Post Crossover Update

Neurological Rights and Artificial Intelligence

Rep. Brian Cina, our House Assistant Minority Leader, was lead sponsor on H.814, “An act relating to neurological rights and the use of artificial intelligence in health and human services.” H.814 had tri-partisan sponsorship and passed out of the House on March 18. Now it’s over in the Senate for consideration by the Committee on Health & Welfare. We will dedicate a separate email just to outlining the important new rights that Vermonters will have once H.814 advances through the legislature and receives the Governor’s signature. Congratulations to Rep. Cina on the success of this bill so far. We are grateful for his important leadership to protect us as AI becomes more integrated into every aspect of our lives!

Immigration

Three critical bills have made crossover, S.208 (establishing statewide standards for law enforcement identification), S.209 (prohibiting civil arrest in sensitive locations), and S.227 (creating immigration protocols in Vermont schools). They all passed the Senate and now are in the hands of House committees. In S.209, the Senate removed a key provision that would prohibit civil arrests in government buildings - and it is essential that we advocate to include that important protection. On the House side, the budget bill (H.951) appropriated $200,000 to Vermont Legal Aid for an immigration attorney to support legal representation.

Tax Policy

While no legislation has advanced out of either House Ways & Means or Senate Finance, tax policy is supposed to move this year! Tax brackets from H. 621 (sponsored by Reps. Waszazak, Bluemle, and Yacovone) and a wealth proceeds tax from H.794 (sponsored by your House Progressive Caucus) will be included in a single House Ways & Means Committee bill that will be taken up for testimony beginning on April 15. If passed and implemented as proposed, these two new tax policies would generate between $175 million and $275 million annually in new revenues. It is anticipated that the new income tax revenue would be appropriate to fill gaps in the health insurance system left by changes in federal policy. The wealth proceeds tax would perhaps be dedicated to the Education Fund, helping to balance the regressive burden that has been placed on middle-income Vermonters caused by the property tax.

Housing

The House’s primary housing policy legislation was H.772, a landlord-tenant bill that was originally supposed to be the vehicle for long-promised statewide policies like just cause eviction. This was to be a compromise, where landlords would receive some requested changes to the eviction process in the judicial branch. In the end, the bill became irredeemably slanted towards landlords, there are some major constitutional due process concerns, and a statewide just cause eviction policy was not included. The bill passed the House with a supermajority of support from Democrats and Republicans, with over 30 Representatives voting no. The bill has now been assigned to Senate Judiciary, where Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky is one of 5 committee members. We hope for a better outcome in the Senate.

Act 250

In the 2023-2024 session, the legislature passed Act 181 through an override of the Governor’s veto. Act 181 is a substantial revision to Act 250, creating streamlined housing development regulations in locations that are identified as housing-ready. Act 181 also proposed two new triggers for Act 250 jurisdictional oversight, “the road rule” and “Tier 3.” The road rule is aimed at preventing development from fragmenting our forests. Tier 3 aims to protect “critical natural resource areas” that are ecologically necessary in order to support life. Both triggers would require development review, even for the development of a single family home. The newly-formed Land Use Review Board (LURB) was tasked with coordinating with Regional Planning Commissions, under advisement by a diverse group of stakeholders, in order to conduct public outreach and conduct preliminary rulemaking to determine how we might implement the road rule and Tier 3. Initial maps of areas potentially covered by the road rule and Tier 3, published by the LURB, showed a large amount of rural residential property covered by these new regulations. This has caused public outcry, with concerns from low- and moderate-income rural landowners about inequitable property value impacts and limitations placed on the use of their land. S.325 has been proposed to amend Act 181, and now the House Committee on Environment (Rep. Logan’s committee) has the responsibility to determine next steps for addressing these concerns.

Transportation

Our state’s transportation fund is based on declining revenue sources, and that is creating significant funding challenges for the Agency of Transportation’s work - leading to a 62 position reduction in force. This year’s Transportation bill (H.944) gives GMT more revenue raising options, makes more funds available to active transportation infrastructure through shifts in the Transportation Alternatives grant program, and appropriates funds to Drive Electric Vermont to support Vermonters looking to switch to EVs. Additionally, this bill establishes a Mileage Based User Fee (MBUF) for EVs only, which is intended to serve as an alternative to the gas tax. 

Education

The House Committee on Education has passed H.955, which is “An act relating to next steps in transforming Vermont's education system” intended to build on Act 73. This bill takes from the Redistricting Task Force’s recommendations and proposes CESAs - new regional shared services models, and incentivized voluntary mergers. It also proposes delaying the adoption of a foundation formula by two years. The House Ways and Means Committee is currently working on the bill, and we expect it to come to the House floor for a vote in the next week or so.