Legislative Report 2/25/2015 - Background Checks

Whenever legislation regulating firearms is proposed, no matter how sensible, it never fails to elicit a strong negative reaction from gun rights groups. A couple of weeks ago, the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on S.31, the bill relating to possession and transfer of firearms. The hearing was packed by both supporters and opponents, each distinguished by the colors they wore: green for supporters and hunter orange for opponents. It was clear that opponents outnumbered supporters by a large margin. Witnesses were called pretty much in alternating order of pro and con, and more than 30 people testified.

The objections to the legislation fell into 3 categories: 1) a misunderstanding of what is in the bill, 2) the contention that it violates the 2nd Amendment, and 3) that the background check provision would be unenforceable. So, here is what the bill does and does not do.

There are three provisions. The first makes it a crime in Vermont for a person convicted of a violent crime to possess a firearm. This is currently federal law. However, without this provision, the crime would have to be prosecuted in federal court by a federal prosecutor. This provision would allow prosecution by a States Attorney in the Vermont court system.

The second provision requires reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) persons who are judged in a court of law to be a danger to themselves or others, or who were found not responsible for a crime by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial due to a mental illness and are a danger to themselves or others.

The third provision requires a background check to be conducted on a buyer of a firearm before it could be sold to that person. There is an exemption if the firearm is transferred or sold to a family member or a law enforcement agency, or to an police officer or a member of the Armed Forces acting within the course of their official duties. It does not prohibit loaning a firearm to a friend for an afternoon of shooting or hunting as some opponents claimed. This is the most controversial provision, although most opponents see every part of the bill as an infringement on their constitutional rights. On the contrary, courts have upheld the constitutionality of background checks passed by 16 other states. Moreover, background checks are required when a gun is purchased through any federally licensed firearms dealer like a sporting goods store or gun shop. This bill merely extends the requirement to online and person-to-person sales and also closes the so-called "gun show loophole", where a private seller would not require a background check while a licensed dealer in the next booth would.

We all know of the increased prevalence of heroin trafficking. Studies have shown that guns obtained in Vermont are part of the currency of the drug trade coming from New York, Boston, Albany and other places with strong gun laws. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, in 2013 alone 165 guns recovered in crimes in other states were traced back to Vermont. This may not seem like a lot, but it is significant considering the size of our population.

I do not object to guns or to the traditions of hunting and sport shooting. However, as a gun owner myself I support this legislation because it is necessary to help prevent firearms from getting into the hands of criminals and dangerously mentally ill persons. I have talked to many other gun owners who support this legislation as well because it makes common sense. As the NRA is fond of saying, "Guns don't kill people; people do." So, we have to take whatever steps we can to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. Persons who can pass a background check when purchasing a gun from a dealer have nothing to fear from this legislation. As for enforceability, while there will always be an opportunity for a prohibited person to skirt the law by buying from an unscrupulous individual, responsible, law abiding gun owners will be helping to protect their fellow citizens when selling their unwanted guns with a background check as required by law.

I am a cosponsor of H.250, a companion bill to S.31 in the House.

I continue to welcome your thoughts and questions and can be reached by phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).

The Word in the House 4/4/2013 - Improving a Law Enforcement Tool

In a previous article I wrote about a bill that passed the House, H.522, that addressed opiate addiction and methamphetamine abuse.  That same bill also addressed a problem connected to drug abuse, the problem of home break-ins targeting jewelry and other precious metals.  

Most of the break-ins and other property crimes that seem to have proliferated over the last few years are related to substance abuse.  Thieves will grab anything that looks valuable and try to get rid of it as quickly as possible for cash to score their next fix.  In a recent case in Alburgh, thieves stole more than $200,000 worth of gold coins from a vacant house and sold the coins to coin and jewelry dealers around Chittenden County.  Second-hand coin and jewelry dealers are one of the first places thieves go to try to cash in their booty. One dealer notified police after becoming concerned about the number of coins coming in.  Only $5000 worth of coins was recovered by police.

Two years ago I introduced a bill that would require better record-keeping by second-hand dealers, including photo ID information from the seller, a description of the items being sold, and a requirement to hold onto the items for at least 10 days before reselling them.  These provisions were added in 2012 to a bill seeking to address similar problems with stolen copper.  That bill passed and was signed into law.  Since then enforcing compliance has been a problem, and antiques dealers found reason to object to a provision that made it difficult to comply when they bought items in an estate sale. 

