Now
that we are a few weeks into the session, the 14 committees of the
House of Representatives have settled into their main work: taking
testimony on bills and on the Administration's initiatives. A bill's
main sponsor as well as interested parties, administration staff,
lobbying organizations and interested private citizens are invited to
give their insight and analysis of the subject. Committee Chairs
take very seriously the responsibility to make sure every side of an
issue is heard. It is detrimental to the success of a bill if key
testimony has not been heard when the bill comes to the floor for a
vote of the full chamber. On the other hand, convincing testimony
against a bill might kill it in committee so that it never reaches
the floor for a vote. Since there are more bills introduced in a
session than can ever be adequately considered, most bills stay “on
the wall”; that is, they are posted on the committee's bulletin
board where they remain for the duration of the 16 week session.
In
spite of these constraints, some bills are so obviously beneficial
that they just sail through committee, are read on the floor and pass
unanimously. This happened with a water quality bill last week that
prohibits the sale of personal care products and over-the-counter
drugs containing microbeads. Microbeads are plastic beads less than
5 millimeters in diameter that are suspended in lotions and cleansers
as a mild abrasive. The problem is that they are so small that they
pass through wastewater filtration systems, are discharged into
rivers and streams, and end up suspended in Lake Champlain. They
adsorb (attract to their surface) toxic chemicals and are ingested by
small fish which confuse them with food. They, in turn, are eaten by
larger fish, which are then eaten by humans. In this way the toxins
become concentrated up the food chain and pose a hazard to us as well
as threaten the sport fishing industry which is an important part of
our tourist economy. On a roll call vote H.4 passed unanimously 140
to 0.
Many
issues require a lot of testimony even before a bill is introduced.
Such is the case with education financing. The Education Committee
has a new Chair, Representative Dave Sharpe of Bristol. Dave was a
member of the Ways and Means Committee for many years and brings
valuable experience with taxation to his new role. At the same time
the House Rules Committee revised the authority of the Education
Committee over education financing. Previously, the Ed Committee
made education policy and the Ways and Means Committee addressed the
financing. The new arrangement will allow a comprehensive approach
to this high priority problem. The committee has already heard from
many individuals and organizations and is expected to draft a bill in
the next few weeks. Already a change in approach is emerging.
Whereas the current method requires setting the statewide property
tax rate to be set according to the total amount of school budgets
throughout the state, the committee is looking at fixing a statewide
property tax rate to raise a given per-pupil amount which would be
allocated to school districts regardless of the size of the budgets
that they pass. Needless to say, the devil is in the details, and
we'll be hearing more about this topic before anything is settled.
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| Presenting: Ethan Lisle, Olivia Zubarik, Charlie Cantor, and Schuyler EdgarHolmes with Schuyler's Mom, Deirdre Holmes, working the projector. |
It
was also a pleasure to see a contingent from the CCS 6th
Grade present their report on composting at the Statehouse during the
Farm to School awards presentation last week. CCS was awarded a
grant last year and the composting project was the result. Kudos to
the whole 6th Grade team!
I
continue to welcome your thoughts and questions and can be reached by
phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
