Reflections and the work ahead

Friends -
As the legislative session draws to a close, I want to share with you some highlights and some of the work that still lies ahead of us. Making change is a long and difficult process, and while there is much to celebrate and to be proud of, there is also so much work ahead of us. Here are a few reflections from our House Progressive Caucus members:

“In 2022, the General Assembly took significant action to protect human rights and to promote equity, inclusion, and belonging in Vermont. We worked across party lines to find common ground as we expanded access to safe and affordable housing. By incorporating an amended version of H.273 into S.226, we created the Land Access and Opportunity Board, empowering those who have been historically marginalized and disadvantaged to reduce barriers and to promote racial and social equity in the policy, practices, and spending across the Vermont housing continuum. If we weed out discrimination as we grow home ownership, improve housing conditions and safety, increase housing affordability, and end homelessness, then we amplify the return on our investments because we are improving multiple social determinants of health with the same amount of dollars. We also took another historic step into the future by passing H.410, an act relating to the use and oversight of artificial intelligence in state government. By minimizing the risks of artificial intelligence while maximizing its benefits, the State of Vermont can serve the people more efficiently, more effectively, and more equitably.”

- Rep. Brian Cina

“We have a lot of work left to do for working Vermonters, we fought hard for many things and won some and lost some. I am proud of the work we did with teachers and state employees to ensure that the proposed draconian cuts to their pensions were stopped in order to let a fair and balanced taskforce to do its work. The pension plan in S.286 was voted out of the task force unanimously. This bill was also voted out of the house and senate unanimously and gubernatorial veto was overridden, unanimously. This has never to my knowledge happened in the history of Vermont Government. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of our teachers and state employees organizing with allies in the house and senate. I came to the Statehouse committed to ensuring that I brought with me the voices of the people who often are not heard but most impacted. My work on the pension bill was informed by this commitment and showed the power of the people.” 
- Rep. Tanya Vyhovsky

"The legislature was able to make significant investments in incentive programs for electric vehicles for low and moderate income Vermonters. We are also funding a significant deployment of electric vehicle charging stations. These are the largest investments we have ever made to transform and electrify our transportation system. They are not enough, as we know. But this is a good start to curb the carbon emissions that constitute 40% of Vermont's greenhouse gas emissions."
-Rep. Mollie S. Burke

“Two major wins stand out to me. The first win is the passage of S.139, a bill to end discriminatory branding/mascots in Vermont schools. I was a lead sponsor of the House version of this bill. S.139 is a major step forward to take local fights over racist imagery and harmful mascot histories out of local communities and creates a state model policy for school boards to adopt and/or improve upon. This is a victory for all students as harmful imagery negatively impacts mental health and students’ bias of minoritized members of our communities. I am also proud of our work as a caucus to advance the Burlington charter change on just cause eviction in H.708. While the House failed to override the Governor’s veto, we advanced the discussion of tenant rights and planted significant seeds to return to this issue next biennium. We are just getting started!”
- Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak

“During this past legislative session, we had two big achievements in our work to advance equity statewide. The first was passing H.628, which will allow transgender and non-binary Vermonters the opportunity to change their gender marker on their birth certificate to reflect their gender identity through a simple, self-attestation process. This new process is not only less burdensome for transgender and non-binary Vermonters, but it also creates a gender neutral ‘X’ marker option. The other big achievement was correcting the equalized pupil weights in S.287. Though this will occur over a 5-year process, the importance of recognizing and reducing the harm for our under-resourced schools is not lost on us. This is particularly important to the students, staff, and teachers of the Winooski School District, who will now receive proper funding for our multilingual students and programming. I look forward to coming back next year to continue our work on preventing overdose deaths, reducing the benefits cliff for those participating in state programs, and restructuring our education funding streams.”
- Rep. Taylor Small

“Drug policy and criminal legal system reforms have been a cornerstone of my work in the legislature, as a member of the House Judiciary committee. This year I was very grateful that H.644, our bill to decriminalize possession of personal use amounts of drugs, was introduced with nearly a third of the Vermont House as sponsors, making it the nation’s most broadly supported decriminalization bill. While H.644 didn’t pass in its entirety, with the help of the newly-formed Decriminalize Vermont coalition, a key provision was included in H.505–a drug use standards advisory board composed of public health experts will now establish benchmarks for personal use and supply, which can be used in future legislation instead of relying on outdated charging data and war on drugs priorities. The history of our criminal legal system is deeply connected to America’s legacy of white supremacy. I look forward to continuing to fight for transformative change to this system that re-centers the real needs of survivors and the healing potential of individuals and communities.”
-Rep. Selene Colburn

Want to be a part of this work going forward? While the legislative session is drawing to an end, the 2022 election season is just beginning. Interested in running? Volunteering? Or finding other ways to get involved? Go to https://www.progressiveparty.org/getinvolved

Thank you for your support!
-Jesse
Legislative Assistant
Vermont Progressive Party

Progressives in the Media:

As session draws to a close, advocates say more needs to be done to curb overdose deaths - VTDigger

Legislature Adopts Resolution in Support of Transgender Youth | Health Care | Seven Days | Vermont's Independent Voice