Lawmakers in the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday discussed a bill that pertains to the requirements independent schools may need to meet to continue receiving taxpayer money.
Pitting the nation’s most popular governor supported by an outspoken citizenry vs. an ostensibly veto-proof legislative supermajority, the S.5 battle will be the veto session’s main event.
A proposed solar farm in Charlotte would see about 12,500 panels lined in rows across 21 acres on Lake Road. The project will be run by Encore Renewable Energy, a Burlington solar company. The 5-megawatt solar farm is expected to run for 25 years.
The Department of Environmental Conservation announced Wednesday that 193 households will receive a share of $5.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, Gov. Phil Scott said, to repair or replace failed on-site water or wastewater systems through the Healthy Homes On-Site program.
As an ongoing analysis of prison housing continues, ACLU of Vermont Advocacy Director Falko Schilling asked lawmakers to consider smaller, community-based facilities that, in some instances, would have less security measures in place.
“I think we have to keep in mind that many of these kids are violent and can do extreme damage to physical property — but more importantly staff members and other kids. I encourage you to listen and call it what it really is,” Sen. Dick Sears said.
The bill, S.103, passed in the Senate late last month and is moving through the House. Its core goal is to get rid of the existing legal requirement that harassment or discrimination must be “severe or pervasive” to be considered unlawful.
The added language further states, “No bylaw shall have the effect of excluding these multiunit or multifamily dwellings from the municipality.”
A Vermont legislative panel on Thursday discussed a component of education funding that has increased demand yet has been undergoing budget cuts in recent years.
A member of the Office of Legislative Counsel on Thursday told the Vermont Senate Resources and Energy Committee that S.5 doesn’t “bind a future legislature” and allows “flexibility” in how future lawmakers choose to act on the policy.
The Vermont Republican State Committee on Saturday, April 22, voted almost unanimously to create an election subcommittee to investigate Vermont “election operations, procedures and integrity.”
S.151 would “allow a minor 12 years of age or older to consent to medical care for the prevention of a sexually transmitted infection,” which would further remove parents from direct involvement in the health and wellbeing of their children.