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Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Most of my time this week at the Statehouse was spent in my committee, Commerce and Economic Development. Our committee was summoned to the Speakers office early Tuesday morning for an important announcement. Chair Kitzmiller read aloud his letter to the Speaker resigning from the chairmanship. The speaker made very few comments and then proceeded to inform us that Bill Botzow would assume the role as chairman of the committee effective immediately. We then returned to the committee where Warren and Bill switched seats and we resumed our work. This is the first time in my five sessions of service where a chairman has been replaced mid-term. Although, from my perspective this caused very little disruption and the new Chairman has had a very positive impact on the committee operation to date. We started on time, witnesses were given specific instructions on time and topic, everyone got to ask questions in an orderly manner and the sessions ended on time. I hope that this continues throughout the rest of the session.
We heard testimony on several areas this week including electric utility smart grid technology, a bill that would require insurance companies to offer auto insurance to cooperatively owned personal vehicles, a bill that would require insurance companies to pay fire departments for responding to hazardous material incidents, sustainable economic development, job creation and mis-classification of employees as subcontractors in the workers compensation insurance field.
The committee also completed its work on the Challenges for Change directive. This directive is an attempt by legislative leadership and the Douglas administration to work together to make state government more efficient and effective. The House and Senate committees of jurisdiction had each generated proposals that were slightly different. These proposals had to be melded together prior to being sent to appropriations for adoption. This was accomplished by inviting Senator Miller into our committee to discuss each item and to explain the Senates ideas. After much discussion the work was fine tuned and both committees were satisfied with the results. Our outcomes remained focused on jobs and telecommunication infrastructure.
The House did pass two important bills this week. One bill pertained to Military personnel parental custody arrangements while deployed and the other dealt with the Vermont Current Use Tax program. I voted for the military custody bill and against the current use tax program because I feel that it changed the rules for people in the middle of the process.
On Thursday, I spent some time with two sixth grade classes from Milton Elementary School who were visiting the Statehouse with their teachers Hillary Dana and Judy Brace. Friday Pastor Randy Boardman from the Harvest Baptist Church spent the day shadowing me at the Statehouse. Hosting friends and constituents at the Statehouse is one of the things I enjoy most about serving in the legislature. If you would like to visit the Statehouse please feel free to contact me to arrange a date and time.
As your representative, I look forward to representing you and your concerns in Montpelier. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns. I am very interested in hearing from you. During the session, I can be reached at the Statehouse by calling 1-800-322-5616 or by cell at 373-5960. My email address is dturner@leg.state.vt.us. My web-site address is www.donturnerjr.com. Thank you and have a great week.