Latest News
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
As I mentioned last week, I had a very difficult time voting no on a bill that was suppose to improve development conditions and promote housing creation in Vermont. As each day has passed, I feel better and better about my decision. The bill has been being discussed in the Natural Resources committee all week. They have determined, as I had felt and expressed by my “no” vote, that there were many problems with the bill. That committee is now poised to make several substantive changes to the bill. At this time, I am not sure whether these changes are going to be good or bad. Time will certainly tell.... More >>
Friday, February 15th, 2008
This week at the Statehouse, was filled with stress and emotion for me. As I have stated over and over again, there is shortage of affordable workforce housing in our state. This is creating a significant economic problem for the State. There is a need to pass legislation this session that will enable the creation of new housing units for these people, our families. However, I feel that my opportunity to influence change is now and I must continue to express my position on this issue whether it is popular or not with the current legislative leadership.... More >>
Friday, February 8th, 2008
As we conclude our fifth week of the session, we are beginning to spend more and more time on the house floor. I was remiss in reporting to you about an issue that came up last week that had the potential to save and then re-allocate $1 million to assist low income Vermonters with their heating costs. While we were discussing the budget adjustment act for this fiscal year, an amendment was proposed to establish April 12, 2008 as the final day of this legislative session. By ending the session on that date the state would have realized a $1 million savings related to the cost of operating the legislature. I voted in favor of the amendment but, it was eventually defeated.... More >>
Friday, January 25th, 2008
This week at the Statehouse, I have again been immersed in discussions surrounding housing. I have participated in several meetings with housing stakeholders determined to create new housing opportunities in Vermont. The shortage of affordable or workforce housing is creating a significant economic problem for the State, businesses, their employees and families. We need to pass legislation this session that will enable the creation of new housing units for this sector of society. I feel that by helping to shape the future of housing in Vermont, my presence in Montpelier is now worthwhile and making a difference.... More >>
Friday, January 18th, 2008
This week at the Statehouse, the discussions began around energy costs, healthcare reform and revenue projections for the state economy. The legislative economist concurred with the administrations economist and projected a very tight fiscal year. The budget process will probably be very contentious this year because no one is going to want to be responsible for under funding or cutting programs that serve the citizens of our state.... More >>
Friday, January 11th, 2008
It's hard to believe that another legislative session has begun. On Tuesday January 8, 2008 I reported back to Montpelier for the start of my third session as a member of the legislature. As with every year, I begin with much anticipation, excitement and optimism. However, this year I feel that I am beginning the session with more optimism than I have ever had. The gavel to start the session fell at approximately 10:15 AM and shortly thereafter I was re-assigned from the Institutions and Corrections Committee to the committee on Housing, General and Military Affairs. This move was initiated by the Speaker of the House after meeting with me here in Milton in early December. I had requested a meeting with the Speaker to discuss housing issues and to share some of my idea's on housing initiatives for the state. After our meeting she contacted me to see if I would be interested in a move to the Housing Committee. This was a great opportunity for me to make a positive difference and I accepted her invitation to be re-assigned. I have been involved in the housing and real estate industries my entire life. Serving on this committee will hopefully give me an opportunity to help shape the future of housing in Vermont.... More >>
Sunday, May 13th, 2007
The end of the session has arrived and things are happening fast and furious. We spent most of the week on the floor, working late into the night on Friday, all day and late into the night Saturday debating the most important issues of the session. The session ended with an encouraging speech from the Governor, expressions of gratitude from House leadership and the final fall of the gavel at 10:45 PM Saturday night.... More >>
Sunday, May 6th, 2007
Several controversial items were brought onto the floor of the house this week. Primary seatbelt enforcement came in the form of a new bill, cellular telephone usage while driving, curfew on junior operators, medical marijuana and a prescription drug manufacturer’s tax were all passed the House. These issues resulted in many hours of debate and several roll call votes on each issue.... More >>
Friday, April 27th, 2007
The session finally appears to be winding down. Conference committees are being set-up to address House and Senate bill discrepancies. With the exception of Wednesday, it was a pretty uneventful week. That was the day the statehouse was filled to capacity with approximately three hundred fifty impeachment supporters. This is the most people I have ever encountered in my tenure at the Statehouse. The air was filled with emotion, many people were on edge and anxious to get this behind us. When the resolution came up for a vote, it was requested that it be by roll call. This puts each and every member on the record regarding this issue. The debate lasted less than an hour and when the votes were counted it had failed by a large margin. I feel that this unbinding resolution was a waste of Vermont taxpayer dollars. I voted NO and think that we should be spending our time on issues that can ultimately make a difference to Vermonters.... More >>
Friday, April 20th, 2007
Another exciting week here at the statehouse. Three controversial items were brought onto the floor of the house this week, the primary seatbelt enforcement law, gas guzzlers tax and the school bus idling law were presented as amendments to Senate bills. This resulted in many hours of debate and a roll call vote on each amendment.... More >>
Friday, April 13th, 2007
This week, most of my time was spent in committee listening to testimony on several important issues. The one large bill that did pass the house was H.523 An Act Related to Moving Families out of Poverty. This bill modifies the way Vermont disperses federal assistance to low income Vermonters. The bill was well over eighty pages, was very complicated and difficult to understand. I didn’t feel that I totally understood all of the changes or there implications and did not vote for this bill.... More >>
Friday, April 6th, 2007
Another busy week here at the Statehouse. We spent most of our time on the house floor debating several important bills. The education, appropriations and energy bills were passed by the house this week.... More >>
Friday, March 30th, 2007
The education cost containment or property tax reform bill that the house education committee has worked on this entire session hit a road block this week. It appears that the bill did not have enough supporters to pass the house and was sent back to the committee for additional work. I have not made a decision on whether or not to support the bill as originally proposed.... More >>
Friday, March 23rd, 2007
It has been a very emotional week here at the Statehouse. We spent most of our time on the house floor debating several controversial bills. H.44 Death with Dignity, H.353 Employee Free Choice of Bargaining Representative, H.527 Transportation bill, H.433 Workforce Development Programs and Internships, H.522 Viability of Vermont Agriculture and several other technical correction bills were debated for many, many hours during the week.... More >>
Sunday, March 4th, 2007
I am happy to report that our town of Milton is going to be receiving $1,390,000 from the capital budget that was passed with very little debate on Thursday by the house. This is very gratifying to me as I have spent the last nine weeks working on this bill in the Institutions Committee.... More >>
Saturday, February 24th, 2007
This was a very busy week for our committee. We were told that the capital bill had to be voted out by Friday February 23, 2007. The total amount we were authorized to spend was $49.2 million and we had department requests that totaled $156.3 million. We spent many hours going through the spreadsheet and written portion of the bill reallocating money and fine tuning language.... More >>
Sunday, February 18th, 2007
This is the first time this session that we spent more time on the house floor than we did in committee. The three big issues of the week were the non-binding resolution on the Iraq war, the Budget Adjustment Act and the election of the Adjutant General, Sergeant of Arms and three UVM Trustees.... More >>
Sunday, February 11th, 2007
The sixth week of the legislative session found the Institutions Committee deep into testimony for the Capital Construction Bill. We began and ended the week with testimony on the Bennington State Office Building and the issue of employees’ health problems.... More >>
Friday, January 26th, 2007
Again this week, most of my time has been spent listening to testimony in committee with very little time on the floor of the house.... More >>
Friday, January 19th, 2007
It is hard to believe that another week has already passed. We have been spending very little time on the floor of the house, so I will report on what we have been discussing in the Institutions and Corrections committee.... More >>
1 2 NEXT >>