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.
As I watched the funeral services of our 41st president, George H.W. Bush, this past week, I was moved…
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.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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
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.
Energy & Technology – The Energy & Technology Committee (E&T) on which I serve has three areas of responsibility over Vermont’s infrastructure: energy, telecommunications and information technology (IT). In the six weeks of this session, we’ve been pretty active in each of these areas.
The president’s State of the Union address is a tradition of our democracy that allows the head of the executive branch of the government to express his vision for America. It usually addresses a broad range of issues at a high level and is short on detail. Whether or not you agree with what is said, at least you get a pretty good idea of where the speaker is coming from. This got me thinking about my own communications, so I thought I’d try to deliver my own vision of what I try to accomplish as I serve as your representative in Montpelier.
Most people recognize that climate change is happening, that it is caused by burning fossil fuels and that it has serious environmental and health consequences. The challenge to our generation is how to counter the trend of increasing concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The most obvious action is to reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.
Patience and persistence: these are two qualities that I learned are essential to working in the Legislature. The issues that the Legislature has to address are often very complex and do not lend themselves to simple solutions. Measures that are enacted sometimes fail to have the desired effect and have to be tweaked by subsequent legislation.
The Legislature met last week in a veto session to address the statewide budget and education property tax bills….
As I write this late Friday afternoon on May 12, I should be home in Charlotte. Instead, I am…
By the time you read this, the Vermont Legislature will be within days of adjournment. You’ve probably heard the…
Our new president’s use of executive orders to try to fulfill some of his campaign promises, particularly regarding immigration,…
Any controversial issue under consideration by the Legislature will generate a lot of emails and phone calls, both pro…
The Doyle Poll, created and still conducted by former Senator Bill Doyle, has been a tradition of Town Meetings…
Our three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, form an effective system of checks and balances. The executive…