Vermont Legislative Update

April 12, 2024

We know you might be over talking about the eclipse, however, there’s a policy angle we’d like to get at here. The most recent estimates put the visitors this weekend at 160,000 coming to our little state of only 645,000, mainly concentrated in the northern half of the state and 50,000 people around Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace. 

• This is significant because the Vermont Futures Project is setting a goal to increase our population to 802,000 people and the non-seasonal housing stock to 350,000 units, which some have scoffed at.  
• We accepted all these visitors, and nothing went wrong. Even with their 60,000 cars, parking wasn’t a significant issue. Sure, traffic backed up, however, that’s more of a factor of everyone leaving at the exact same time from wherever they were watching, a phenomenon we wouldn’t expect to happen usually. 

So, as legislators discuss housing legislation, they need to remember that we don’t need to compromise our state’s environment to reach these necessary targets. So, when you think back on the eclipse, remember the natural wonder and community you experienced, however, also remember it as the trial run of the Vermont we need to become. 

In this week’s update:

• Yield bill would raise property taxes, with bigger increase for businesses and renters
• Long awaited merge of land-use and housing bill in Senate 
• PFAS bill passes with a helpful floor amendment 
• Tourism day in the Vermont State House 
• Public safety bills considered in the House and Senate 
• The Laundry List 

Vermont Legislative Committee Weekly Preview

April 8–12, 2024

Note: Legislative Committee Agendas are updated frequently throughout each day. The latest committee schedule can be found on this link. A list of weekly hearings for all committees can be found here.

House Committee Work

Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry – will discuss farmworker housing, and receive more testimony on H.567, an act relating to the sale of dogs, cats and wolf-hybrids by pet shops, and on S.301, the Senate’s act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects.

Appropriations – will get a walk-though of H.626, an act relating to animal welfare on Tuesday, with the rest of the week TBA.

Commerce and Economic Development – will continue work on H.659, an act relating to captive insurance (which includes pet insurance language), and S.289, an act relating to age-appropriate design code on Tuesday. They will also receive testimony on S.30, an act relating to creating a Sister State Program and S.150, an act relating to automobile insurance.

Corrections and Institutions – will consider an act relating to how a defendant’s criminal records is considered in imposing conditions of release. They will receive an update on the Corrections Investigative Unit.

Education – TBA.

Environment and Energy – will spend the week on on S.213, an act relating to the regulation of wetlands, river corridor development and dam safety, and, S.305, an act relating to miscellaneous changes related to the Public Utility Commission. On Thursday there will be a joint hearing with House Judiciary on S.259, an act relating to climate change cost recovery.

General and Housing – will begin work on Prop 3 – Declaration of Rights; right to collectively bargain. They will continue work on S.102, an act relating to expanding employment protections and collective bargaining rights. Thursday morning will focus on hearing from people related to workforce housing and housing construction.

Government Operations and Military Affairs – will continue work on S.55, an act relating to authorizing public bodies to meet electronically under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, and S.310, an act relating to natural disaster government response, recovery, and resiliency. They will take time for S.42, an act relating to divestment of State pension funds of investments in the fossil fuel industry, and receive an introduction to S.220, an act relating to Vermont’s public libraries.

Health Care – will take testimony on S.189, an act relating to mental health response service guidelines and continue their updates with Designated Agencies and Specialized Service Agencies and from the Northwestern Counseling & Support Service Agencies. They will receive a walk-through of S.98, an act relating to Green Mountain Care Board authority over prescription drug costs, and review the Senate’s amendment to H.543.

Human Services – TBA.

Judiciary – will continue with testimony on S.209, an act relating to prohibiting unserialized firearms, frames and receivers, and S.259, an act relating to climate change cost recovery.

Transportation – will continue work on S.184, an act relating to the temporary use of automated traffic law enforcement (ATLE), and receive a report regarding railroad leases on Thursday.

Ways & Means – TBA.

Senate Committee Work

Agriculture – will possibly vote on H.664, an act relating to designating a state mushroom. After this they will move on to devote the rest of the week to H.706, an act relating to banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

Appropriations – will hold general discussions regarding the budget without details noted.

Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs – TBA. 

