In the depth of Vermont’s winter, and with a gray sky as a backdrop, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare turned to the topic of … sunscreen.
“Who can oppose applying sunscreen,” Colin Robinson, political director of the Vermont National Education Association, asked rhetorically at the end of his testimony on Friday.
Apparently, regulations can.
Since the FDA labels sunscreen as an over-the-counter drug, children in Vermont — and a number of other states — need to obtain a doctor’s note and then go to the nurse’s office to apply sunscreen at school or during school-sponsored events and activities.
On Friday morning, lawmakers discussed how to change that. If you’re worrying that they’re about to open the floodgates to unrestricted sunscreen use, rest assured — parental permission would still be required.
The bill under consideration, S.187, states that Vermont “shall permit students, with the written authorization of a parent or guardian, to possess and self-administer a topical, nonaerosolized sunscreen while on school property … without being required to provide a medical provider’s note or prescription.”
In short, this would allow children to take a bottle of sunscreen to school, as long as it is not spray-on sunscreen.
The bill also states that schools could adopt policies to allow staff to assist students in applying sunscreen as long as they have obtained permission from parents or guardians.
“This seems like a no-brainer,” said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, who is the sponsor of the bill, in an interview with VTDigger.
In recent years, 27 states and Washington, D.C. have enacted laws that declare students may use sunscreens in schools. Massachusetts and New Jersey have proposed bills similar to S.187.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee is planning to vote on the bill next week.
— Babette Stolk
In the know
To the surprise of lawmakers, the Scott administration appears ready to pause the state’s costly testing programs to detect a group of harmful chemicals in schools.
Leaders from both the Agency of Natural Resources and the Agency of Education testified this week in the House Committee on Education, largely supporting a plan to stop testing for polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs, as designated money runs dry.
PCBs are likely carcinogenic substances once used in building materials and linked to a range of health concerns. Vermont is the first state in the nation to initiate a comprehensive PCB air testing program in its schools, which has detected heightened levels of the toxins in schools from across the state.
— Ethan Weinstein
On the move
Last July, as the skies pelted Vermont with record amounts of rain, rivers across the state grew in volume and velocity, ripping through backyards and downtowns. The floods damaged at least 4,000 homes and 800 businesses, and caused $200 million in damage to public infrastructure. Seven months later, some residents are still displaced.
Under the golden dome, state lawmakers have spent much of the session considering how government policies might reduce the harm that future natural disasters cause to residents.
In the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, they’re looking to redesign the system that governs how and where people can construct developments near rivers that could flood during extreme rain events.
This week, the committee voted 5-0 in support of S.213, a bill that would require a state permit to build in river corridors — the river and surrounding land where water could meander during high flow times — starting in 2028. The bill, which already faces opposition from Gov. Phil Scott, must pass through the Senate’s money committees before the full chamber takes a vote.
— Emma Cotton
As Vermont continues to struggle with rising rates of homelessness, lawmakers are trying to ensure that people without permanent shelter aren’t discriminated against because of their housing status.
On Friday, the House passed H.132, a bill that would essentially add homelessness as a protected class to the state’s various anti-discrimination laws, including Vermont’s Fair Housing Act and Fair Employment Practices Act.
Under the latter law, an employer can’t refuse to hire someone based on their race, for example, or their sexual orientation. If passed, H.132, which goes to the Senate next week, would also make it illegal to refuse someone employment simply because they’re perceived to be homeless.
“This bill is about … Vermonters who carry a stigma with them every minute of every day, who don’t often get a voice in this building, never mind in our laws, or the laws of the United States, or even in our federal constitution,” Rep. Thomas Stevens, D-Waterbury, told fellow representatives on Thursday.
— Habib Sabet
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Corrections section
Yesterday’s Final Reading misnamed Vermont’s associations for eye care professionals in two instances, and partially misrendered quotations by Dean Barcelow and Jessica McNally. It also misattributed part of a quote from testimony about a bill regarding home accessibility modifications.
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