Posts filed under: Legislative Report
It’s been more than a month since Town Meeting, and oh, what a month! In past years I published the results of the Legislative Survey, which 140 Charlotters filled out...
The unofficial slogan of the U.S. Marine Corps is “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.” When faced with the unexpected, the success of a mission requires the ability to change tactics quickly....
The ubiquitous news regarding the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to pervade our consciousness. The Vermont Department of Health, Vermont Emergency Management, and the various health care providers around the state...
The week before Town Meeting was intense as the legislature spent long hours debating, amending, and passing two major bills: the regulation and taxation of legal cannabis and revisions to...
Expectations that the Legislature would take significant steps to address the climate change crisis this year have been high. Over the last 12 months Vermonters have joined people all over...
Rep. Mike Yantachka Last May the 2019 legislative session ended with a sense of frustration that we couldn’t get two key bills across the finish line, not because of opposition...
Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Vermont at 43 percent of total emissions. Our neighboring states are facing the same problem. So, in 2018 Vermont...
The Vermont Legislature convened in Montpelier this week for the second half of the biennium, i.e., the two-year legislative term between elections. Legislative work did not stop when the session...
The legislative session went into overtime last week with expectations that we would be able to not only finish a number of must-pass legislation, like the budget and revenue bills,...
All members of the Vermont House of Representatives meet at least once a day as a body during the legislative session to consider the bills on the day’s calendar. These...
Rep. Mike Yantachka...
Rep. Mike YantachkaThis past week in the Vermont House saw several major bills passed with significant floor debate. These included broadband deployment (H.513), childcare (H.531), workforce development (H.533) and the...
Since former Senator Bill Doyle is no longer able to conduct the Doyle Poll, a tradition of Town Meetings in Vermont, I decided to create a survey that would help...
Town Meeting week marks the halfway point in the legislative session. We are approaching an important date called “crossover” set for March 15. In order to be passed by the...
Vermont’s economic growth has been nearly stagnant since the turn of the century. Looking at employment statistics since 1999 we can see that Vermont’s employment numbers have remained fairly level...
The 2019 state budget passed last June included money for a study on the costs and benefits of various options to reduce Vermont’s carbon emissions in response to climate change....
While the first week of a new legislative biennium is filled with pomp and circumstance—the swearing in of new members, election of the speaker, appointments to standing committees and the...
As I watched the funeral services of our 41st president, George H.W. Bush, this past week, I was moved by the remembrance of how this president served our country. He...
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July and successfully survived the record-setting heat wave that accompanied the holiday. My final Legislative Report usually occurs in May. Last year,...
The legislative process is both deliberate and deliberative. Bills do not get passed without a considerable amount of testimony from stakeholders on every side of an issue and discussion among...