House lawmakers passed a sweeping land and water conservation bill March 24, in what is effectively a do-over of legislation vetoed last year by Gov. Phil Scott. H.126, which sets a goal of conserving half of Vermont’s land area and waters by 2050, is now heading through the Senate.
The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights found during an investigation that the University of Vermont failed to address student’s reports of anti-semitism harassment including cyberbullying by other students and a teaching assistant, according to a Monday press release.
The Burlington City Council continues its journey through adult-onset anencephaly. They’re again targeting the gay chairman of the Burlington Republican Party, among others. This and more on the Disaffected Podcast.
Now that the Clean Heat Standard bill is in the House, we are getting some clarity as to just how hollow even that level of “check back” really is. For one thing, it isn’t really a “check back” or a “circuit breaker” at all, it is a — new term — “throttle down.”
Age protection for minors has been recklessly ignored in the committee regarding H.89 and S.37, along with parents’ rights to direct the medical care of their children.
Authentic Vermont embodies agriculture, self-sufficiency and independence, a strong work ethic, healthy communities and families, faith and honorable values, and fiscal responsibility. The supermajority in the Statehouse are placing these fundamental Vermont values at risk.
Ram Hinsdale’s idea that we need to do something to accommodate an approaching flood of desperate climate fugitives from uninhabitable cities down country, looks like just more climate panicmongering to me.
When the clean heat standard bill, S.5, was in the Senate, Vermont fuel dealers who testified in committee were given a mere six minutes each to make their case. Now that the bill has moved over to the House Committee on Environment and Energy, they got a chance to try again with a new audience — and a little more time.
The House Committee on Environment and Energy combed through Senate Bill 5, which outlines a series of steps toward meeting Vermont’s climate plan that aims at achieving net zero emissions by 2050 across all energy sectors.
The budget emanating from the House currently features cuts to “every single initiative” of the discussions. “Not only that, but they also increase the state general fund budget over the last year by 12%,” Scott said. “They did that by spending over $60 million more than I propose in ongoing base expenditures.”
The Vermont Legislature continues to throw good money after bad. Which is more wasteful: the $245 million in sunk costs, or another $250 to $450 million of further spending to complete the project over the cost of a more economical and resilient alternative? I’d contend it is the latter.
House legislators passed a bill that would legalize mobile sports betting last week, putting Vermont on the road to joining other states in legalizing the practice. And lawmakers don’t just want Vermont to join the club — they’re looking to its neighbors to figure a system out.