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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.
I have also started to feel some of the fallout from my decision to oppose the bill. Early in the week, I had requested to testify in front of the Natural resources committee. I wanted to share some of my thoughts pertaining to real estate sales and development. I was looking for a way to stay involved in the process, not for a platform to speak against the bill. My request was denied by the Chairman of the committee and I was informed that he felt I had nothing more to contribute to this discussion. This was very disheartening but, it will not discourage me from continuing to work on this very important issue.
Now that our committee has completed its work on the housing bill, we have started looking at several new bills. The bill topics include: liquor control issues, mobile home financing, and breastfeeding in the workplace, OSHA 10 safety training and exempting campgrounds from the landlord tenant laws.
These issues are all very interesting and many of the witnesses are very passionate about getting a bill passed this session to resolve their concern. The committee took testimony on all of these issues and decided that the only bill that they could support at this time was the exemption of campgrounds from the landlord tenant laws. The bill passed on a 7-0-1 vote. We will be taking additional testimony on the other issues in the weeks to come.
One of the things I enjoy most about serving in the legislature is hosting friends and constituents at the Statehouse. If you would like to visit the Statehouse please feel free to contact me to arrange a date and time. I enjoy representing you and your concerns in Montpelier. I am also very interested in hearing from you during the session or at anytime throughout the year. I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions, comments or issues of concern. I can be reached at the Statehouse by calling 1-800-322-5616 or by cell at 373-5960. My e-mail address is dturner@leg.state.vt.us. My web-site address is www.donturnerjr.com. Thank you and have a great week.