Heading Toward Adjournment
As I write this on Sunday evening, we are still moving toward adjournment now expected to be Wednesday evening. The pace seems to be on both ends of the spectrum: long periods of waiting for bills to come over from the Senate followed by a rapid-fire, full-on response when they do.
There are still major bills being reviewed and the pressure on members to feel informed before casting a vote is palpable. Although we have seen and voted on all of these bills before, each has undergone some degree of modification in either the House or the Senate. Some of these have gone to special “Committees of Conference” where three members of the House and three members of the Senate hash out the differences before bringing them back to the full legislature for a vote.
The 2011 budget and the Miscellaneous Tax Bill take center stage this week and must be completed before the session can end. Accompanying these bills are the budget companion bill known as Challenges for Change and the Capital Bill. The Challenges bill was designed to find $38 million in cuts to the General Fund through government efficiencies without reducing services. The Capital Bill directs funds to a variety of infrastructure projects around the state. Expect also to see changes to the Current Use program and health care reform among others.
Here are a few other bills recently passed and headed to the governor for signature:
§ H.470 restructures judiciary. It brings all five types of courts: superior, family, district, environmental and probate under the state Supreme Court predicted to improve efficiency and accessibility while saving $1 million in costs.
§ H.759 sets executive fees. Expect to see some new fees, such as licensing of salvage yards and fee increases, many of which haven’t increased in years.
§ H.781 supports renewable energy projects. It makes the process for permitting renewable energy projects more predictable and efficient; provides incentives for solar; gives price stability for Cow Power programs and helps our larger employers such as IBM meet efficiency standards. This bill also defines Hydro-Quebec as a renewable energy source which has met with some heat from the environmental community.
§ H.614 regulates composting facilities. It helps define which facilities will be considered part of farming and regulated by agriculture, and which are businesses regulated by Act 250.
§ S.182 fixes the unemployment insurance deficit. It is designed to bring the bankrupt fund back to a sustainable level in 5 years. After delicate negotiations, both businesses and workers had to give on this, but all felt that it was better than the current situation.
§ H.488 bans the use of felt-soled waders by anglers in our waterways. Implicated in the spread of invasive species, this bill follows the Alaska ban. Rubber-soled alternatives are available and some stores are already offering trade-in incentives.
§ H.540 gives legal protection to bicyclists and other “vulnerable users” of the road. It represents an important step in recognizing that Vermont roads are a shared public resource and not just built and maintained for automobiles.
§ S.262 mandates health insurance for young children with autism. It provides for some early intervention services for children with autism between the ages of 18 months and 6 years and calls for a study to see if insurance mandates should apply to older children. Research indicates that these early services are related to reduced costs to schools.
§ S.222 sets up a program for state recognition of Native Americans. This will ultimately allow our Vermont Abenaki bands to receive the recognition they need to legally sell their crafts as authentic.
§ S.247 bans the manufacture, sale or distribution of infant formula and baby food containing bisphenol A or BPA. BPA is a synthetic estrogen used in hard plastics and has been linked to cancer, recurrent miscarriage, early onset puberty, reduced sperm count, delayed development, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
By the time you read this, I do hope that the session will have adjourned.
