3 months ago

G’day Neighbors,A quick update. We have survived the monsoon summer and the subsequent result of Mother Nature hitting the flush button somewhere causing torrents of water to descend upon us. Recovery is still progressing, but undoubtedly at a snail like pace for those impacted with the loss of their home or worse. We are reminded with some regularity by the Gov’s office to keep letting folks know to file a report of damages with 211, as damage numbers are still being crunched. Personally I do not know that the legislative session will not be impacted come next year, as housing for those folks who stay in Montpelier from Monday night until Friday afternoon will be pretty limited in and around town. Even Hotel lodging will see the domino impact from the loss of the Cap Plaza should that clean up be delayed. That could mean another session with everyone at home on their video feed…. Not a satisfactory experience in many ways. We will see.As I write this on Friday morning, yet another severe thunderstorm warning from my AccuWeather app beeps at me. Yowza.Locally, I have to admit that when I first saw the notice that the recently reinvigorated IOOF building was thinking of a community mural, I feared for the worse. With the amount of tagging that the city is already experiencing, reservations abounded. Guess what?? If you haven’t noticed the effort and frankly expertise applied in the project you are missing something. To say it livens up the area is an understatement. Good job IOOFers…. NOW, if parents can convince kids with shaker cans that keeping our neighborhood looking good without their contribution, things will be good…. I would think other peers would know who was doing what TAG wise….in any event it is an epidemic in town. Downside is the AppleMaps street view car has been seen roaming around downtown last week, so crappy buildings like the former Simons gas station on Pearl street are now enshrined as what Burlington offers to the world. Just my humble opinion.Lastly, and noted in the title up there on top, they ARE actually on it. What you ask?? Well, last week Rep Carol Ode and I went on a little field trip with Robert Bristow Johnson-who was sounding an alarm about flood erosion damage to the Bridge foundation by Chariie’s Boathouse. I will post some photos on my website and Facebook page BobHooper.org State Rep Bob Hooper (FB) for your review but it seems the recent rush of water has taken considerable land away from the area just up river from the bridge on the East side. Robert estimated 12 feet of shore has vanished and judging by the remaining sod that is now underwater, he seems correct at minimum. I think this has FEMA written all over it and started ringing phones in city departments to make sure someone knew about it and was working on a way that WE didn’t have to pay for the repairs…. Turns out a city engineer and FEMA rep had visited the day before we did, and a larger group was getting together earlier this week. Water started the problem and ICE will make it much worse… The bike path is a significant attraction to tourist dollars for recreation, as we all know-and deserves attention to keep it up to high standards…. Carol and I will be keeping an eye on progress in getting this addressed.Well, that is my rant for this morning. Hope everyone has fun in what is left of a VERY SHORT summer…. As always reach out to StateRepHooper@gmail.com with a question or concern. Always appreciate hearing from y’all….BestHooper ... See MoreSee Less

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Bob Hooper - State Representative

5 months ago

VETO SESSION 6/20/23. Feel free to pass this on to another Chittenden 18 voter!!!We are Outta there…..well once again….MAYBE…One Hundred and eighty or so Legislators gathered together today to decide if we collectively thought the majority of us were thinking we liked a couple of small things that the Governor didn’t care that much for.Turns out we apparently liked a lot of stuff the Gov didn’t….some of which on a bipartisan basis…. Who would have guessed???H-217-the child care bill (which included funding for workers comp and UI and Early Ed funding) that so many of you have been emailing me about, passed earlier in the session by a vote of 118-27. Today the veto was over ridden by a consistent 116-31 vote…. In most of these votes 97 votes constitutes a ⅔ majority….necessary to over ride a veto.The same relative margin held up for most of the bills we addressed today:H-305 which allowed the Office of Professional Regulation to raise some rates for certain professional licenses, some not raised since the 90s, passed 109-38.H-386 dealing with the Brattleboro charter passed 110-37 dealing with youth voting while Burlington’s Charter bill dating with voting locations and non citizen folks voting in CITY election. 111-36 was the total.H-494 was the State Budget, which the Governor thought included too much spending and raising of fees. To be honest, my first impression was that raising the DMV fees was a little over the edge, but in that mix was a bit of a gift to Burlington in the form of $16 million bucks to help with the High School situation. As I have mentioned before here, that allocation made a BIG difference to me. Others took aim at the budget and voted NO on it because of angst over the closing of the federal motel program ending so suddenly. A compromise was worked out with the governor to help the homeless/unhoused but it puts a lot more responsibility on participants in many cases where few expectation existed in the federally funded program. That caused a few folks on the left leaning side of the aisle to continue to vote no, but the bill cleared 105-42. This was called a veto session, but we also took up some unfinished business from earlier this year. One item was H-158 known as the Bottle Bill. This bill adds more glass bottles, expands places to redeem and options to recycle. This bill had been amended by the Senate, and with our action today, it was next headed to see the Governor.Well, it is getting late and by now I know everywhere I said “today” I realize it will now be “yesterday” since FPF went to press earlier…. At the beginning I said MAYBE as far as being OUTTA HERE….. apparently if the investigation into the Franklin County Sheriff and State’s Attorney produces results………we will be back again to deal with that….Get out and enjoy the summer, such as it is…. At minimum we have leaves on the trees this year, I have only seen ONE moth so far…..and his leaf eating days are done.Yell if you want to talk more about any of these issues. StateRepHooper@gmail.com still ends up in the mailbox…. As always, Thanks for reading….. Enjoy!!! Hooper ... See MoreSee Less

