Halfway through their scheduled session, Vermont lawmakers have passed one bill designed to strengthen Vermont’s sex-crime laws and have left tough financial issues to be resolved after a two-week break.
Lawmakers on Friday gave a final OK to a wide-ranging sex crimes bill that came in response to last summer’s kidnap, rape and killing of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Braintree.
Gov. Jim Douglas is expected to sign the measure, whose numerous provisions include a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for a newly defined crime of sexual assault on a child.
But a host of issues remain unresolved, including the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, a push for same-sex marriage, and the state’s bleak fiscal picture.