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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.
I would like to thank everyone that took the time to convey their opinion on H.44 Death with Dignity to me. I sincerely respect and appreciate every comment. Your opinion does matter whether or not we agree on the issue. In regards to this bill, most of the comments I received were for me to oppose the bill. In this case, it was easy for me to concur with their requests. My life experiences and conscience would not let me vote any other way. I could not support this bill and voted against its passage. The bill did fail by more than twenty votes on a roll call vote.
The next controversy swirled around H. 353 Employee Free Choice of Bargaining Representative. The bill made essentially one change to the labor laws effecting employees of UVM and the Vermont State Colleges employees. Under current law there is a two step process required for these people to form a union. There is a preliminary vote or card check as it is known and then a vote by secret ballot. The bill proposes to eliminate the vote by the secret ballot, which was the point of contention. I opposed the bill because I firmly believe that everyone has the right to vote by secret ballot.
H.527 Transportation bill, H.522 Viability of Vermont Agriculture and H.433 Workforce Development Programs and Internships are all very important bills but each had at least one controversial issue. I feel that each bill had one or two provisions that I didn’t like but there were a lot more good things than bad so, I supported each bill. All three bills passed the house and now move onto the Senate.
The institutions committee worked on two bills this week. Vermont requires that any person under the age of 21 and under the supervision of the corrections department without a high school diploma or GED must attend school. H.135 would increase the age requirement from 21 to 26. It is has been proven that receiving formal education does help prevent people from ending up back in corrections. The other bill we discussed would allow county courts to bond for capital improvements. We will take more testimony next week on these bills and then decide whether or not to vote them out of committee.
I am very disappointed and sorry to report that it is becoming more and more apparent that nothing substantial is going to happen with property tax reform, healthcare costs and affordable housing during this session.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
I can be reached here at the Statehouse by calling 1-800-322-5616 or by my cell 373-5960; My website address is Don Turner Jr.com or e-mail me at dturner@leg.state.vt.us. Thank you and have a great week.