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Bob Hooper - State Representative

6 months ago

Who thinks this helps???Good evening neighborsI go back and forth on “Do I say something?” “Do I NOT say something?” Those who know me well also know that is really not an issue—I always tend to say something, the real question is how far I am willing to put my foot in my mouth. This could be a TWO Keds kinda day. Not the “run faster jump higher” kind either.But first a general word of thanks to all of you who are sending emails with words of thanks for the support we offered to the childcare bill. Thank you.Our children really are our future. So investments in their health, education, nutrition, spirit, etc, etc are investments in what America will become when we are getting the last drops of chicken and rice soup wiped from our faces in the old age home. As with most things in life, starting to build a foundation is an “earlier the better” sort of thing. Worth every penny of that investment for our future.Carole Ode, our detail oriented Rep and my Chittenden 18 District Mate did an excellent job of laying out in the true Dollars and Cents end of action taken last session. Thank you Carol!! Overall, new spending was not as grave as Gov Scott wants to represented it as when he issued his veto message for the next years budget. Some of the increases in fee assessment (like the DMV fees) I personally found excessive, but I am also one to yell at potholes and such, and contributions to the gas tax are down…..So…. I assessed the entire package, judged it better for Vermont as a package, and voted yes. Maybe the Stones song should have been You Can”t Always Get Everything You Want??The first title to this post was going to be “Who does this crap?”, but we all know some zealots on either side of an issue are capable of sneaking out in the middle of the night to deface others property with cute slogans like “isn’t it nice to have a home?” painted on their garage doors. But the real question is “how does this help?” It IS nice to have a home, and shoes and Tostitos and Cherry Garcia and a job and transportation and and and…….not everyone can and I really feel it is our obligation as a society to help a fellow traveler along the way. And the big AND is that some of the folks that were eligible for the MOTEL program were elderly and disabled and really in a bind when the program ended…..which everyone knew (including our Governor) was going to happen as it was Federal money that supported the millions of dollars spent over the years it existed. Not a surprise. The fact is that people are still juggling things in Montpelier (sing praises for Rep Wood in Waterbury) to try to take care of those really in need. A good thing. I of course, know people who sit in the House with me who got the early morning message on their garage doors, and they are dedicated and over the top hard working members of the legislature. So how did this act of vandalism help the “cause”?? I doubt it did. My real disappointment is that I have not seen a great cry rise up from those folks who support the budget veto (which contains the 16 million for BHS) denouncing this action. In the Boy Scouts you learn that once you start a fire, you are responsible for watching, containing and if necessary extinguishing that fire lest the unintended consequence is that the forrest burns down……. Just sayin’Always up for hearing your opinions. To be clear, I support a housing solution for those in great need. No question. But I also support Child Care and Education and Housing and so many other things that are incorporated into this budget…. life is about choices and priorities.....those are the hard decisions.HooperStateRepHooper@gmail.com ... See MoreSee Less

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Advocating for the needs of working Vermonters and protecting those most vulnerable for over 30 years.

A History of Service for Vermont

Bob Hooper has a long and varied career of service for the people of Vermont. As a member of the Vermont Veterans Home Board of Trustees and a former member of the Veterans Advisory Council, Bob has helped countless veterans get the assistance they need and deserve.

His involvement and experience with pension and retirement assets for the State of Vermont gives him an advantage over many incumbent representatives.

Hooper is a solid, hard working Democrat. He represents working class Vermonters As the President Emeritus of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, he fought for fair wages and affordable healthcare.

Bob is ready to work for you-full time!

Vote for Hooper!!