Wed, 06/02/2021 - 10:57am tim
by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine For those betting against a veto session this year, you will need to find your Venmo password. Governor Phil Scott yesterday vetoed two bills that would allow non-citizen voting in Montpelier and Winooski. Up to this point Scott had only vetoed one bill. That bill was related to raising the age of who legally would be considered a juvenile. That bill probably needed more work to tighten up the language and process and probably would not have triggered a veto session. But the vetoes of the voting rights bills have guaranteed that lawmakers will return to Montpelier at the end of this month.
A set of laws recently passed by the Michigan House of Representatives would make it cheaper for Michigan gun owners to conceal their pistols while carrying.
A set of laws recently passed by the Michigan House of Representatives would make it cheaper for Michigan gun owners to conceal their pistols while carrying.
Tue, 05/18/2021 - 4:31pm tim
Vermont Business Magazine Today, the Vermont Legislature sent to the governor, S15, a bill which makes universally mailed ballots a permanent feature of Vermont’s general elections. The bill also allows voters to fix or “cure” a ballot if it has been deemed defective. At his Tuesday press briefing, Governor Scott said he would sign the bill once it received the usual legal vetting and reached his desk. He also said he hopes that this type of voting will be expanded to all types of elections.
The general election typically gets the highest percentage of the electorate involved, but it is the local elections which sometimes draw scant turnout. He said this kind of ease-of-voting option for local elections could increase participation.
Senate committee budget vote delayed until next week
As the end of the week approached, the Senate Appropriations Committee was still finalizing FY 2022 budget details, and a planned Friday vote was pushed until Monday. On Wednesday, Committee Chair Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, expressed repeated frustration that she was still receiving bills and specific appropriation requests from committees, including H.171 (a child care bill) and H.360 (a broadband bill). Those attempting to follow the budget deliberations were likewise frustrated by the lack of documents and transparency in the process.
Some of the delay in the always-complex legislative budget process is due to the influx of federal funding coming to Vermont from the American Rescue Plan, and disagreements between the administration and the legislature on how and when ARPA money should be spent. The House-passed budget included $650 million of ARPA dollars, and the administration immediately opposed what they viewed was a prema