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On June 17th the Legislature reconvened to consider bills that had been vetoed by the Governor. Here is a list of all the veto overrides that happened. I voted yes to override all seven bills. Thank you to Rep. Julia Andrews who provided this summary.
H. 289 The Renewable Energy Standard This bill was a strong collaborative effort between lawmakers, environmentalists, and energy companies in Vermont to create a path toward 100% renewable energy by 2035. H. 645 The expansion of approaches to restorative justice This bill expands today’s restorative justice system to spread across the state. Restorative justice allows us to create accountability for certain crimes while diverting individuals from our over-burdened criminal justice system. H. 72 A harm-reduction criminal justice response to drug use This bill enables a pilot of a “safe injection site” in Burlington, a community that is supportive of that measure to provide a bit more community safety, supervision and life-saving intervention for those with drug misuse disorder, and access to treatment options for those who are ready to make a change. H. 687 Community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use Colloquially known as the Act 250 bill, this is a significant update to our Act 250 land use bill that paves the way for more housing to be built with a focus on more dense areas. H. 706 Banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticides This creates a ban on the use of pesticide-coated seeds to reduce the impact on the pollinator population. This law will go into effect at the same time as New York’s sister law does, to ensure buying power for farmers to purchase uncoated seeds. H. 887 Homestead property tax yields, nonhomestead rates, and policy changes to education finance and taxation The yield bill is a must-pass piece of legislation where we fund all of the voter-approved school district budgets statewide. In most years, this is a fairly simple affair, but this year has been very different. When the December 1 estimate of statewide property taxes showed an estimated increase of 20%, we began the work to consider what tools we had to reduce that burden. In the end, we were able to shave more than 6% off of the original estimate. While the 13.8% average increase is still really high, it represents the work of hundreds of lawmakers, advocates, and educators to bring it to that point. There is also money set aside in the bill to help out the two-thirds of Vermonters who pay property taxes based on income. During the entire five months that the Legislature was in session, we received no realistic proposals from the Governor’s office. In fact, we only received a single proposal at all, which involved borrowing money to pay our education liability. The Treasurer testified that doing so would harm our credit rating, making every dollar we borrow as a state more expensive. The Administration also could not explain how the additional liability would not end up being paid by taxpayers. In short, it was not a real proposal. It’s also important to note that not passing the yield isn’t as simple as just saying ‘no’- it has dire implications that would be felt by every Vermonter as school districts have to borrow money, with interest, that would then need to be paid back. This issue brief from the nonpartisan Joint Fiscal Office explains it in more depth: https://ljfo.vermont.gov/.../GENERAL-377713-v2-Fiscal. The 2024 yield bill also looks at the coming years and outlines a plan to make foundational changes to the current system. It sets the stage for the Legislature to reconvene in January 2025 with a draft bill to change Vermont’s funding formula to make it more straightforward. It also sets in motion a Commission to make recommendations on cost-saving measures including key areas such as mental health costs and health insurance premiums.
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