With Route 108 through Smugglers Notch shuttered for the season, the perennial issue of trucks getting lodged there — known as a “stuckage” — is less of a concern for state officials right now than, say, plowing and salting the roads. But stuckages were top of mind in the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday morning, and specifically, a question that has vexed lawmakers and state transportation officials for years: how to stop GPS systems from routing too-big rigs through the tortuous mountain pass.
A bill introduced by Sen. Thomas Chittenden, D-Chittenden-Southeast, proposes a solution. S.77 states that if a driver whose vehicle is too big for the Notch is using a navigation system — and that system does not “provide explicit notice” of the maximum vehicle dimensions allowed on the road — the GPS provider would face a $2,000 civil fine.
Vermont law already imposes civil fines that can total thousands of dollars on the drivers, or their employers, whose trucks get stuck in the Notch.
“I think VTrans has done excellent work on getting every possible sign alongside the roads,” Chittenden said Tuesday, as he and other committee members talked about the bill. “I just think we now need to get the signs on the phones.”
The bill does not dictate how the state would enforce penalties on GPS providers, and Chittenden acknowledged Tuesday that the legislation is not yet “ready for primetime.”
VTrans also doesn’t know exactly how the fines would be carried out, the state transportation agency’s operations and safety bureau director told senators.
Part of the issue, Josh Schultz continued, is that VTrans has had little success engaging the makers of the navigation services many truckers use — think Google and Apple — in conversations about displaying such warnings in the first place. There isn’t much incentive for these companies to do so. Apps such as Google Maps don’t know what kind of vehicle you’re driving, and of the thousands of vehicles that drive through the Notch daily, most can make it out just fine.
Five trucks got stuck in the Notch last year, Schultz said, and the number of stuckages has actually decreased by about 40% over the past five years. That doesn’t account for the many close calls, though, and he referenced multiple instances in which police or even state employees spotted trucks and flagged them down before it was too late.
Schultz noted that the Vermont Agency of Digital Services has been talking with Google in recent months about ways to improve the state’s technology, and once he and his team heard about that, they reached out to raise their navigation frustrations. “We were like, ‘oh heck yea, we would really like to engage in this conversation,’” he said.
VTrans is worried, Schultz said Tuesday, that S.77 would essentially create bad vibes between Google and the state. “From the agency’s perspective, we would like to continue with the measures that we’re implementing — we’ve had success, and we have some on the horizon — before we go to punitive measures,” he said.
(Google did not respond to a request for comment.)
Chittenden said he did not want the bill to be seen as combative. “I just thought there was more that we could do,” the senator said, recalling a recent summer trip through the Notch when he, too, witnessed a stuckage for himself.
— Shaun Robinson
IN THE KNOW
Vermont Superior Court Judge A. Gregory Rainville has withdrawn his application for retention, choosing instead to retire after facing tough questions from lawmakers last week.
Rainville confirmed in an interview Tuesday that he had withdrawn his name from consideration with the Joint Committee on Judicial Retention, a panel of legislators that reviews state judges every six years. Rainville currently sits in Chittenden Superior Court, criminal division.
“This whole process made me realize just how much of a toll this takes on judges,” Rainville said.
— Patrick Crowley
ON THE MOVE
The Senate Health Committee on Tuesday advanced S.37, a sweeping bill that seeks to beef up abortion access and protections in Vermont, by a 4-1 vote.
Nicknamed in Statehouse halls as one of two abortion omnibus bills this session, the legislation would protect Vermont doctors from professional repercussions for providing abortions within state lines — such as medical malpractice insurance premium hikes — and would put legal guardrails around so-called crisis pregnancy centers for misleading advertising, among other measures. Sen. Terry Williams, R-Rutland, was the sole “no” vote.
Lucy Leriche, who serves as vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, watched the committee vote from in the room. Afterward, she told VTDigger she was “feeling great” about the outcome.
“I feel like the committee has done a lot of hard work,” Leriche said. “They have really dug into the weeds of a lot of details of policy to try to make the strongest bill possible to protect patients and health care providers to be able to access care and provide care with as much peace of mind as possible.”
The bill now heads to the Senate floor.
— Sarah Mearhoff
Also voted out of committee this morning was S.4, the Senate Judiciary’s sweeping firearms legislation debated since the early weeks of the legislative session. The next stop for the bill, which passed committee 4-1, is the Senate floor.
Much of the bill would bring Vermont state statute in line with federal gun laws, including existing laws banning straw purchasing and tampering with serial numbers. S.4 would also open up juvenile criminal records to background check software used before firearms purchases.
Removed from the bill, however, was a section that prohibited Vermonters under 21 from obtaining semi-automatic weapons. Vermont already prohibits those under 21 from purchasing any guns, but there are exceptions, such as for young first responders and members of the military, or for those who obtain guns through family members. Section 8 of S.4 would have tightened those exceptions for semi-automatics, drawing the ire of Vermont gun-rights groups.
Section 8’s removal came at the behest of an unlikely advocate. Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central — an ardent supporter of gun control measures — told VTDigger on Tuesday that he decided to strip the language because he felt it was especially vulnerable to court challenges.
