The Senate Transportation committee is set to make a key change in the gas tax bill that was adopted by the House several weeks ago.

Lawmakers are eyeing the gas tax as a way to raise new revenue to allow the state to take full advantage of all federal matching money that's available.

The Transportation Fund has a major shortfall this year because the gas tax is levied on a per gallon basis nd sales have dropped more than 40 million gallons over the past 7 years.

Doctor Elliott Fisher has had a note on his office wall for several years now that states his professional mission - try to help fix health care.

This week the physician and researcher is even better positioned to do just that.The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice just named Fisher as its new director.

Fisher has been integral to the Dartmouth Institute's purpose of studying how to make health care systems work better. He spoke with Vermont edition about some of the inherent problems in how health care is delivered.

House

Scheduled to go into session at 10 a.m.

Favorable with Amendment H. 169 Relieving employers' experience-rating records

Favorable H. 474 Amending the membership and charge of the Government Accountability Committee

Senate

Scheduled to go into session at 9:30 a.m.

Third Reading S. 129 Workers' compensation liens

A bacterial disease spread by tick bites is getting attention this week in the Statehouse.

Lyme disease patients and their advocates are pushing for a bill that requires insurance companies to cover long-term antibiotic care for the debilitating illness.

The bill highlights a debate in the medical community about the most effective treatment, because it sanctions a medical practice that critics say is not recommended by state and federal agencies.

This year Senator Bill Doyle tabulated almost 14,000 surveys from all parts of the state, and by a margin of 56 to 33 percent, those responding to the Survey said they didn't want to increase the gas tax to pay for road and bridge repairs.

Doyle says he was surprised by these results.

"I will say that I knew it would go down but I didn't think it would go down 2 to 1, said Doyle. Most of us drive to work and when you drive to work you're using a lot of gasoline."