A very short session of the Senate this morning included the introduction of a bill that would eliminate the requirement of legislative approval for the continued operation of Vermont Yankee. The bill – a similar version exists in the House – would wipe out one of the biggest hurdles the plant’s owners face as they seek re-licensure. Don’t expect the proposed legislation to go very far.
The Senate also gave final approval to a bill that would make it a crime for a sex offender to use a false name when creating a user profile on a social networking website, like Facebook.
The Senate approved two joint resolutions. One asks Congress to approve a multi-state sales-tax agreement that would allow states to collect revenue from online transactions. Proponents of the concept say Vermont could take in as much as $30 million in new revenue annually if it was allowed to apply the state’s 6 percent sales tax on Internet sales. The other resolution asks Congress to reject proposed cuts to community block grants. Congressional Republicans have included those cuts in their budget proposal; opponents say the reductions would impact severely human-services organization in Vermont.
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