As committee members heard earlier this session, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision established a new “historical tradition” standard by which to test the constitutionality of any gun control laws. What has resulted is a wave of lawsuits across the country attempting to strike down firearms laws. Baruth said he fears such lawsuits are coming for Vermont’s gun laws, and not just S.4.
“What really disturbs me is that it is clear that the Supreme Court, in my mind — others may not agree — they are setting the stage for what I would say looks like minority rule. A country in which religious principles trump all others, and people who support those principles are heavily armed,” Baruth told VTDigger after Tuesday’s committee vote. “And that’s not a good lookout for the United States of America, you know, emphasis on the ‘united’ part. And so that keeps me up at night.”
— Sarah Mearhoff
Vermont House and Senate budget writers have hammered out a deal to extend emergency housing in motels for people experiencing homelessness through June 30 — but not for all.
After May 31, only people fleeing domestic violence, families with children, those aged 60 and over, pregnant people, people with disabilities, and certain households that recently lost their housing would remain eligible.
Discussions about what to do in the short term about Vermont’s emergency housing program in hotels have been underway as part of the Legislature’s annual budget adjustment bill, or H.145, a spending plan passed early during each session to true-up the current fiscal year’s budget.
— Lola Duffort
Lawmakers in the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 4-3 on Tuesday to advance S.5, which would establish a clean heat standard in Vermont.
The session’s largest climate bill, which unanimously passed through the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, would set up a system to incentivize Vermonters to install heating systems that produce fewer climate emissions.
While the bill has support from a number of the state’s large environmental, social and business groups, it has been extremely controversial among others, such as the state’s fuel dealers, who have expressed concerns about the costs and logistics of complying with the program. The secretary of the state’s Agency of Natural Resources has expressed concerns about what the bill might cost Vermonters upfront, while other analyses point to long-term savings for the state and individuals.
The bill is expected to hit the Senate floor later this week.
— Emma Cotton
The House Judiciary Committee approved H.40, which would establish civil remedies for victims of “stealthing” — nonconsensual removal of a condom before or during intercourse — by an 8-3 vote.
Much of the debate on the bill revolved around its narrow focus, zeroing in on condom removal specifically. Some members of the committee argued that the bill should encompass other forms of removing or ending the use of sexually protective devices without a partner’s knowledge, like going off a birth control pill.
With its narrow focus on condoms, and the possibility that the bill would disproportionately benefit women who are victim to stealthing, Rep. Tom Burditt, R-West Rutland, on Tuesday called H.40 “the most unequal piece of legislation that’s ever come out of this room, out of this building” before casting his “no” vote.
If a woman tells a man she is on birth control but in fact isn’t, Burditt said, “To me that’s as much stealthing as somebody removing a condom before they have sex.”
Proponents of the bill argue that nonconsensual condom removal is uniquely akin to sexual assault. If a person’s sexual consent is contingent upon the use of a condom, then removing that condom violates a victim’s consent, they argue.
And on Burditt’s point of gender equity in H.40, Rep. William Notte, D-Rutland City, had some stern words for his colleague.
“If this bill wasn’t equal, if this bill did somehow favor women, I don’t give a rat’s ass,” Notte said. “Because you want to look at the history of sexual abuse, you want to look at the history of sexual violence, you want to look at how there’s been a double standard between men and women and what happens sexually — either consensually or non-consensually — in this country, it has favored man 99.9% of the time.
“If this bill is focused on women, and if this bill does something more for women than it does for men, good,” he concluded.
— Sarah Mearhoff
MARCH MADNESS
March Madness is back, baby! For those of you in search of bragging rights, the deadline to fill out your brackets in the Statehouse pool is Thursday, March 16 at noon. Dues are $5, per usual — “No inflation here!” March Madness co-commissioner (is that an official title?) and state Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, quipped in a Tuesday email.
According to Harrison, it looks like we’re in for an intense competition this year. Previous bracket champion Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman is back on the roster, and last year’s champion Attorney General Charity Clark is talking a big talk, already having decided where she plans to donate her winning jackpot this year.
“Of course, you can’t count out Treasurer Mike (Pieciak), who looks at numbers and statistics for a living,” Harrison said. Or mayhaps Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, with her pedigree “from what some refer to as the talented and hard-working Government Operations Committee.”
“Now if we could only get the Gov to participate? Maybe our friends in the press corps can ask him at the next press conference,” Harrison suggested. Don’t mind if I do! Ball’s in your court, gov.
— Sarah Mearhoff
WHAT WE’RE READING
Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S. (The New York Times)
Becca Balint’s $1 million crypto benefactor pleads guilty to campaign finance fraud (VTDigger)
Woodstock Inn alleges ‘highly questionable payments’ to whistleblower (VTDigger)
Vermont legislators look to ban child marriage, joining other states this session (Community News Service)
A proposed equity policy divides Milton school board races (VTDigger)
Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: Senators consider new fines to prevent ‘stuckages’ in Smugglers Notch.