In this week’s Covid-19 related news, municipalities may require masks to be worn in public, Gov. Phil Scott wants a school budget vote do-over, and the state of emergency can be extended as many times as necessary.
As Vermonters and the businesses that employ us struggle to get back to some sort of economic normalcy, the Vermont House Ways and Means Committee is contemplating raising $167 million in new taxes to offset lost revenue for the Education Fund.
On Thursday, for the first time since adjourning in March in the early days of the pandemic, the Vermont Senate considered a slate of non-pandemic related bills.
Is a legal “sex trade” a safer sex trade? Lawmakers supporting legalizing prostitution in Vermont say yes. Two Nevada women and presenters at an upcoming May 14 seminar say otherwise, having experienced the life from the inside.
Lawmakers of the Senate Committee on Government Operations on Tuesday expressed regret over giving the governor a say in this year’s elections and began drafting legislation to strip him of his authority in the matter.
Can the Vermont Legislature cut its way out of a looming $400 million budget deficit in next year’s budget? Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe thinks not.
Many Vermonters have been wondering how towns that voted down school budgets, or had votes scheduled before social-distancing was required, will set their budgets for the coming year.
“For the time being, we are still focusing on COVID-based emergency bills,” Sen. Chris Bray said. “We will get some time to do non-COVID work in the coming weeks, but I don’t yet know how much time. As always, we will have to prioritize and limit what we can take on with appropriate due diligence.”
As explained by House Speaker Mitzi Johnson in an all-House caucus Wednesday, the first vote will be on Rule 9A, to allow remote voting. A three-quarters approval of all House members (meeting remotely) is required.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson and Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe this weekend asked Vermont State College trustees to not accept Chancellor Jeb Spaulding’s plan to close three rural college campuses, and instead develop a one-year “bridge” budget to buy time to build an alternative plan.
Vermont State College Chancellor Jeb Spaulding announced Friday his plan to keep the state college system afloat by closing campuses in Lyndon, Johnson and Randolph. Negative reaction and grassroots organization was strong and swift.