The Democrat Party seems to be bent on further tumult beyond justification. But that’s part of their brand; you can always count on Democrat lawmakers to meddle and complicate something that used to be so simple.
I have often spoken on overregulation in Vermont. Some is good in order to protect citizens, plants, food, animals, etc. from disease, invasive species, insects, pollution and water. Act 250, however, is a hinderance to farm and forest operations.
What was striking about the press conference, apart from the remarkably ambitious timetable, was the fact that most of the advocates of this bill would benefit financially from the policy should it become law.
Vermont is rushing rashly into a permanent universal student meals program that will cost taxpayers an estimated $27 million yearly. This sudden push is being driven by a handful of political activists, while ignoring the sources and impacts of funding the program.
Keep in mind that of Vermont’s roughly $8 billion annual budget, roughly $6 billion is paid for with federal dollars, and of that $6 billion about half is “one-time” emergency funds. Vermont taxpayers are only required so far to pony up a little more than $2 billion of all that spending — and that is tapping us out.
A House lawmaker this week introduced a bill to protect the “academic freedom of public educators” who teach their personal beliefs regarding gender, race and other controversial topics in Vermont’s schools.
The bill seeks to shield reproductive health and gender-affirming providers and out-of-state persons seeking care in Vermont from “abusive litigation” from other states in which legislation and judicial judgments regarding these types of care conflict with Vermont’s.
As the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee takes testimony on and discusses the Clean Heat Standard bill, S.5, observers become privy to some of the visions for the future that the authors have in mind.
The clean heat standard is dead. That’s not to say that S.5 won’t become law, because it will. But the fatal flaws in the policy which will prevent its implementation became very clear this past week.
It is disconcerting to see how the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont governor are now betraying us once again, as they casually dismiss Vermont law and citizen involvement in their own local governments.
Two members of the Office of Legislative Counsel sat in with the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday morning to discuss a bill that would impact abortion and sex change policies, especially as it pertains to the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
In the past environmental groups have tried getting multiple bills on the issue of forest fragmentation through the legislature, including last session’s H.606, which made it through the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott. At this point, forest advocates are bullish on their chances of changing Act 250 this session.