On Friday, Feb. 10, the Vermont House of Representatives approved H.89, a bill that aims to shield patients and providers from prosecution in states where abortion or gender-related procedures are illegal. Just 13 state representatives voted no to the bill.
This week the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee may vote on its clean heat standard bill, but discussion of the bill at the end of last week’s hearings demonstrated that committee members still don’t understand how key elements of the bill they been crafting work.
“I get it that what we’re essentially doing is directing the PUC (Public Utilities Commission) to put together a kind of a ‘Rube Goldberg,'” Sen. Dick McCormack said. “I don’t see how this works.”
Landlords who apply can receive funding — up to $10,000 per unit — to hold units for up to two months while they work with providers that offer housing vouchers.
Pouring subsidies into building low-income “affordable” housing has not made an appreciable dent in the shortage of either middle-income or low-income residences. The most effective steps government can take to provide housing is to remove zoning restrictions, update land use plans, and speed permitting.
The Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs began looking at a marked-up copy of an omnibus housing bill, with further deliberations slated for later this week. State Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D-Chittenden, introduced the bill.
With winter weather becoming harder to predict, Vermont’s skiing and outdoor recreation industry is looking at new ways to keep the season’s business going.
We don’t need the State to step in under the guise of a housing shortage and control local zoning. The State already did this with education when there was a funding crisis; welcome ACT 60/48. Also, the Climate Crisis has justified the State to take over our fossil fuel usage.
Before voters on Town Meeting Day say “yes” or “no” to proposed local and education taxes for the coming year, the numbers they see on the agenda go through a labyrinth.
The fact is that the Unaffordable Heat Act will be twice as expensive for Vermonters as the failed Clean Heat Standard. First of all, it will pressure Vermonters to buy a brand new heating system, which could cost Vermonters an out-of-pocket expense of upwards of $20,000.
Nearly one in five positions sits empty within Washington County’s state-designated mental health provider. That’s a slight improvement from the vacancy rate over the last 18 months.
Devanney’s point applies in many types of government regulated activities. The regulator has to overregulate to protect his own position, no matter how senseless or costly the outcome.