But for a reporter's question, a bill providing a $50,000 death benefit to any Vermont National Guard member who died on state active duty would have been left on the table until next winter.
It's that time in the session when reporters try to figure out what happened to all the bills they've written about over the past four months. So the question put to Rep. Helen Head, D-South Burlington, chairwoman of the House General and Military Affairs Committee, earlier this week was what was the status of H. 361, the death benefit bill for the guard. She knew that its companion, H. 360, protecting the civilian jobs of Guard members, was on its way to the governor. Wasn't H. 361 as well? she asked. Not exactly. It got hung up in a Senate rules committee.
Twenty-four hours later, Head reported the bill had been freed, breezed through the Senate Government Operations Committee, and been voted out of the Senate -- all in an afternoon. Now it is on its way to the governor.
Good thing I asked!
-- Nancy Remsen
