, Commissioner, Buildings and General Services about Windsor facility
- 10:15 Done with BGS - Break
- 10:25 Explanation of offender files bill details.
- 10:35 Rebecca Ellis, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Environmental Conservation to talk about phosphorus extraction equipment for dairy farms. This is part of the Capital Bill which is now in the Senate. There was a line item of a million or so for this equipment and we zeroed it out. The Senate is putting it back in.
- 12:30 Voted on some changes to H.874 which I will be reporting out in about an hour.
- 1:00 On the floor
- 1:25 Reported H.874
- 1:35 Attempt bill (discussed above) .
- 2:44 - break for caucuses
- 3:47 - Back on the floor - Instead of more debate and votes on the Attempt Bill, leadership decided to postpone action for another day.
- 5:00 Met with others to discuss this Attempt Bill.
- 6:00 Done for the day.
- Friday
- 8:30 In committee for Offender Files discussion. We hope to be done with this Tuesday.
- 9:30 on the floor - H.167 Marijuana Tax and Regulate roll-call vote to postpone indefinitely. The vote to postpone passed. I voted yes.
- There was also a strange vote on a resolution (H.R.20) to appose the proposed New Vistas project. The resolution passed. I voted against it. It's just a resolution, so there's no law against the project going forward.
- 11:05 In Committee with more on Offender files
- 12:15 Done for the week.
Next Week? Who Know?
- Minimum Wage
- Clean Water Funding?
- Capital Bill comes back from the Senate
- Budget Bill comes back from the Senate ?
