Eric Davis
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Eric Davis: Vermont bound by ‘Dillon’s rule’
Last week, the Legislature overrode Gov. Scott’s vetoes of two bills that will allow non-citizens to vote in local elections in Montpelier and Winooski. Those provisions, changes to…
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Eric Davis: States eye fossil fuel divestment
Last week, the Maine Legislature passed a bill that will prohibit the state’s pension and annuity funds from making new investments in companies in the oil, gas and…
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Eric Davis: Greenhouse gas goal is a challenge
Last September, the Vermont Legislature passed the Global Warming Solutions Act. Among other things, the act requires Vermont to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by specified increments over…
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Eric Davis: Biden considers high court options
The U.S. Supreme Court has finished hearing oral arguments for the 2020-21 term, and will issue opinions in those cases through late June or early July. The end…
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Eric Davis: Infrastructure bill faces hurdles
At the end of March, President Biden outlined the elements of his “American Jobs Plan,” a package of more than $2 trillion in federal spending over eight years…
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Eric Davis: Constitutional amendments loom
Vermont’s constitution is the most difficult to amend of any of the states. In many states, proposed constitutional amendments may be placed on the ballot by petitions signed…
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Eric Davis: Bill would expand voting rights
Last week the Vermont Senate approved, and sent to the House, a bill that would establish vote-by-mail as a regular part of general elections in Vermont. If the…
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Eric Davis: Vermonters eye federal judgeships
Appeals from the federal district courts in Vermont are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, based in New York City, which hears…
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Eric Davis: Census will shift Senate makeup
A major item on the agenda for next year’s Vermont Legislature will be redrawing the lines for the state’s 30 Senate and 150 House seats. Later this year,…
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Eric Davis: We’ll know Trump’s strength in two years
Gov. Phil Scott was asked at his Jan. 15 press conference whether the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 had made him question his allegiance to…
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Eric Davis: Will GOP let the economy run hot?
Last week, President Biden announced the outline of what he called the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion package of measures to speed up the response to COVID-19…
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Eric Davis: Jan. 6 attack should be probed
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Congress passed, and President George W. Bush signed, a bill creating a special commission to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding…
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Eric Davis: Vaccines and promoting vaccines
More than 5,000 Vermonters have already received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Another 21,000 doses of the vaccine have arrived in Vermont, and the supply will…
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Eric Davis: Is the GOP teetering on the brink?
Could President Trump’s rage-tweets against Republican governors and secretaries of state who have certified a Biden victory mark the beginning of a break-up of the Republican Party into…
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Eric Davis: High Court hears census case
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about the Trump Administration’s plan to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census population counts used to determine…
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Eric Davis: Democrats’ prospects are mixed
Political party organizations are already starting to focus on the 2022 elections for the U.S. Senate and House, even though some contests from the 2020 cycle are still…