Rep. Heidi E. Scheuermann

As we begin our final week of the 2011 session (if all goes according to plan), work on various pieces of legislation is coming to a close.

Committees of Conference have been appointed and have begun their work negotiating the differences between the House and Senate versions of bills, and the hope is that all will be completed by Saturday, May 7th.

The first significant bill on which conferees reached agreement was the Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation Bill. A bill that in many previous years took a great deal of negotiating, this year's T-bill was noncontroversial.

Other bills currently being negotiated right now include H. 436, the Miscellaneous Tax Bill, H. 441, the Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations Bill, and H. 202, the Single-Payer Health Care Bill.

There will be additional bills sent to Conference Committees, as well, on which many of us will keep a close eye. I've learned throughout the years that anything can happen in conference, so everybody needs to pay attention.

For the schedule of the Conference Committee meetings, and any further information, click here.

No Property Tax Reform Again This Year

While many, including myself, continue to fight for education funding reform and property tax relief, another year will pass without any. Unfortunately, as Vermont families and businesses continue to struggle with very high property taxes, and our schools continue to cut drastically their academic and athletic programs, legislative leadership and the Shumlin Administration refuse to address, in any significant way, this critical issue.

Much of the opposition to reform has centered around local control. Proponents of the current system argue that the kind of reform for which I and others have advocated would take away local control. Ironically, the same people who argue for local control put forward and passed a bill today (page 2575 of Calendar) prohibiting schools and districts from buying certain cleaning products, requiring all schools and districts to buy other certain cleaning products, and even banning air fresheners altogether in schools.

I have argued for years that we eliminated local control in 1997 with the passage of Act 60. If this bill isn't proof of that, I'm not sure what would be.