1. My Committee Work a. Sex Crimes/Community Safety. My committee, House Judiciary started taking testimony on the omnibus sex crime bill that I worked on this summer. The Senate is expected to pass it any day now. We will spend our committee time almost solely on this bill with the hope to pass it in two weeks. The bill is very comprehensive. We will take testimony from the Attorney General's office, Public Safety, victims advocates, Defender General, department of education, department of corrections, League of Cities and Towns, ACLU, victims, the judiciary, and more.

So far we have heard testimony on the issues of DNA collection, if Vermont should join 42 other states that do not allow depositions of state witnesses and the importance of Special Investigation Units ( SIU's). According to the Attorney General's Office, SIU's are a top priority. My committee expanded SIU throughout the state in our 2006 legislation. They have not been adequately staffed and funded however.

The committees on House Human Services, Institutions and Corrections and Education will also review portions of the bill where they have jurisdiction.

b. Highway Safety. I will be introducing a comprehensive bill on highway safety with an emphasis on junior operators. It will be similar to what passed the House last session. We began taking testimony on the issue. We heard from members of the law enforcement community and AAA that this is a priority for them, especially the passage of a primary seatbelt law. We also heard from the Governor's Highway Safety Program supporting prohibition of cell phones and electronic devices, the need for a primary seatbelt law, night time curfew for junior operators and the importance of maintaining our current passenger restrictions in our graduated license laws and not relaxing them due to inconvenience of compliance. Highway youth fatalities are still considered a public heath threat as youth are disproportionately represented in the number of crashes. These are preventable, and continue to be a priority for me and my committee.

c. Judiciary Budget While my committee generally does not get involved in budgetary issues, we do review the judicial branch's budget. One of the savings measures the Supreme Court is looking at is closing the courts for up to 12 days—the amount allowed by law, as well as other lay-offs, vacancy savings, and elimination of programs.

The impact of cost savings measures on Vermonter's constitutional rights of access to the courts, justice and a right to a speedy trial is an issue that my committee and I are very concerned about. It is unclear how far the judicial branch can go before rights are violated. It is also unclear how to measure those outcomes. This is something we will continue to look at.

Reports From Other Committees— the following is submitted from House members of the committees below.

2. Natural Resources House Natural Resources and Energy will focus most of its efforts this session on two critical and interrelated areas: (1) how to expedite, site, and deploy new renewable energy sources in Vermont, and (2) the pending question of the continued operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. It expects to be very busy with these issues, but specific legislation has not yet reached the committee.

It took testimony on H.6, which would require any engine coolant or antifreeze sold in Vermont to contain a bittering agent, making the liquid unpalatable to animals and children.

3. Education

The Education committee with its five new members has committed themselves to examining every idea relative to the quality, costs, and financing of public education. It is also committed to ensuring that the quality of a child's educational experience does not depend on where he/she lives or the wealth of his/her family or community. It will not retreat from the goal of guaranteeing that every student in the state has equal opportunity to take the rigorous and challenging course work necessary to be successful in life.

The Ed committee heard the administration proposal for a one-year freeze of funds to local school boards. The proposal would put any additional spending onto the local property tax where there is a tremendous difference in the ability of towns to raise revenues. It also calls for a reduction in the amount of general fund transfer to the education fund, a transfer of the teacher's retirement obligation to the Ed Fund and to level fund all categorical aid programs including special education, technical education, transportation and small schools. How these programs, some of which are mandates, are to be funded is unclear. But the only local source of revenue is the property tax. This proposal is not a plan to change education funding, but a delay for one year while a plan is developed. No plan was offered at this time.

4. Transportation

The transportation committee is receiving reports from each department in the agency. Its first job is budget adjustment. Because of rescissions the committee is facing a year filled with difficult choices.

The committee heard extensive testimony from Rail Program Manager, Robert Ide concerning needs and future plans for the VT Rail System. Under special scrutiny is the Administration's proposed cut to the Ethan Allen Amtrak Service and its economic impact to the western side of the State. The agency proposed that the Ethan Allen line would be replaced with a bus from St. Albans to the Albany, NY train station with stops in Burlington, Rutland, Manchester, and Bennington. The bus would be run by Amtrak, would cost approximately the same.

Please stay in touch: maxjg@wcvt.com; 828-228 (State House) 496-4244 (home)