As a result, based on input from the Vermont State Police and the antique dealers association, a bill was co-sponsored by Representatives Diane Lanpher (D-Vergennes), Herb Russell (D-Rutland) and myself to improve the law.  VSP Trooper Ben Katz was instrumental in providing advice on beefing up the recording requirements and enforcement provisions.  The House Judiciary Committee held extensive hearings on our bill, H.287, and incorporated it into H.522, which passed the House and is now in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill now requires all “precious metal dealers,” defined as someone who has a physical presence in Vermont, either temporary or permanent, and is engaged in buying and selling precious metal (excluding bullion or commodities, new metal, and medical and dental applications), and who purchases or sells more than $2000 worth of precious metal in a 12 month period, to obtain a license.  The annual fee for the license is $200.  A license cannot be approved or renewed if the licensee commits a felony or violates any of the provisions in the law after October 13, 2013.  The “temporary presence” provision is important to capture those dealers who come into Vermont and set up shop on a weekend at a hotel or mall and then leave the state in a few days.

Licensees will be required to keep more detailed records of their transactions.  Each item they take in must be assigned a unique item number.  If several items are purchased at the same time from the same person, they are assigned a lot number, and each item is assigned a sub-lot number.  For each item or lot, the following information needs to be kept:

• the amount paid and the date and time of the transaction,
• the name, current address, phone number and vehicle license number of the seller,
• a legible description of each item including any identifying marks,
• a digital photograph or video of the item,
• a photocopy or image of a government-issued ID card of the seller or, if no ID is available, a digital photo of the seller’s face, and
• documentation of ownership or an affidavit of ownership.

Any dealer doing more than $50,000 of precious metal business in a year must keep these records in a computerized format that can be accessed by law enforcement when requested.

Some additional provisions include requiring a dealer to use a certified scale when buying precious metals by weight, to make all payments by check, draft or money order, and to hold the item for at least 10 days before selling it or moving it out of state.  Also, a dealer can no longer buy from an individual under 18 years of age without written permission of a parent or guardian.  Finally, if a dealer suspects illegal activity, they are required to notify local law enforcement authorities and provide the record of the transaction.  Violations of these provisions will incur substantial penalties, including $10,000 for the first offense and $50,000 for subsequent violations, so licensees will now be required to be bonded up to $50,000. 

Between the controlled substances provisions and the provisions described in this article, H.522 should provide important law enforcement tools that will hopefully curb much of the property crimes that have proliferated throughout Vermont.

I have heard from many of you on a variety of topics and continue to welcome your input. You can email me at myantachka.dfa@gmail.com or call me at 425-3960.

The Word in the House 3/21/2013 - Crossing Over

Last week marked “crossover” at the Statehouse.  Any bill, in order to stand a chance of becoming law this year, had to be voted out of its committee of jurisdiction last Friday.  This was true whether the bill originated in the House or the Senate. Those bills will now come to the floor of their respective body for a vote where they will have to pass before being sent to the other body. 

The Transportation Bill, which I wrote about last month will be voted on this week.  Several amendments are expected to be offered from the floor, but I expect that it will pass with a tripartisan majority.  Here are some other bills of general interest that we will be voting on. (Passed 3/21/13)

Health Care: A technical corrections health care bill, H. 107, makes a number of changes to Vermont law to bring Vermont's health insurance statutes in line with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  It also clarifies a 2009 law that requires insurance companies to cover the cost of mammograms and colonoscopies without an additional copay.  Some people have been charged for certain procedures associated with their mammogram or colonoscopy that could be considered a violation of the intent of the 2009 law.  This bill explicitly affirms that all parts of the screening need to be covered without additional copay.

The House also passed H.315 that requires companies headquartered out of state to provide to their Vermont employees with same sex married or civil union partners the same benefits provided to employees married to opposite sex partners.  Some businesses were not doing so because it wasn’t required by law and it wasn’t their policy.  They made it known that they would not challenge this legislation if it passed. 

Opiate Addiction and Methamphetamine Abuse: Vermont has some serious problems with issues related to drug addiction and abuse. The Human Services Committee combined elements of H.331, H.212, and H.65 in a single bill, H.522, relating to “Strengthening Vermont’s Response to Opioid Addiction and Methamphetamine Abuse.” It includes work done by the General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee and the Judiciary Committee.