Education – will continue work on H.871, an act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program. They will take testimony on H.873, an act relating to PCBs in schools, and H.630, an act relating to boards of cooperative education services.

Finance – will receive a walk-through of H.657, an act relating to the modernization of Vermont’s communications taxes and fees, with the remaining schedule TBA.

Government Operations – will receive a walk-through of H.875, an act relating to the State Ethics Commission and State Code of Ethics, and review a new draft of H.629, an act relating to changes to property tax abatement and tax sales.

Health and Welfare – will vote on H.847, an act relating to peer support provider and recovery support specialist certification. They will discuss H.766, an act relating to prior authorization and step therapy requirements, health insurance claims, and provider contracts. They will listen to an introduction to H.879, an act relating to the Emergency Temporary Shelter Program, and discuss H.721, an act relating to expanding access to Medicaid and Dr. Dynasaur, and H.233, an act relating to licensure and regulation of pharmacy benefit managers.

Institutions – will continue work on H.882, an act relating to capital construction and State bonding budget adjustment.

Judiciary – will continue work on H.27, an act relating to coercive controlling behavior and abuse prevention orders and H.173, an act relating to prohibiting manipulating a child for purpose of sexual contact.

Natural Resources and Energy – will devote the week to H.687, an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use (the Act 250 bill).

Transportation – will possibly vote out H.868, the Transportation Budget.

April 5, 2024

Everywhere you look in Vermont, there are structural problems that could best be defined as “unforced errors.” 

• We’ve made it nearly impossible to build housing in a state with the second-oldest housing stock in the country. 
• We forwent our obligation to pension programs, which resulted in costly catch-ups and massive unfunded liabilities. 
• We have clung to a 19th-century view of education, which has meant local control with statewide dollars and small schools that aren’t serving students well. 
• In trying to mitigate the effect of these mistakes, we’ve implemented market manipulations that have made things worse and imposed new taxes that have made the state less affordable. 

Casual observers of the state’s policy could name more, however, this is emblematic of our current problems. The current state of our housing market and the issues we are having in our education system are inextricably linked and we need to get our housing market to a healthy place. 

In this week’s update:

• Education fund solutions emerge with six weeks left in session
• Cloud tax seems a foregone conclusion in the House; unclear if the impacts are understood
• Privacy bill now considered in the Senate would make business harder
• The Laundry List

March 29, 2024

The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget passed the House earlier today. It is frequently said that, “a budget is a reflection of our values.” However, this year’s $8.8 billion budget does not include in its accounting significant spending initiatives that the House has passed in other bills.

• Instead, bills to reduce the Judiciary system court backlog – H.880, to expand Medicaid – H.721, and to fund housing programs – H.829 each have their own named revenue sources, and are not included in the budget bottom line spending number.

• A late amendment on the House Floor by Rep. Anne Donahue (R- Northfield) called into question whether “our values” as reflected in the budget may come at the cost of our values of fiscal transparency.

·        

• Some of the taxes raised in the aforementioned bills will not begin raising revenues until the following fiscal year, so while adding $25.75 million to the FY 2025 bottom line gives Vermonters more information about FY 2025, it does not give the full picture of taxing and spending being proposed because some of the tax changes will not go into effect until FY 2026.

In this week’s update:

• Major Act 250 bill passes the House 
• What should be done about Vermont’s unsustainable education funding system 
• Court Funding, Fentanyl Penalties, “Raise the Age,” and Safe Injection Facilities 
• Privacy bill would make Vermont a national outlier 
• The Laundry List 

Vermont Legislative Committee Weekly Preview

April 1–5, 2024

House Committee Work

 Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry – will take up H.596, an act relating to eligibility of reserve forestland for use value appraisal and receive more testimony on H.567, an act relating to the sale of dogs, cats and wolf-hybrids by pet shops, as well as S.301, the Senate’s act relating to miscellaneous agriculture subjects on Wednesday.

 Appropriations – TBA.

 Commerce and Economic Development – will continue work on H.659, an act relating to captive insurance (which includes new regulation of pet insurance language), and receive a walk-through of S.289, an act relating to age-appropriate design code on Tuesday. Work will continue on S.289 throughout the week. They will review a new draft of S.30, an act relating to creating a Sister State Program on Wednesday. Friday the committee will review S.150, an act relating to automobile insurance.

