It’s time to catch up on my reports to you after Town Meeting week off, the VBA Mid Year Meeting, etc. A few things of interest are happening but, honestly, it’s been pretty slow on issues of importance to the VBA. I don’t know if this means that the end of session sprint will be worse than usual or if the session will slowly wind down, resulting in one long sprint next year.

One of the good things I can report is that all the judges standing for retention made it through fairly easily. Three Superior Court Judges and four District Court Judges were retained for six year terms with the following vote totals:

Judge Cohen: 164-1
Judge Katz: 158-7
Judge Manley: 161-4
Judge Crucitti: 139-2
Judge Joseph: 136-8
Judge Zimmerman: 137-4
Judge Zonay: 138-3

This week the House advanced H. 296, the potable water supply and wastewater system permitting bill. This is the bill that creates the “clean slate concept” for all properties that were substantially completed before January 1, 2007 and that do not have a failed supply or system. Although the title companies lobbied for a mandatory “time of sale inspection” for sales after the first sale after July 1, 2007, the administration objected based on adding additional cost to buyers and sellers. The bill does however contain this language in the section defining “failed system”:

“(D) A wastewater system may be determined to be a failed system by the completion of a site visit that identifies one or more of the conditions set forth in subdivision (A)(i) of this subdivision.” That subdivision refers to the obvious evidence of failed systems: wastewater pooling on the ground, discharging to surface waters or backing up into the house.

The bill is off to the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

We seem to be having some success (luck?) getting two other bills noticed and heard this year. The first, H. 458 which contains some updates to our corporate code may get committee time next week in the House Commerce Committee. VLS Professor Linda Smiddy, Tom Melloni and Peter Erly were responsible for parts of the drafting and are on the tentative witness list. This is a bill endorsed by the Business Associations Law Section and, at its recommendation, by the VBA Board of Managers.

Finally, I just learned that Senate Judiciary may take up S. 171 in the next two weeks. S. 171 is recommended by the Governor’s Commission on the Marketability of Title. It would allow an attorney to discharge a mortgage on a property if the mortgagee failed to do so, if a discharge was not executed properly or if the mortgagee is no longer the holder of record. To read the bill, follow this link:

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/intro/S-171.HTM

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