Meetings
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[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: We're live.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Welcome back, everybody. It is still the 01/22/2026, and this is the general and housing committee, and we have a bill that we are considering now, H532, and I'm going to ask counsel just quickly to summarize the bill since we've already had it walked through.
[Sophie (Office of Legislative Counsel)]: Yeah, sorry, so Sophie sat at me for the Office of Legislative Counsel. So currently under Vermont's Fair Employment Practices Act, tenured professors at institutions of higher education may be required to retire at the age of 70. And that law was passed back in 1981. And then it was amended to move it up to 70. Originally, it was 65. But at the federal level, since 01/01/1994, mandatory retirement for faculty has been illegal under the federal Age Discrimination and Employment Act. And so despite that, Vermont had not updated its law to indicate that this is not something we're currently doing. And in fact, over the years, it's been part of technical corrections bills, etcetera. So it looks to anybody looking at it like, oh, this is still good law in Vermont, and it's not. So it just seemed time to appeal it.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: And in fact, for some reason or other, yours truly was asked by legislative counsel to be the one when I sponsor the bill, and I agree to sponsor the bill, and it is before us. So, I would like to know if there's anyone who's willing to move age five thirty two.
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: I so move that we take a vote on eight five thirty two. Do we have a second? I'll second. Okay, we have a second. Mary, are you prepared?
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Yes. Representative Bartley.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Happy to have discussion. Joe, why don't you discuss away? We
[Joseph Parsons (Member)]: discussed it last week, right? Well, we can have a more discussion.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: It was just a simple question if we were. That's all the discussion that I was Is there any other discussion? Would any other member of the body of the committee like to opine on this before
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: we Should I just ask a real quick question? I mean, I support it either way. So it's just taking it out instead of taking out the May. It's just repealing then. Okay, cool.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: So we have a bill floor. Madam Clerk, would
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: you call the roll? Representative Bartley? Yes. Representative Burrows? Yes.
[Elizabeth Burrows (Member)]: Representative Charlton? Yes. Charlton? No. Representative Village?
[Leonora Dodge (Member)]: Yes. Representative Del yes. Representative Howard votes yes. Representative Krasnow is absent. Representative Lamoille?
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Yes. Representative Parsons? Yes. Representative Pezzo? Yes.
[Gayle Pezzo (Member)]: Representative Mihaly? Yes.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Are you sure? I can stick that one in there.
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: So, ten
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Ten zero zero. +1 001.
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Who is reporting the bill?
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: That's a good question, does anybody volunteer to report this bill? I will. I will report, I will be the reporter. Isn't it an unwritten, right now I
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: am supposed to, you wrote the bell, or introduced the bell.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: I've never before. Somebody else will never heard do
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: this. Okay, then it's all you. All you.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: Okay, Alright, I'll do it. If I'm told not to do it, I'll tell one of you to I'll do pick.
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: Why would you be told not to do it?
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: I don't know. I'm hearing from the vice chair that it's an unwritten rule that the sponsor of the bill shouldn't be the reporter, much less the chair of the committee. Alright, so everyone, we're about to adjourn for a lunch break, and we will be returning at 01:00, and from 01:00 until the floor, we will be hearing four
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: bills. One, two, three. Cameron will be in And here Cameron will be here.
[Marc Mihaly (Chair)]: So, are all walk throughs. These are all, they're not walk throughs, they're introductions. So, let's see here, just a minute. And one of them, of them is Chloe Tomlinson, Plutland, Tom Stevens, and our own Debbie Dolgin, who is just listed in this printed version as Barely Invited. I wonder if she'll attend.
[Deborah "Debbie" Dolgin (Member)]: I'm invited. Alright, so we will return here at 01:00. And thank you everybody,
[Mary E. Howard (Clerk)]: and Mary, thank you very much. Thank you, Mary.