Vermont Legislature

A largely party-line vote over S.127 on Friday after more than a week of discord among House lawmakers over the marquee infrastructure program.

It looked like reform efforts might implode completely earlier in the week, when Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth announced Tuesday that a majority of Democrats would not support the bill that his chamber’s leaders had crafted. But Thursday morning, he gave members of his caucus an ultimatum.

Democratic lawmakers have spent the last five years laying the groundwork for the most aggressive emissions-reduction policies Vermont has ever seen, but a political sea change after the November election has brought that work to a “standstill,” according to legislators and climate advocates.

A Tunbridge property owner is suing the town over who should be able to maintain a public trail on his land. The House Transportation Committee passed a bill that sides with the town, even as the lawsuit moves ahead in Orange County Superior Court.

Senate Democrats met Tuesday evening for a remarkably candid — and public — airing of ambivalence, anger, and anxiety about legislation they had scheduled for a floor vote on Wednesday morning.

“I can’t ever remember feeling as bad about a vote as I do on this one,” Sen. Ann Cummings, the Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told her colleagues after voting to advance the education reform bill Thursday. “But it will move us forward.”

Statewide, Vermont has already invested $37.5 million into PCB testing and remediation, and just a little over $3 million is left. More than half of all schools that fall under the state's mandate haven't even been tested yet.

Housing advocates say a cap on the amount of state tax revenue set aside for the new CHIP program would severely limit the number of homes that could be built with its help, among concerns about other restrictions.

A state budget plan that appears to have the support of Republican Gov. Phil Scott would hold back more than $100 million in anticipated revenue surpluses to deal with potential cuts to federal spending by Congress.

Under the bill, fathers in prison would be able to take parenting classes, visit with their children in a child-friendly space and talk to them via free video calls.