Affordability for working Vermonters
Rep. Mike Yantachka Last May the 2019 legislative session ended with a sense of frustration that we couldn’t get…
The Transportation and Climate Initiative: How it works
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 joined with 12 other eastern states, from Maine to Virginia, and the District of Columbia to design a regional program called the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) to reduce GHG emissions from transportation.
Session preview on climate action
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 adjourned in May.
It’s a wrap!
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, the transportation bill and the clean water funding bill, but also two bills that were on the high priority list for Democrats: paid family leave and increasing the minimum wage.
E Pluribus Unum
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 floor sessions begin with an invocation delivered most of the time by a member of the clergy.
Report from the Legislature
Rep. Mike Yantachka
Steps to address climate change
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 major money bills including, transportation (H.529), revenue (H.541) and the budget (H.542), plus a controversial weatherization bill (H.439) that increases the fuel tax by 2 cents per gallon.
Your opinion matters
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 me gauge the opinion of my constituents with respect to some of the issues currently under consideration by the Legislature.
A push for clean energy
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 House and sent to the Senate in time for their consideration, any bill not voted out of committee by that date is put on hold for this session. Since this is only four days after we return from the Town Meeting break, I expect we’ll have a very busy week.
Report from the Legislature
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 at roughly 340,000 even during the 2008-2010 recession. On the other hand, they haven’t grown since the recession either.
Report from the Legislature
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. Vermont has several targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction that have been set during the Douglas, Shumlin and Scott administrations.
What is a caucus?
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 inauguration of the governor—the next two weeks are generally spent introducing the committees to the agencies and departments they will be working with, as well as to nongovernmental stakeholders in the policy areas they will be dealing with.
Legislative Report
As I watched the funeral services of our 41st president, George H.W. Bush, this past week, I was moved…
Session epilogue
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 veto session led me to write a report in June.
Report for the Legislature: Going into overtime
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 the members of a committee comprised of Republicans, Democrats, Progressives and Independents. Bills that are introduced are often modified significantly by the time they are voted out of committee and sent to the floor for consideration by the entire body of either the House or the Senate. Once the bill gets to the other chamber, the process is repeated.
Report from the Legislature A case for raising the minimum wage
We are now in the last weeks of the 2018 legislative session. Barring any surprise demands by the governor or legislators, like the call for passing a bill taxing and regulating marijuana sales that occurred last week, we should be finished by mid-May.
Report from the Legislature – A Profile in Courage
In 1957, three years before he was elected President, Senator John F. Kennedy wrote his best-selling book Profiles in Courage. In it he described events in the lives of eight U.S. Senators who bravely cast votes in defiance of their party and public opinion, thereby jeopardizing their chances for re-election.
The Doyle Poll 2018
The Doyle Poll, created and still conducted by former Senator Bill Doyle, has been a Town Meeting tradition in Vermont for decades. This year 113 Charlotte voters shared their opinions, about the same as last year’s number. Of the 15 questions, three dealt with affordability.
Report from the Legislature – Pursuing Common-Sense Gun Regulations
Very few issues have generated as much emotion on both sides as the issue of gun regulation. After 10 hours of debate last Friday, the House amended Senate Bill S.55 dealing with firearms regulations. S.55 passed the Senate with
Report from the Legislature – Workforce development through education
At the Champlain Valley School District (CVSD) budget presentation the evening before Town Meeting, board member Lynne Jaunich was describing the district’s intent to help students connect with employers through internships for skill development. Moe Harvey, who owns Patterson Fuels, stated that he had positions in his company, well-paying jobs with benefits, that he had a hard time filling because he could not find people with the skills or the willingness to learn. He was unaware of programs matching students with employers, which to me sounded like a communications problem between our educational system and our business communities.