News from Montpelier 2020 overtime week 5

The House Transportation committee met Thursday morning to take testimony on amendments to S.339 an act relating to miscellaneous changes to laws related to vehicles. The committee supported the amendments and the bill as amended passed third reading on the floor later that morning.
Tuesday through Friday Floor sessions encompassed the passage of much legislation. Three resolutions; J.R.S.58 joint resolution relating to weekend adjournment, J.R.S.54 Joint resolution relating to the annual land transactions and H.R.21 House resolution commemorating the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth and recognizing our State’s and Nation’s continuing struggle for racial equality were taken up and passed, two on Roll Call votes; J.R.S.58 due to a glitch in the voting platform and for H.R.21 a member’s request made and sustained.
H.435 an act relating to the Board of Medical Practice and the licensure of physicians and podiatrists, H.788 an act relating to technical corrections for the 2020 legislative session and H.936 an act relating to sexual exploitation of children were all passed in concurrence with Senate proposals of amendment. The changes for each bill were deemed minor or based on action taken by other legislation and supported by the committee presenting the legislation. Two other bills permitting local option taxes on select services, H.943 an act relating to the charter of the City of St. Albans and H.946 an act relating to adoption of the Charter or the Town of Elmore were both passed with an amendment to each from the Appropriation Committee which clarified the permitted use of the tax to be collected.
H.611 an act relating to the Older Vermonters Act, H.607 an act relating to increasing the supply of primary care providers in Vermont, H.963 an act relating to judiciary procedures and H.962 an act relating to the duration of temporary relief from abuse orders were all passed after floor debate. Amendments were made in some cases to respond to changes since they were drafted prior to the COVID-19 crisis.
H.965 an act relating to healthcare-and human services- related Appropriations from the Coronavirus Relief Fund and H.966 an act relating to COVID-19 broadband connectivity and housing initiatives were both passed the latter with two substantial amendments. One amendment was offered by members of the Committee on Human Services and the other by members of the Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. Roll call votes were requested and sustained for both of these bills.

I offer my deep gratitude to each and every one of you who are being cautious in contact but taking care of and serving our community. I can be reached at bmurphy@leg.state.vt.us or 802-849-6545.

Use the following link for the most current updates to the Governor’s Be Smart, Stay Safe Order
https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19 The Northwest Regional Planning Commission has an extensive listing of informative links as well https://www.nrpcvt.com