Correcting Corrections: Community Partners

Guests for Correcting Corrections, a TV show dedicated to improving Vermont's Correctional System of prisons and jails:

- Rita Whalen McCaffrey, Dismas of Vermont

- Cara Gleason, Northern Lights

- Hal Colston, NeighborKeepers

This show's guests spoke about reducing crime by providing former inmates and some of the marginalized citizens of our society with support and job skills to make them productive members of society.

To hear an audio version of this show, click here:

http://www2.cctv.org/rss/index.php?id=580

Fighting Global Warming

I love the snow. I'm always sad when it melts. I just hope that it comes back next year, and the year after. But there is always that threat of global warming.

We can't do anything about it, can we? Well certainly not with that attitude (I think I just aged 30 years having said that).

Here in Vermont, important progress is being made on our short-term goal of creating Vermont jobs that address climate change, which will hopefully lead us to our long-term vision of stopping global warming.

The House Natural Resources Committee (where my seat-mate Rep. Rachel Weston is leading the good fight) just last week passed a bill called the Renewable Energy and Economic Development Act (personally, I think it could have used a snappier name, but it's fairly descriptive). The bill still has a lot of maneuvering before it can pass the whole House of Representatives, but I wanted to give you a heads up on this important legislation.

While this House bill aims to create more in-state, renewable electric sources (and jobs), the Senate is working on making power more efficient. The plan is that the two bills will be married into one major Climate Change Action Bill (again, they didn't consult me on the naming of the bills).

Here's some highlights of the House bill:

● Creating a clear goal: 25 by 25. That means that by the year 2025, Vermont will produce 25% of its energy consumed via renewable energy sources from Vermont’s farms and forests.

● Revising commercial building energy standards so that our buildings are built to the highest efficient standards possible.

● Investigating the use of smart electric meters, which tell consumers the best (and cheapest) time of day to consume energy.

● Creating a plan for wind developers that establishes a clear and predictable tax policy for newly built renewable power generation plants.

● Requiring all utilities to offer voluntarily green pricing options, or the ability to contribute to the clean energy fund.

● Creating a solar tax credit.


Remember, those are just some of the highlights.

Patient Choice / Death with Dignity

Governor Madeleine Kunin (right) in an ad supporting patient choice and Death with Dignity.
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One bill of many that I support is H.44. It is focused on patient choice and control at the end of life. Some have called this issue Death with Dignity, and some have even termed it Life with Dignity. In any case, H.44 was passed by the House Human Services Committee and I believe that it will eventually move the full House for a vote.

Last month I saw hundreds (yes hundreds) of supporters and opponents of the bill fill the State House. They stayed for hours to give their testimony, and what I heard was people speaking passionately from their hearts. I was deeply moved. They spoke about how the bill give terminally ill, mentally competent Vermonters who have been diagnosed with less than six months to live, the option to request prescription medication, which, if taken, would hasten the dying process.

The bill has many safeguards in place to ensure that this process is responsible and will not lead to the problems that many opponents articulated. The bill stipulates that only a patient who is a Vermont resident can initiate a request for the prescription, and the request must be both written and verbal and reiterated after a 15-day waiting period. The request may be rescinded at any time. Two witnesses must attest that the patient is acting voluntarily and not being coerced. A patient’s doctor must determine that the patient is competent, within six months of death and under no external pressure to make the request. A second doctor must verify the patient’s diagnosis, prognosis and competency and attest that the patient is acting voluntarily and not being coerced. If either physician believes the patient suffers from a psychological condition or depression, the patient must be referred for counseling. The bill was patterned after the Oregon patient-directed dying law that was passed in 1997, but the Vermont bill has more stringent safeguards in place.

If it passes into law, we will not only be one of two states to provide this important options to patients, but we will also continue a nationwide dialogue on this vital issue.As always, I welcome your thoughts on this and other issues.