In order to further attempts to prevent abuse of prescription drugs, one part makes changes in how the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System (VPMS) is to be used. It would allow the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Health to provide a report of data in the VPMS to the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, but only when it is necessary to avert a serious and imminent threat to a person or the public. Any request from Public Safety for data must document a bona fide specific investigation and specify the name of the person being investigated. The decision by the Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner of Health to provide that report can be made only after consulting with at least one of the patient’s health care providers.

Another part of the bill requires that any health care provider who prescribes and any dispenser who dispenses a Schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance must register to use the VPMS. A health care provider will be required to check the VPMS at least the first time the provider prescribes one of those controlled substances to a patient and annually thereafter so the provider will know if any other providers are also prescribing the same or similar medications.

In order to improve access to treatment and recovery for Vermonters with drug addictions, the bill asks the Department of Health, in collaboration with several relevant organizations, to develop evidence-based guidelines and training for hospitals regarding screening for addiction, performing addiction interventions and making referrals to treatment and recovery services. It also includes a statewide pilot project seeking to prevent deaths from opioid overdoses by using a counteracting drug such as Narcan.

Another section relates to the use of an electronic registry system to record the sales of products such as Sudafed and others with similar ingredients that are used to make methamphetamines. This is to prevent individuals from purchasing those products in quantities that would indicate the products would likely be used to make meth rather than for legitimate health purposes. Passage of this bill will provide help for Vermonters with drug addictions as well as attacking other aspects of the drug problems in Vermont.

This bill also contained the provisions regarding precious metal dealers that require licensing and accurate record keeping in order to deter the exchange of stolen articles for cash. (Passed 3/21/13)

I have heard from many of you on a variety of topics and continue to welcome your input. You can email me at myantachka.dfa@gmail.com or call me at 425-3960.

Legislative Report 6/2/2012 - Transitioning from Legislating to Campaigning

The 2012 legislative session wrapped up on Saturday, May 5th, after two weeks of intense negotiations and several long days that ran late into the evenings.  It felt good to close the session feeling that a lot of good had been accomplished and to look forward to some time to catch up on everything I had been putting off.  I took time to visit my son and daughter and their families in Connecticut, and also attended my daughter Jackie’s graduation from Syracuse University.

Recently Governor Shumlin signed two bills into law in which I had a personal role.  One was H.699, an act relating to scrap metal processors which I co-sponsored.  This bill requires scrap metal dealers to require a photo ID of anyone bringing in scrap metal for cash and to keep a permanent ledger with the ID, vehicle license number and description of the items, and to notify police within 24 hours if the seller cannot produce such identification.  I had introduced another bill, H.306, that put the same kind of requirements on second-hand coin and jewelry dealers, and that bill’s provisions were added to H.699 before it passed.  This bill will enable law enforcement officers to more easily track and recover items stolen from homes and vehicles.

Governor Shumlin also signed into law S.214, an act relating to the Vermont energy act of 2012.  This bill has a rather convoluted history.  S.214 originally dealt with smart meter regulation when it passed the Senate.  A House bill, H.468, which was developed as the 2012 energy bill and was passed by the House, was tabled by the Senate Natural Resources Committee on a 3-2 vote.  Through a lot of negotiation between the House and Senate in conference, the contents of H.468 replaced the contents of S.214 with some modifications, and S.214 was approved by both bodies.  S.214 extends the Standard Offer program which supports continued development of renewable energy resources throughout Vermont.  Currently capped at 50 megawatts (MW) of distributed renewable energy generation, this bill allows it to grow to 150 MW over 10 years.  As a result of this program, Vermont has the greatest number of green jobs per capita in the nation according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The Renewable Portfolio Standard provision, which was in the original bill and required Vermont utilities to acquire increasing percentages of renewable energy over time, was removed from S.214 during negotiations.

Many other bills were passed to the benefit of Vermonters including a budget that did not require increases in broad-based taxes, the Working Landscapes bill, the Mental Health System bill, the Solid Waste bill, the Health Insurance Exchange bill, and others which I have written about in previous columns.  I invite you to review them at my website, http://www.mikeyantachka.com/. I regret that no resolution was found for improving the Prescription Drug Database Monitoring System.  House negotiators insisted on a requirement that investigators obtain a warrant before accessing the database, a position I support, while Senate negotiators insisted that a warrant should not be necessary.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you in person as I begin my campaign for re-election.  I have worked hard for you in Montpelier, and I hope you will support me this year.  You can contact me by phone at 425-3960 or email me at myantachka.dfa@gmail.com.