 Corrections and Institutions – will consider an act relating to how a defendant’s criminal records are considered in imposing conditions of release. They will receive an overview of the Three-Acre Stormwater Permitting Rule on Thursday.

 Education – TBA.

 Environment and Energy – will spend the week working on S.213, an act relating to the regulation of wetlands, river corridor development and dam safety and S.205, an act relating to miscellaneous changes related to the Public Utility Commission.

 General and Housing – will receive an overview of Collective Bargaining and Labor Law on Tuesday. It is noted that this is in preparation for related labor subjects coming to the Committee. They will receive walk-throughs of the following bills: S.102, an act relating to expanding employment protections and collective bargaining rights; H.858, an act relating to permitting Assistant Attorneys General to collectively bargain; and H.491, an act relating to requiring mileage reimbursements.

 Government Operations and Military Affairs – will consider S.55, an act relating to authorizing public bodies to meet electronically under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law; S.206, an act relating to designating Juneteenth as a legal holiday; S.310, an act relating to natural disaster government response, recovery, and resiliency; and, S.96, an act relating to privatization contracts. They will hear from the Vermont Pension Investment Commission on Friday.

 Health Care – will receive a walk-through of S.189, an act relating to mental health response service guidelines and continue their updates with Designated and Specialized Service Agencies and from the Vermont Health Information Exchange.

 Human Services – will spend the week on S.25, the PFAS bill.

 Judiciary – TBA.

 Transportation – will hold discussions regarding non-driver IDs and on S.184, an act relating to the temporary use of automated traffic law enforcement (ATLE).

 Ways & Means – TBA.

 Senate Committee Work

 Agriculture – will possibly vote on H.603, act relating to the poultry slaughter exception to inspection. They will receive introductions to H.614, an act relating to the land improvement fraud and timber trespass and H.706, an act relating to banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.

 Appropriations – TBA.

 Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs – TBA. 

 Education – will begin work on H.871, an act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program. They will take testimony on H.873, an act relating to PCBs in schools, and H.630, an act relating to boards of cooperative education services.

 Finance – TBA.

 Government Operations – TBA.

 Health and Welfare – TBA.

 Institutions – will consider H.883, an act relating to capital construction and State bonding budget adjustment.

 Judiciary – will take up H.27, an act relating to coercive controlling behavior and abuse prevention orders; H.173, an act relating to prohibiting manipulating a child for purpose of sexual contact; H.534, an act relating to retail theft; H.270, an act relating to the Uniform Trust Decanting Act; H.350, an act relating to the Uniform Directed Trust Act; and, H.694, an act relating to sexual exploitation.

 Natural Resources and Energy – will take testimony on S.311, the BE HOME housing bill. They will also work on H.687, an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use (the Act 250 bill).

 Transportation – TBA.

Note: Legislative Committee Agendas are updated frequently throughout each day. The latest committee schedule can be found on this link. A list of weekly hearings for all committees can be found here.

House Committee Work

Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry – will spend Wednesday morning considering a report on the Best Management Practices for the Use of Insecticide Treated Article Seeds. The rest of the week will be dedicated to the House Floor.

Appropriations – On Monday they will review the following bills: H.706, an act banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides; H.622, an act relating to EMS; H.657, an act relating to modernizing Vermont’s taxes and fees; H.702, an act relating to legislative operations and government accountability; and, H.612, an act relating to miscellaneous cannabis amendments. Tuesday they will review the House Human Services Memo with the remaining schedule TBA.

Commerce and Economic Development – will hear from the Vermont Economic Progress Council, consider H.659, an act relating to captive insurance, receive report and program overviews on Property Records Modernization, Community Development Financial Institutions, Career Tech Ed Construction and Rehabilitation Revolving Loan Fund, and the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.

Corrections and Institutions – will devote most of the week to the Governor’s Capital Budget Adjustment.

Education – will devote the week to discussion of school budgets and the Education Fund.

