The ACT 1 Ethnic and Social Equity Standards working group met online on Monday to discuss social justice issues in education policy, including a lengthy debate over what terms to use to describe non-European Americans.
Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, suggested that the committee consider scrapping the whole thing and simply enacting a carbon tax on fossil heating fuels and use the money to fund programs that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Many longtime Vermonters may recognize the name of Balint’s guest for the 2023 address: Bill Lippert Jr., a state lawmaker of nearly 30 years.
A coalition of 21 states and one city’s attorneys general are backing an EPA supplemental proposal that would regulate methane emissions in the oil and gas exploration industry.
On Wednesday, Ethan Allen Institute President Myers Mermel testified before the Senate Natural Resources and Energy committee regarding S.5, the Affordable Heat Act.
A House bill introduced Tuesday would give the Vermont Criminal Justice Council another powerful tool to find police officers guilty of law enforcement misconduct.
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.
Last Thursday, lawmakers in the House Committee on Environment and Energy heard testimony on a bill that would restrict about a third of the state’s lands from development.