Legislature

A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.

Yellow buoys mark the wrecks’ locations, and divers can follow their lines down to submerged signage identifying each.

Under the bill, fathers in prison would be able to take parenting classes, visit with their children in a child-friendly space and talk to them via free video calls.

Neither version of the bill will get voted out of the Legislature this year, but lawmakers are making moves to develop the proposals ahead of the second half of the biennium.

If Vermont ever pursued hosting the Games, it should partner up with its neighbors, said the comptroller of the 1980 Games in Lake Placid.

It comes from the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, newly formed this session in part to prioritize digital technology initiatives that had been overshadowed.

Rutland area residents took to the streets Thursday as part of nationwide protests of the Trump administration.

Over the last two years, “persistently rainy conditions made many forested areas too wet to harvest,” a logging industry rep told legislators.

It looks like a mobile home park. The state says it isn’t. The folks in this Williston neighborhood are frustrated they can’t access the help that classification would afford them.

Farmers say it helps secure their bottom line, and officials in and outside the Legislature say it’s vital to curbing hunger. 

Most witnessed have supported the bill, but a few concerns have come up about free speech and news media’s liabilities.

Lawmakers and officials agree it isn’t ideal to imprison Vermonters out of state, but they say bringing them back would put in-state prisons dangerously over capacity. 

Around 100 of the 700 3-acre sites in Vermont are subdivisions, but the state doesn’t know exactly how many people live on those parcels.

Sen. Allison Clarkson, one of two lead sponsors, said licensure can provide consistency and professionalization, as well as increased wages. 

The program lives in a space distinct from the cold surfaces of the rest of the prison. In the room two green couches sit atop a patterned rug, with a shelf of toys stacked against the wall.

The bill would guarantee employees can take two weeks of unpaid time off from work after the death of a family member.

It’s too late to pass this year, but the bill has gained bipartisan support and excited trail advocates.

State employees working with victims say the system doesn’t work — some even tell people not to sign up. For one woman, an “unbelievable gap” led to life-altering danger.

The bills focus on age-appropriate design, more guards on consumer data and stricter regulations for data brokers.

Legislators were eyeing a pool of $7.5 million for the 2026 fiscal year, though the bill on the Senate floor now leaves the price tag to be determined.

Gov. Phil Scott is setting his sights on programs where he believes the state can afford to cut costs. 

Two House bills would bar service providers from deceptive business practices and require them to offer cheap broadband plans.

The bill is modeled after California’s 2024 School Food Safety Act.

“I don’t think it’s a partisan issue,” Copeland Hanzas said. “It’s really just to make sure that elections are honest and accurate and fair.”

“It’s a really gut-wrenching situation for all the parties involved,” said the commission’s executive director.

Legislators in both chambers have been in talks about chloride’s impact on waterways.

As safeguards to ensure a degree of local input, Scott is calling for the creation of local school advisory councils, which his proposal states will “promote high levels of community engagement.”

Usually up to 20 detainees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are held in state prisons on a given day.

Ram Hinsdale began serving as Vermont Senate majority leader Jan. 8.

Tomlinson is running for one of two seats to represent Winooski in the House as a member of the Vermont Progressive and Democratic parties.

The PSA, “Not Losing You,” will be filmed on Sept. 21 and 22, then released by Oct. 1 to local television stations in Pennsylvania, Lantz said.

The council is made up of 28 middle and high schoolers from around the state who serve an advisory role to the governor and Legislature.

It has become increasingly more expensive to keep and repopulate his hives, the vetoed bill’s sponsor said, because colonies are dying at faster rates in recent years.

The bill seeks to ensure better legal protections for donors.

Part of the bill aimed to ban hunters from using dogs and bait — without a trappers’ license — to hunt coyotes in the state.

In recent years, libraries across the country have come under fire for housing books that focus on gender, sexual and racial identity, especially those for children.

Though psychedelics are illegal in the state, that isn’t stopping Vermonters from using them. 

Five years of data analyzed by Community News Service shows the state’s largest transit system is approaching an inflection point on the back of haywire trends.

The bill would bar people from having guns, frames or receivers that lack serial numbers or transferring them to someone else.

Under S.310, all state emergency communications would by default be accompanied by language assistance services.

Vermont only has five medical cannabis dispensaries as opposed to at least 51 recreational businesses opening within the last two years.

Legislators added the original bill’s language to H.878, which deals with “miscellaneous judiciary procedures.”

The bill would target shoplifters who steal multiple things in one county within a two-week period. If the combined value of the goods exceeds $900, an offender would face the same fines and imprisonment as the current felony.

If cameras catch you driving more than 10 mph over the limit, the rig takes a photo of your license plate and you’ll get a ticket in the mail. 

The bill says companies that distribute PCBs must pay for the testing and removal of the chemicals in Vermont’s schools.

Under the bill, companies would be barred from the sale, lease, or disclosure of people’s biometric identification unless it is necessary for the service or the person gives consent. 

Lawmakers made the changes after hearing testimony from state officials that called the bill’s language vague and lacking in precedent.

The bill would fill what supporters say is a gap in the law. 

The bill says if people agree to use protection before or during sex, neither party can remove or tamper with the condom without the other’s consent. The bill would allow survivors to seek damages in court.

Reapportionment occurs every 10 years and is based on census data.

Right now, putting on sunscreen in Vermont schools is a tall order. 

The bill would limit Vermont police interrogators from lying to detainees. But lawmakers doubled down on details that got last year’s version of the plan shot down.

The bill would codify the practice of pre-charge referrals so the process is the same regardless of county.

Expungement entirely wipes someone’s conviction from the official record — the goal being to see them treated as if they had never been convicted.

