Statehouse Headliners: New bills address guns, smoking age, background checks for homeschoolers and more

By Guy Page

Last week these bills were introduced, or released for introduction, into the Vermont House of Representatives:

H.30 makes it a crime for a person to possess a firearm if the person is the subject of a relief from abuse order.  Relief from abuse orders must require defendant to relinquish his or her firearms and other dangerous or deadly weapons until the order expires.  The court order shall require the relinquishment of all firearms and other weapons that are in the defendant’s possession, ownership, or control, or that another person possesses, owns, or controls on behalf of the defendant. Sponsors: Reps. Maxine Grad, Anne Pugh.

H.29 exempts feminine hygiene products from sales tax. Rep. Dr. George Till.

H.28 requires pharmacists to inform patients about disposal of unused regulated drugs. Rep. Till, others.

H.27 increases smoking age from 18 to 21 years of age. Rep. Till, others.

H.26 restricts retail and Internet sales of electronic cigarettes, liquid nicotine, and tobacco paraphernalia. Rep. Till, others.

H.25 permits electroconvulsive therapy only in hospital or state-qualified health care facilities. Reps. Donahue, Kitzmiller.

H.24 exempts from the Vermont criminal history record check fee individuals earning at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and the organizations that serve them. Rep. Lalonde, others.

H.23 creates checkoff on personal income tax return to allow taxpayers to designate funds to increasing organ donations. Rep. Lalonde, others.

H.22 expands types of hospitals for which the Green Mountain Care Board reviews the annual budget to include all hospitals that are not conducted, maintained, or operated by the State. Rep. Donahue.

H.21 prohibits so-called “freak show” display of individuals for money. Reps. Webb, Brumstead.

H.20 exempts from income taxation first $5,000 of military retirement income. Reps. Donahue, Goslant, others.

H.19 creates crime of sexual exploitation of a person in custody of law enforcement officer. Rep. Grad, others.

H.18 requires dollar value benefit of energy efficiency charge to be displayed on customers electricity bills. Rep. Sullivan.

H.17 allows mineral prospecting with a sluice box without a stream alteration permit, subject to conditions. Rep. Yantachka.

H.16 amends state boards and commissions law in keeping with recommendations of Sunset Advisory Commission.  Reps. Gannon, LaClair.

Senate

The following bills are scheduled to be introduced into the Vermont Senate:

S.12 extends three years, until 2022, the State Energy Management Program of energy conservation, renewable energy in state buildings. Sponsor: Sen. Tim Ashe

S.11 limits senatorial districts to a maximum of three members, beginning 2022 General Election. Sens. Ashe, Benning, Sirotkin.(Chittenden County now has six seats.

S.10 places all prekindergarten education under VT Dept. of Education. Clarifies quality criteria for pre-K providers. Sponsor: Sen. Philip Baruth.

S.9 requires criminal and child abuse background checks for operators of home study programs and any persons with ongoing contact with home study students. Sen. Baruth.

S.8 establishes minimum qualifications for candidates for Adjutant and Inspector General. AG must be VT resident, Lt. Colonel or above, on or eligible for active duty, and enrolled in Senior Service College. Sen. Jeannette White.

S.7 requires Green Mountain Care Board to determine social services integration into accountable care organizations. Sen. Ginny Lyons.

S.6 integrates Bright Futures Guidelines into primary care and social services. Sen. Lyons.

S.5 prohibits involuntary sterilization of individuals with an intellectual disability. Sen. Lyons.

S.4 Advisory Council on Child Poverty and Strengthening Families to accept charge of childhood trauma mitigation. Sen. Lyons, Sen. Debbie Ingram.

S.3 permits large capacity ammunition feeding devices of up to 30 rounds, up from current maximum of 10 rounds for long gun and 15 for handgun. Sen. John Rodgers.

S.2 permits large capacity ammunition feeding devices to be transferred from one immediate family member to another by a properly executed will. Sen. Rodgers.

S.1 repeals 7/1/2019 sunset of transporting large capacity ammunition feeding devices into Vermont for shooting competitions. Sen. Rodgers.

Statehouse Headliners is intended primarily to educate, not advocate. It is e-mailed to an ever-growing list of interested Vermonters, public officials and media. Guy Page is affiliated with the Vermont Energy Partnership; the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare; and Physicians, Families and Friends for a Better Vermont.

Image courtesy of Bruce Parker/TNR

7 thoughts on “Statehouse Headliners: New bills address guns, smoking age, background checks for homeschoolers and more

  1. S.22 is Senator Phil Baruth’s 2019 gun control bill. He wants mandatory locking up of
    your firearms and a 48 hours waiting period for the transfer of ownership of firearms.

    The mandatory locking of guns flies completely in the face of the 2008 Supreme Court
    of the United States (SCOTUS) decision in Heller v. District of Columbia. and the 2010
    SCOTUS decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Although the state is already in violation of the second amendment and state constitution any every elected official ,who willingly violated their oath by voting for S 55,what more harm is there in ignoring a decision of SCOTUS .

  2. I firmly back S1, S2, S3, S11. Also the number of Reps in Chittenden County of 35 should cut in half, in line with the rest of the state. Along with S11, that would reduce one country having all the power to force their liberalism onto the rest. There has to be a balance, I’ve mentioned it often. Power to the people, not to a minority. The state needs a reforming.

    S9, really? If home schooled by the parents, they need background checks? Sen. Baruth, you might have known. His Bill probably is intended for Private Home Schooling Centers (?), Also a barrier to exclude Charter Schools? But you know that will also include the parents eventually. The NEA, Unions, School Boards / systems don’t want home schooling, it cuts into their monopoly. A phase often heard and stated by these educators and paid-off Legislators (including going on teacher strikers in LA CA) “it’s for the Children”. Baruth should explain his actual motivation for his S9 Bill. Given his legislative history, he should take a long vacation and leave Vermonters alone.

    Cradle to grave gov control.

    • Home schooled children can not be indoctrinated with liberal programming so home schooling needs to be discouraged by legislating red tape.

  3. How ever did our nation survive and prosper without all this folderol for nearly two and a half centuries – and how much is it going to cost?

    • A great deal if not all of the issues here, are issues that did not exist in the centuries, decades before now. Time changes most things including countries

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