The end of the legislative session is getting closer, and in
the last week the House passed several Senate bills with amendments. If the Senate does not concur with the House
amendments to a bill, a Conference Committee will be appointed to resolve the
differences. Then both chambers would have to vote on the report of the
Committee without further amendment.
The Transportation Bill (S.149) had several House amendments,
including a primary seat belt provision which allows law enforcement to stop a
vehicle if the driver is not wearing a seat belt. While nine percent of drivers
do not wear seat belts, around 50 percent of fatalities involve unbelted
occupants. Stricter enforcement of seat belt use has been demonstrated to save
lives. Another amendment allows all
emergency vehicles to use both red and blue lights. Tests have shown that people respond more to
blue lights than red in emergency situations.
Another Senate bill passed by the House with amendments was
S.40 which authorizes testing and remediation of lead in the drinking water of
schools and child care facilities. A total of $2,400,000 is appropriated to
fund remediation for fixtures testing above 5 parts of lead per billion, which
is also the allowed level for bottled water, although no level is really safe for
kids. This is not as strict as the action level set by the Senate, 3 ppb, and
may result in another Conference Committee. The state will cover the actual
cost of replacing a drinking water fixtures up to $2000 for public drinking
fountains and ice machines, $700 for outlets used for cooking, and $400 for all
other outlets.
To better address the opioid problem, the House also passed
S.43 with amendments to prohibit a health insurance plan from requiring prior
authorization for medication assisted treatment as well as for counseling and
behavioral therapies associated with medication-assisted treatment. If the plan
provides prescription drug coverage, it must ensure that at least one
medication from each drug class for the treatment of substance use disorder is
available at the lowest cost level of the plan.
One bill we expect to see this week is for clean water
funding. The Ways and Means Committee is
proposing to use 4 percent of the rooms and meals tax for the Clean Water Fund.
This will provide a sustainable source of funding as required by the federal
EPA. The 4 percent will come out of the
25 percent of the tax allocated to the Education Fund. However, the amount is expected to be made up
by a change in the sales tax which will now apply to software program packages
purchased online. The same tax will be
assessed as if it were purchased in a store. All sales taxes are allocated to
the Education Fund per a law enacted last year.
An opinion piece by the President of the conservative Ethan
Allen Institute in last week’s Citizen called out Democrats in the legislature
for being “ideological”. The EAI is on
the record of believing climate change is not happening, but if it is, we can’t
do anything about it, so we shouldn’t try.
Well, I must disagree, and will continue to advocate for policies that
will help Vermonters reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money by reducing
their use of fossil fuels. Burning
fossil fuels is bad for the environment and bad for our wallets. Did you notice that gasoline prices jumped
from $2.58 in March to $2.83 this week?
Are you getting more mileage from that gas? If we had a 2 cent per
gallon tax that would be dedicated to helping Vermonters purchase more fuel
efficient all-electric and hybrid electric vehicles, Vermont drivers would save
both money and the environment. As for my statement that legislators need to be
leaders and not just followers, there are times when we need to take bold steps.
Climate change is just such a situation.
We must have the political will to pay a little more today and invest it in
measures to prevent a greater cost for our children, grandchildren, and future generations.
