Our three branches of government,
Executive, Legislative and Judicial, form an effective system of
checks and balances. The Executive branch administers and enforces
laws passed by the Legislative branch, and the Judicial branch makes
sure the laws and executive actions conform to the U. S. and state
constitutions. The Executive and Legislative branches together
determine policies that the Legislature writes into law. Once the
policies are enacted it falls to the Executive branch to interpret
the application of the law. Broad policies often require rules
formulated by the Executive branch that address specific applications
of the law. In Vermont the Legislature has the constitutional
authority to review these rules before they go into effect. This is
done by a special committee called the Legislative Committee on
Administrative Rules (LCAR).
In January I was appointed by the
Speaker of the House as one of four Representatives and four Senators
to LCAR in addition to my duties on the House Energy and Technology
Committee. This appointment has given me the opportunity to examine
more closely aspects of legislation that I normally would not be
familiar with. For example, LCAR recently approved emergency rules
issued by the Vermont Department of Health that gives authority to
prescribe and dispense buprenorphine and methadone to Physician
Assistants and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses. Emergency rules
can only be issued in situations where health or safety is impacted
and are effective for only 90 days. This gives an agency an
opportunity to come up with permanent rules. This rule addressed an
immediate need for more health practitioners to provide medically
assisted treatment for addicts.
Another rule that was approved
addressed the criteria for replacing culverts and bridges. This rule
change will allow Vermont to receive FEMA reimbursement for replacing
old, inadequate culverts and bridges with more robust structures in
response to the more extreme weather events occurring as a result of
climate change. When tropical storm Irene washed out so many roads
and bridges, FEMA would only reimburse Vermont for the identical size
structures replacing the old ones. Most of these were washed out
because they were inadequate to handle the storm-induced flow. Common
sense would dictate structure redesigns to handle larger flows, but
there was no basis in Vermont's standards to justify federal
reimbursement. The new rules will protect Vermont and help save
millions of dollars if similar damage occurs in the future.
A much more complicated rule change has
been proposed by the Public Service Board regarding the net-metering
program for renewable energy. The PSB was tasked to redesign the
net-metering rate structure by the Legislature in 2015. Several
drafts were proposed during 2015 and 2016 based on changes to
renewable energy (RE) policy made by the Legislature in 2016.
Hearings were held and hundreds of comments from RE developers,
consumers, businesses, and state agencies were submitted to the PSB.
These comments resulted in further changes to the proposed rules
before they were submitted for LCAR review. Over the last few weeks
we have been reviewing the rules as well as the comments. It is a
painstaking process, but it will ensure that when approved, they will
be consistent with law and do not exceed the PSB's authority.
I encourage you to let me know your
concerns and opinions. I can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by
email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
