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.
Vermont’s Republican House and Senate members met together at the Statehouse on Thursday to echo Gov. Phil Scott’s recent concerns that the budget proposed by the supermajority could raise the General Fund base budget by 12% and spend $500 million on new programs annually.
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 executive director of the group Rights4Girls was on the “Morning Drive” radio show on Wednesday to talk about bills moving through the Statehouse that aim to decriminalize sex work — but they may make it easier to be a ‘pimp’ in the business, and more difficult to rescue the sex workers.
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.
The area has seen an uptick in illegal immigration, with U.S. Border Patrol recently recording an 846% in apprehensions in the Swanton sector, which covers parts of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
For Maple Flower owners Cory and Liz Krieg, last week was the first time they’d opened their sliding sugarhouse doors to participate in the weekend since starting their syrup operation four years ago. But the couple have been making syrup and selling goods for much longer than that.
The Climate Action Plan declares we must “support compact settlement patterns that contribute to the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, enhance community and built environment resilience, and help conserve natural and working lands.” That requires channeling development into population centers where people can get around by cycling and walking, and no development anywhere else.
Despite the veil of social concern, H.230 is flagrantly aimed at gun rights, not suicide prevention. If Vermont’s progressive supermajority rams it into law, it will almost certainly be struck down as unconstitutional.