By meeting a slew of conditions, producers wouldn’t need inspections to sell raw chicken products from the farm, at farmers markets or to restaurants in Vermont.

Students from Windham Elementary School and Compass Middle School were tasked with the mushroom selection.

Washington district constituents approached their senator after they were turned away from a business because they only carried cash.

The bill would rebrand the board that sets rules for implementing Act 250.

So far the bill has been well received and the University of Vermont is expected to present a new draft for legislators to chew on next week. 

The changes address problems prompted by education officials.

One drone operator understands the lawmakers’ concern, but said he thinks details in the bill are too arbitrary.

But companies like Meta and TikTok would be responsible for assessing their data protection policies under the bill — and for determining whether they are in compliance with the law.

Nationwide, 27 other states have a maximum fine for towing, but Vermont doesn’t.

Montalban asked neighbors within a 3-mile radius to not use seeds treated with the pesticide, and he said many have been receptive to the request.

“In the damages part of the legal process, some defendants were still using the argument that a person could be responsible for their assault,” said one of the sponsors of the bill. 

Homelessness rates in Vermont have shot up by 18.5% since last year, as of this past January.

Neonicotinoids are insecticides that coat plants’ seeds, so the toxins are taken up into a plant’s tissue as it grows.

The lead sponsor of the bill says the legislation is important for residents in areas likely to suffer flooding in the future.

This year’s circuit spotlights the diversity of performances as the Statehouse opens its doors to valued but underrepresented cultures and groups in Vermont, one legislator said.

That money would make up what lawmakers are calling a climate superfund to help pay for natural disaster recovery in Vermont. 

The bill aims to prevent Vermont from becoming a place for puppy farms or mills — commercial dog breeding operations that raise animals in poor conditions.

The bill would dramatically limit the use of electronic devices, digital platforms and more in all Vermont schools.

Under current law, first responders employed by the state don’t have to prove PTSD is related to work when seeking workers’ compensation. The new bill would give that presumption to more state workers.

Ghost guns are firearms built at home using kits that come with all the parts needed for a gun. The unassembled parts aren’t considered guns by federal law and have no serial number.

The bill seeks to update the state endangered species list more frequently, establish critical habitat spaces, prohibit the sale of species and curtail rules that allow endangered animals to be taken from the land. 

If a business is culpable, H.614 allows police to seize any equipment it used for illegal activity. Furthermore, the bill increases fines and limits the logging activities of businesses with two or more outstanding fines or judgements.

‘It’s not necessarily doing anything to reinvent restorative justice or restorative approaches; it is making it so it is more streamlined access across the state,’ Dolan said. ‘This is trying to get some consistency and also respect the uniqueness of each county.’

The bill aims to expand the legal definition of mobile home parks to include communities of mobile home owners who own their own lots. Currently, state law defines mobile home parks as land with at least two mobile homes or mobile home lots, or adjacent land owned by the same person.

“What does it hurt to do this? What if you’re a student who, for the first time, is getting a period, and you forgot something?” said the bill sponsor.

If your car is towed in Vermont, you’re on your own.

The Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds first meeting.

Earlier this month, In a backyard overlooking Spear Street, dozens of Vermont Republicans watched a four-part performed history of patriotic songs and munched on barbecue beneath an American flag the width of a two-car garage in the leadup to Independence Day. 

As the state pushes toward its solar goals, what environmental questions must be examined?

The bill, H.483, looks to implement a nondiscriminatory admissions process for prospective students on public tuition.

A proposed solar farm in Charlotte would see about 12,500 panels lined in rows across 21 acres on Lake Road.

A bill to help small farmers diversify their products with a new grant program crossed over from the House to the Senate, but not without a significant cut in the money behind it. 

Vermonters are one step closer to receiving job-protected leave to deal with the fallout of sexual and domestic violence as part of Democrats’ major paid leave bill, which passed through the House and into the Senate last month.

Vermont lawmakers launched the cross-party Future Caucus with the Millennial Action Project, a group focused on encouraging younger people to pursue politics, in 2015 to unify lawmakers under 45 years old and encourage younger individuals to run for office. But in June of last year, only 24 of the 150 state legislators were under 45. 

As lawmakers aim to make universal school meals a permanent measure, they are also looking to make sure more of those meals are made with local food. 

Senate legislators are considering a bill that would end a policy that suspends driver’s licenses as a result of not paying civil traffic violations within 30 days.

House lawmakers passed a sweeping land and water conservation bill March 24, in what is effectively a do-over of legislation vetoed last year by Gov. Phil Scott. 

House legislators passed a bill that would legalize mobile sports betting last week, putting Vermont on the road to joining other states in legalizing the practice.

Mandating and strengthening Holocaust education in schools has been brought up by lawmakers for the past few years, but the proposed bills are typically left untouched. This year, many representatives and senators are hoping that will change. 

The Senate Judiciary Committee heard from familiar faces on a familiar policy last week: THC potency limits for cannabis concentrate products.

Guidelines for Vermont school districts’ curricula and reading materials may be changing for the first time in 10 years as a working group looks to push the state education board to put greater focus on racial and ethnic diversity and historically persecuted groups. 

A new bill would require Vermont public school students to take a personal finance course to graduate high school. 

Lawmakers are looking to pass a bill to make universal school meals permanent in Vermont — an extension of pandemic-era policies with a price tag pegged at $29 million for next year.

Voters may be familiar with the two candidates squaring off to represent the Orange-Caledonia District at the Statehouse.

MONTPELIER — Advocates warn that hundreds could be left homeless and social service groups further strained after the state’s decision to end a pandemic program to help with rent. “Our work just quadrupled overnight,” said Sue Minter, executive director of Capstone Community Action in Barre. “We had no anticipation or understanding of this. … People […]