“Go home... we don’t need any more laws from Montpelier.”

That’s an oft-heard public call. So how many bills did we actually pass in 2010? Roughly 115.

Roughly? My count may have missed some bills that got combined within one title for expediency, or new law contained within some of the “big bills”: appropriations; the capital bill; and so forth.

Take heart. That 115 was distilled from 749 bills introduced in the House, and 298 introduced in the Senate; 1,047 in all. We may not have passed a general cell phone ban, but we also didn’t take up a ban on driving with a pet in one’s lap.

The majority of these did not create new laws to burden the people of Vermont. They fixed or updated existing laws. These are what most committees work on. Only a few focus on the headliners.

There were 20 bills stranded after being passed by only one house. (Some of those did get inserted into other bills, which makes them very hard to track.)

We may be holding an override vote June 9 on the current use appraisal bill, otherwise none of these appear likely to be vetoed.

This is the record of how we spent our time this year, for better or for worse, in the effort to make Vermont better.

The largest subgroup – 12 – were approvals of local town charter changes.

Four were changes to be in line with amendments to Interstate Compacts: the uniform anatomical gift act, the uniform common interest ownership act, the national crime prevention and privacy compact, and the interstate compact on juveniles.

There are three new areas of licensing: plant and tree nurseries, landscape architects, and loan servicers.

We created 11 new councils or committees: a pre-kindergarten-12 council; an agricultural development board and an agricultural innovation authority; a livestock care standards board; the “Building Bright Futures” council (an existing early childhood council now in law); an advisory committee for drinking water supplies; the Vermont farmer’s market association; a labor advisory council; a utilization review board for state health programs; a challenges for change board; and an economic development oversight panel.

We also revoked 32 various boards or commissioners that were determined to no longer be worthwhile.

BILLS THAT AMENDED EXISTING LAW in various smaller ways included these 38:

Technical changes to management of state archives; minor adjustments to public retirement systems; miscellaneous liquor license revisions; defining “premise” for liquor licenses; preventing duplication among state health records; preventing ticket scalping; permitting for-profit inclusion for investment grants for the farm-to-plate program;

Also, placing a moratorium on new home health agencies, and requiring that transportation be considered in new health care development; increasing penalties for employee misclassification; excluding small composting from Act 250; and allowing the state treasurer an added permitted investment;

Also, reducing the town size requirement for early ballot counting; updates to regulation of professions; clarifying rights regarding mobile home; adding the definition of a “vulnerable user” of a roadway for safe passing and bicycle operations; reauthorizing the Lake Champlain reciprocal fishing license; and expanding regulation of encroachments (such as piers) to include rivers;

Then, allowing sole survivor parents to use the simpler small estate probate provision along with sole survivor spouses (my bill to remedy what Ben Carr’s parents faced after the former Northfield Transcript editor’s drowning); expanding federal fuel assistance to a larger group by reducing average payments; and maximizing access to federal food stamps (now called “3SquaresVT”);

Further, allowing tenant access to undisputed portions of deposits; agricultural agency positions, commercial slaughter operations, and health certification for imported animals; standards for boilers; updating of commercial licenses and vehicles law; and miscellaneous revisions to regulations in banking, insurance, securities, and health care administration;

Also, adding to the crime of voyeurism (my floor amendment removed an unconstitutional provision); testing of milk, raw milk standards and unlawful cutting of trees; revisions to municipal audits; limiting experience rating on successor businesses; and technical corrections to the trust laws;

Then, revising psychiatric hospital referrals for evaluation of competence to stand trial (a late bill I worked on with a subcommittee to reach consensus among involved parties, to ensure only those who need inpatient care after a criminal change are held in a hospital);

Finally, allowing defendants to waive a statute of limitations; technical corrections to the 2009 sex offender statute; revising disability parking; election recounts and filings; growth center designation revisions; clarifying electronic payment of wages; and the annual bill adjusting state fees.

BILLS THAT CREATED NEW LAW ranged from the tame to the complex, including these: notice regarding drinking water and wastewater permits; a multi-faceted renewable energy bill; significant changes for solvency of the teacher’s retirement system; creation of an agriculture innovation center; a river management program to identify best practices; and changing the primary election to the fourth Tuesday in August;

Also, farm employee housing; hazing policies at independent colleges; insurance for volunteer drivers; consumer information after mortgage applications; mediation before foreclosure; tracking of “tax expenditures” (taxes lost through exemptions); and voluntary guardianships;

Also, state law enforcement operating under the public safety commissioner; protecting military parents’ rights; towns’ ability to recover costs of fire calls; penalties for interference with service animals; maintenance of private roads; and an electronic waste recycling program (free.)

Further, banning felt-soled waders; moving remains from historic burial sites (with my amendment to make the use of a professional archeologist a probate court option, not a mandate); and a mentored hunting license (I successfully urged “under the supervision” of a licensed hunter to mean within 15 feet, instead of within sight.)

Then, authorizing sale of the Brighton airport; addressing human trafficking; dairy stabilization; creating benefit corporations; adding autism to insurance coverage; phased ban of the chemical bisphenol A in food containers; and retiring outdoor woodfired boilers that violate air standards;

Finally, salvage yard standards; ignition interlock devices for impaired driver convictions; incentives for state employees with cost-savings ideas; commercial use of the interstate; representational meetings for large towns; and protection for businesses against credit card costs.

The tax bill components have been widely covered in the news media, as has the annual budget, but among the year’s most contentious bills was “Challenges for Change,” which challenged us to revise services to be more efficient to make up $38 million removed from the budget in advance.

THE RESPONSE TO CHALLENGES REQUIRED 28 CHANGES in law under this single umbrella, including: suspension of use of an independent expert for information technology investments; hunting license point-of-sale; and authority of “charter agencies” to revise fees and reinvestment;

Also, interventions for families in sanction under Reach-Up after four months; enhanced enforcement for child support; expedited hearings (11 days) for appeals of reduced developmental services benefits; chronic care management for Medicaid clients through the “Blueprint for Health” initiative; and expanded utilization review for state health programs;

In criminal law, new remedies for failure to pay fines; home detention for pre-trial detainees; expanded use of diversion and of community reparation; graduated sanctions for probation violations; and earlier furlough eligibility;

For agencies of agriculture and natural resources, and the Public Service Board, various revised notice and time lines; uses of internet replacing newspaper notices; affirmation as a means of compliance review for permits and orders of compliance; waiver of process for air contaminant permit renewals; solid waste facility licenses from five to ten years; and cost reimbursements to ANR by permit applicants;

Finally, performance contracts for economic development and regional planning; added authorities of regional planning commissions; expansion of apprenticeship training for master plumbers and electricians; and legislative calendars available to public by web only.

ALL THAT IS TO SAY NOTHING of the well publicized, multi-part major bills: the restructuring of the state’s judicial system; reassessment of sentencing, probation, and bail to reduce the state’s prison growth; or the ban on texting and junior operator cell phone use;

Or, changes to the unemployment compensation system to guide it out of bankruptcy; enticements for school districts to merge (within a bill I introduced including students with disabilities in graduation activities); the jobs bill; and a route for recognizing native American tribes;

Finally, the health care reform bill to design three potential new financing systems, while also expanding the current medical home and community team model throughout the state.

None of this is very explanatory. Does something catch your eye? Do you want to find out more? That’s the key to this list, so feel free to call (485-6431), email counterp@tds.net), or write (148 Donahue Drive, Northfield), and I’ll get you the details.