Legislative Update- March 28, 2022
Matt with a rare opportunity to sit in a Senators committee chair
Matt Musgrave and Shawn Rouleau returned to the statehouse in person for the first time in 2 years to meet with members of the House Commerce Committee, Governors’ administration, CTE directors and Vermont Housing and Conservation Boards (VHCB) Gus Seelig to discuss a new workforce idea. The plan would allocate $10-15 million to the VHCB who would grant funds to purchase blighted properties (preferably housing) and work with general contractors to give hands on experience to students of CTE programs. The discussion identified challenges, opportunities and benefits the program would provide to people entering the trades. “In order for this program to be successful we will need to see an increase in the number of students graduating from those programs; not just taxpayer money diverted to property improvements from the education fund”, Matt explained to the group. Matt also suggested that any properties improved for housing should include a provision that makes them affordable and available to the workforce rather than real estate speculators.
The legislature has moved into high gear now that town meeting week has arrived. That means they have only 4 working days left before crossover if they want to keep bills they have been working on alive. If a bill does not “cross over” to the opposite chamber (House or Senate) the bill will fail until next session unless rules are suspended which only occurs in rare cases.
AGC/VTs lobbying team has been working with VTRANS to craft language that would exempt construction workers performing road work from H.466s registration and eventual permit process for withdrawing surface water. The exemption is because the withdrawals are necessary to comply with dust mitigation for the Clean Air Act and engineering requirements including water use in asphalt rollers. In most of the cases water that is extracted is left back in the same watershed that it was removed. The Senate will take this policy up after crossover.
The legislature has moved into high gear now that town meeting week has arrived. That means they have only 4 working days left before crossover if they want to keep bills they have been working on alive. If a bill does not “cross over” to the opposite chamber (House or Senate) the bill will fail until next session unless rules are suspended which only occurs in rare cases.
AGC/VTs lobbying team has been working with VTRANS to craft language that would exempt construction workers performing road work from H.466s registration and eventual permit process for withdrawing surface water. The exemption is because the withdrawals are necessary to comply with dust mitigation for the Clean Air Act and engineering requirements including water use in asphalt rollers. In most of the cases water that is extracted is left back in the same watershed that it was removed. The Senate will take this policy up after crossover.
Our Government Affairs Committee is meeting regularly and if you would like to participate, please email matt@agcvt.org.
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Click Here For The William Shouldice and Associates weekly report.
