It was good news this week when the administration reported
to our committee that it has finally agreed to consider using a federal health
insurance exchange if Vermont Health Connect does not become fully functional
by this May. Next week, we will begin looking at proposed bill language that
would establish a clear time line for this decision-making process.
This follows a week after agreeing, under growing pressure,
to allow individuals to enroll in Health Connect plans directly with carriers
next fall. So there may be light at the end of the tunnel. These are both
“fixes” that I have been fighting for.
Important news for Berlin and Northfield: the House Fish,
Wildlife and Water Resources Committee has decided that it will not take up a
bill that would have allowed towns to prohibit fishing, swimming and boating on
their drinking water sources that are located in other towns.
This bill was brought by Montpelier representatives to gain
control over the use of Berlin Pond. The committee determined that these
decisions require the consistency of state, not local oversight, since water is
a public trust.
Meanwhile, a number of policy bills occupied House floor
time in the week after the crossover deadline for House bills heading to the
Senate. Next week is the deadline for money bills. Most House Committees will
now spend the rest of this session reviewing bills sent over by the Senate.
Here is a sampling of House bills passed and sent to the
Senate:
Revenge Use of
Sexually Explicit Photos
Taking photos of someone who is nude or involved in sexual
activities in places where they have an expectation of privacy is already
illegal. But what if one consents to pictures being taken (“just having fun,”
or because it’s within a trusting relationship, “just between us,”) and when a
relationship turns sour, the pictures get posted on Facebook in revenge – or
worse yet, for profit?
The point of this bill is to make that a crime, ranging from
misdemeanor to felony depending on the level of harmful intent of the person
doing the posting. When technology changes, and a new means of people harming
other people emerges, we need new laws to address it.
There is always a balance required by the First Amendment.
What you do in the town square (that is, with no reasonable expectation of
privacy), can’t be blocked from being filmed as it happens or from being
transmitted later. I introduced an amendment to help clarify this in order to
protect the integrity of the new law, and it was adopted on the floor.
Accessible Roads for
Trailer Parks
There is a good amount of law on the books to protect the
rights of mobile home park tenants to have safe premises, but concerns arose
after Irene about the failure of some owners to maintain safe road access for
emergency vehicles. This bill automatically deems it a safety hazard if there
is not reasonable access, and allows for withholding of rent or for fines up to
$10,000 for a single violation.
“Reasonable” (to the tenant) was the sticking point for me: that
isn’t a very clear standard. As any of us living on dirt roads know, that there
can be times, whether in mud season or in the middle of a snowstorm, that roads
are impassible. It is the town that determines what is reasonable to maintain
safe access, not any one of us as an individual – and we can’t withhold
property taxes if we disagree with the town.
Thus despite supporting the intent of this bill, I but voted
no on the first vote; it passed on a 95-47 roll call.
The next day, we received additional information about the
mechanisms within existing law that enables the owners to resolve problems, and
that provide eternal review. Based on this, I was, along with others, able to
shift to support the bill on its second vote; the roll call was 117-24. Details
can matter!
When Do Kids Become
Adults?
Vermont is only one of two states in the country that allows
the start of the prosecution of any level of crime by a 16- or 17-years-old to
be in adult court. Most state systems require serious crimes to go to adult
court, and allow a Family Court to send other felony charges to adult court,
but Vermont allows total discretion by prosecutors on that decision including
for misdemeanors.
Among other things, it means that if the court later decides
that the situation is more appropriate for Family Court, it’s already too late
in terms of the public record. A 16-year-old making a youthful mistake may
already have his or her name in the paper as an arrested criminal.
This bill requires the initial charge filed by law
enforcement to be cited as a juvenile offense (other than in serious crimes);
then the prosecutor can file it in the court he or she deemes appropriate. This
is still far less protective than 48 other states, since the prosecutor, not
the court, makes that decision. But it is a step forward. I voted yes.
This went hand-in-hand with a bill the week prior that
banned a sentence of life without the chance for parole for crimes committed before
age 18. It doesn’t mean that an offender cannot be held for life imprisonment,
but it means that there must at least be the opportunity for a parole board to
eventually consider whether a release is appropriate. I also supported this.
Limited Liability
Corporations
This bill rewrote the law on the licensing and functioning
of a type of corporate entity. It was 80 pages long in the calendar, and is a
good example of a type of bill that a representative cannot fully understand –
either by reading it or listening to the floor presentation – without having
been part of the detailed committee consideration. How does one decide how to
vote? There is reliance on the committee process and the reassurance of an 11-0
vote by the members of that committee. It passed on a unanimous floor vote.
Emergency Involuntary
Procedures
Last year, we addressed the difficult balance between
individual rights and involuntary treatment when a person with a mental illness
is objecting to the use of medication. This year, we looked at a similar issue
when a court is not involved, because there is an immediate emergency regarding
self-harm or harm to others by a person within a hospital.
Vermont sets a “best practices” standard that is above the
“floor” set by federal rules, and this bill clarified certain parts of
requirements under state rules. I was concerned that we were not including
children under these protections, and offered an amendment that included them
while also allowing variation where the best practice standard might differ for
children. This amendment was accepted unanimously on the floor.
Town and School
Budget Reports
The week before town meeting, there was a Front Porch Forum
exchange on the subject of our state law regarding the distribution of town
reports. The Government Operations Committee took a look at the issue this
week, and concluded that the law is clear: a town can either individually mail
or deliver the reports within 10 days in advance, or it can – by vote of the
residents – give notice of where it is available, within 30 days prior to town
meeting.
It appears that many towns, like Northfield, have recognized
that individual delivery is too costly and making it easily available in public
locations makes more sense. But they haven’t necessarily held the required vote
to do so, and don’t have it available 30 days in advance.
It seems that the state should either expect the existing law
to be followed, or change the law to follow the change in standard practice;
the committee will continue to consider this issue.
Major Bills Pending
There are major bills getting media attention because they
were voted on by committees, but that will not actually reach the House floor
until next week or later because they have a secondary or third committee that
must review them, most often based upon taxes or spending. These include the
education funding reform bill (with proposed spending cap), the transportation
funding bill, the water quality bill, and the ban on teacher strikes. Underlying
all of them is the general fund budget, which is projected to be up for debate
on the floor this Thursday and Friday.
Please keep sending me
your thoughts and concerns – they are important to me. Contact me any time via
messages at the state house (828-2228), home (485-6431) or by email:
counterp@tds.net. You can read my past updates on my blog site,
www.representativeannedonahue.blogspot.com.
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