Environment and Energy – will discuss a Right of Way proposed amendment to H.657, an act relating to the modernization of Vermont’s communications taxes and fees. They will consider S.199, an act relating to mergers and governance of communications union districts, with a possible vote on Wednesday. The remaining week is TBA.

General and Housing – is anticipating much of their week will be on the House Floor with their schedule TBA.

Government Operations and Military Affairs – will consider H.862, Town of Barre Charter, and H.869, Brandon Fire District 1 and 2 merger. The rest of the week is TBA.

Health Care – will hear an update on Act 119, Free Care, Bad Debt, and Uncompensated Care. On Wednesday the committee will take up S.109, an act relating to Medicaid coverage for doula services. They will hear about Healthcare Cybersecurity, the Age Strong Vermont Plan, discuss the psychiatric residential treatment facility, VITL and the Vermont Health Information Exchange.

Human Services – will get a walkthrough and spend the week on S.25, an act relating to regulating cosmetic and menstrual products containing PFAS substances.

Judiciary – will work on  S.190, an act relating to statements made by a child victim of an offense involving serious bodily injury, and S.278, an act relating to prohibiting a comparative negligence defense in an action for a negligence claim relating to a sexual act or sexual conduct.

Transportation – will continue work on S.309, an act relating to miscellaneous changes to DMV, motor vehicles, and vessels. They will also discuss automobile inspections and review the 2021 Vermont Speed Safety Cameras at Work Zones Report.

Ways & Means – Among the bills up for consideration this week: H.829, an act relating to creating permanent upstream eviction protections; H.687 (Act 250), an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use; H.871, an act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program; H.873, PCB testing in schools; and H.769, an act relating to establishing a baby bond trust program.

Senate Committee Work

Agriculture – will consider H.81, an act relating to fair repair of agricultural equipment.

Appropriations – TBA.

Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs – TBA. 

Education – will continue work on S.220, an act relating to Vermont’s public libraries, and S.203, an act relating to the appointment of State Board of Education members.

Finance – TBA.

Government Operations – TBA.

Health and Welfare – TBA.

Institutions – TBA.

Judiciary – will  hold a possible vote on Prop 4 – declaration of rights; government for the people; equality of rights. They will also hear testimony on H.694, an act relating to sexual exploitation. They will spend much of the week reviewing the budget lines under their jurisdiction.

Natural Resources and Energy – will take testimony on S.311, a housing bill, and S.308, an act relating to updates to land use planning.

Transportation – will take testimony on a Right of Way Usage Fee, and continue work on the FY 2025 Transportation Program.

It’s crossover today, a crucial deadline for all pieces of legislation that must pass out of their committee(s) of jurisdiction, or else they are dropped for the session.

• Next Friday is crossover for the money committees and bills involving the expenditure or collection of funds.

• This, of course, isn’t an inelastic rule and is stretched or broken all of the time; to the well-acquainted, everything can still move if given the right opportunity. 

• That said, it is an important milestone, and you’ll see committees start working on legislation sent to them by the other chamber now that they’ve dedicated 11 weeks to their own priorities to make the deadline.

• And a clock is set on adjournment, from here, folks have until the budget is done to complete their work. 

In this week’s update:

• Quick overview of crossover activity 
• Housing crisis enters new, more dire phase 
• Legislature grapples with failed school budgets 
• The Laundry List 

Vermont's Legislative Preview for Week 11

March 11– March 15, 2024

Note: Legislative Committee Agendas are updated frequently throughout each day. The latest committee schedule can be found on this link. A list of weekly hearings for all committees can be found here.

House Committee Work

Agriculture, Food Resiliency, & Forestry – will continue work designating the State Mushroom.

Appropriations – will hold committee discussions on the FY 2025 State Budget.

Commerce and Economic Development – will continue work on H.121, an act related to data-privacy, with plans to vote it out of committee by the end of the week. They will also hear more on H.707, an act relating to revising the delivery and governance of the Vermont workforce system.

Corrections and Institutions – will devote most of the week to the Governor’s Recommended Capital Budget Adjustment and discussions pertaining to many services related to corrections.

Education – On Tuesday and throughout the week, the committee will discuss their bill, an act relating to the development of an updated State aid to school construction program, and continue taking testimony regarding education cost drivers.

