The 2016 legislative session is now
two-thirds finished and is projected to end by the first week in May.
Several bills have been sent to the House from the Senate and are now
being considered by various committees. Here is a brief description
of a few of them.
One bill, S.20, would create a new
licensed professional category of Dental Therapist. This is a level
of training between a Dental Hygienist and Dentist. A Dental
Therapist would be required to have all the training of a Dental
Hygienist as well as graduate from an accredited dental therapist
educational program. They would be licensed to provides oral health
care services, including prevention, evaluation and assessment,
education, palliative therapy, and restoration under the general
supervision of a dentist. They would only be allowed to practice in
settings or areas with a significant volume of low-income, uninsured,
or under-served patients. The impetus for this legislation has been
the lack of sufficient and affordable dental services in many rural
communities of Vermont. The bill is currently under review by the
House Human Services Committee.
Another bill, S.123, seeks to
streamline the permitting of projects under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Environmental Conservation in the Agency of Natural
Resources. The bill consolidates 85 current processes into five
processes and standardizes the procedures for notifications and
approvals, including
• requiring
pre-application public participation for large or complex permit
applications,
• requiring
notice of the application for all permits except emergency permits,
• providing
interested persons (other than the applicant) an opportunity to
provide expert or detailed opinion to ANR technical staff prior to a
public comment period,
• requiring
administrative records for all DEC acts or decisions, and
• requiring fact
sheets for all individual permits.
The bill also requires ANR to develop
one web-based portal that is searchable for projects that are on
notice by project name, permit type (e.g., stormwater), or geographic
location. Interested persons would be able to "subscribe"
to be notified when key project milestones take place. It also
creates two standardized notice periods, 30 days for major permits,
10 days for minor permits, and allows emergency permits to be issued
without notice. The House Natural Resources and Energy Committee is
in the process of reviewing this bill.
Finally, S.241, the marijuana
legalization bill, has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee.
Additionally, it is undergoing a thorough evaluation by several other
committees, including Government Operations, Human Services, Health
Care, and Agriculture. Judiciary and Government Operations held an
evening public hearing last week in the House chamber for one and a
half hours, taking testimony from both advocates and opponents.
Deliberations are expected to continue for several weeks as the
potential benefits and consequences are evaluated.
I welcome your thoughts and can be
reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email
(myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
