Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Last Friday Teri and I met with Rich Cassidy on  H. 206, last year's notary bill. We went through the objections you know well but it didn't appear we made any progress. He pushed back on almost everything. This Friday we're meeting at the secretary of state's office with the other stakeholders to see if we can come together on the bill. 
Tomorrow the judiciary is appearing before the Ways & Means Committee to discuss judicial fees. That was supposed to happen this morning but got moved to Thursday. I'll let you know what I hear there.
I just left House Commerce and Economic Development where Carl Lisman presented H. 35, the uniform voidable transactions act. Tom Moody spoke for our Business Associations Committee and suggested the committee bring in a bankruptcy lawyer or, better still, a creditor's lawyer, a debtor's lawyer and a trustee. That may happen as soon as mid to late next week.
The non-profit law subcommittee has finished its work and I just sent their final version of the bill to legislative counsel for clean up and submission to the Commerce Committee. The bill has already been introduced in short form and the committee is awaiting the text. 
I'm following two bills dealing with municipalities recovering costs of remediating abandoned property at tax sales. They are H. 13 and S. 13. Each has had one hearing introducing the bill and the Senate Gov Ops committee will return to it tomorrow afternoon. 
I'm also part of a group of our Property Law Section along with the Vermont Bankers Association looking at current use and the secondary market issues of priority of liens. We had an initial phone conference last Friday and we're meeting at the bankers' offices this Friday morning. 
Also, earlier today the Senate Judiciary Committee heard from Judge Grearson on the Alimony Report of the Family Division Oversight Committee. No action was taken as this was simply an introduction. The committee will return to this issue next Thursday. 
The Judicial Retention Committee is organizing later today. I think a preliminary schedule has them meeting with the four Justices next week and the remaining eight superior judges on two nights the week later. I'll post the schedule as soon as I have it after the committee approves it. 
Let's hope the groundhog sends the right message tomorrow. 
Thanks for reading.