Environment and Energy –  will spend much of the week on the Act 250 bill, H.687, an act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use. They will take up H.657, an act relating to the modernization of Vermont’s communications taxes and fees, receiving an introduction from Rep. Sims from the Ways and Means Committee.

General and Housing –  will spend the week on H.704, an act relating to disclosure of compensation in job advertisements, H.695, an act relating to survivor benefits for law enforcement officers, and on H.639, an act relating to disclosure of flood history of real property subject to sale.

Government Operations and Military Affairs – will continue work on their committee bill relating to creating a uniform municipal code of ethics. They will hold a committee discussion on H.140, an act relating to requirements for State-funded grants, on Tuesday with a possible vote on Wednesday. They will take testimony on H.626, an act relating to animal welfare, with a possible vote on Thursday.

Health Care – TBA.

Human Services – will hold a joint hearing with House Health Care regarding the Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility on Tuesday. They will spend much of the week on their committee bill regarding General Assistance Housing Modernization. There will be a potential vote on H.829, an act relating to creating permanent upstream eviction protections and enhancing housing stability, on Thursday.

Judiciary – will continue work on H.655, an act relating to qualifying offenses for sealing criminal history records and access to sealed criminal history records. They will take testimony on H.173, an act relating to prohibiting manipulating a child for the purpose of sexual contact, on Thursday.

Transportation – will review Section 13 of H.657, an act relating to the modernization of Vermont’s Communications taxes and fees. They will devote most of the week to S.309, an act relating to miscellaneous changes to DMV, motor vehicles, and vessels.

Ways & Means – Wednesday will be a busy lineup: the committee may vote on H.10, an act relating to amending VEGI; discuss their Miscellaneous Tax Bill; hear from Access Management Organizations; take up H.827, an act relating to applying personal income tax to unrealized gains; and discuss Meals and Rooms tax and Short-term rentals. On Thursday they will review H.612, an act relating to miscellaneous cannabis amendments and education spending. They may also vote out H.350, an act relating to the Uniform Directed Trust Act, and H.279, an act relating to the Uniform Trust Decanting Act, with further discussions on Meals and Rooms tax and Short-term Rentals. On Friday they will review H.233, an act relating to pharmacy benefit management and Medicaid wholesale drug distribution.

Senate Committee Work

Agriculture – will take a field trip to United Ag and Turf regarding H.81, an act relating to fair repair of agricultural equipment. They will continue work on this bill on Thursday.

Appropriations – TBA.

Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs – TBA. 

Education – TBA.

Finance – TBA.

Government Operations – will work on S.96, an act relating to privatization contracts. They will vote out S.310, an act relating to natural disaster government response, recovery and resiliency, S.159, an act relating to the county governance study, and S.183, an act relating to planning for the Agency of Health Care Administration.

Health and Welfare – TBA.

Institutions – will review the Governor’s Recommended Capital Budget Adjustment.

Judiciary – will vote on S.150, an act relating to automobile insurance, and S.58, an act relating to increasing the penalties for dispensing a regulated drug. They will continue work on Friday regarding  Prop 4 – declaration of rights; government for the people; equality of rights. They will hear more testimony on S.259, an act relating to climate change cost recovery, also known as the Climate Change Superfund bill.

Natural Resources and Energy – will possibly vote on S.258, an act relating to the management of fish and wildlife, on Tuesday. They will also take testimony on S.306, an act relating to changes to the Clean Heat Standard. The rest of the week is TBA.

Transportation – TBA.

Tuesday is Town Meeting Day, so be sure to plan to engage in our state and local democracy. There are important local questions that have a statewide impact and this is your opportunity to meet with and advocate on issues such as public safety and housing as your legislators are back for the Town Meeting Day recess.   

• When legislators return, they’ll face a crossover deadline that Friday by which policy bills will need to pass their committee of jurisdiction and the following Friday for bills involving the raising or expenditure of state funds. 

In this week’s update:

• Engage in Town Meeting Day this Tuesday! 
• Will Vermont make progress on housing? 
• Public safety and quality of life update
• Legislators look to spend their way out of the education funding crisis 
• Privacy bill trudges on 
• The Laundry List