Vermont lawmakers are making their way back to Montpelier this week to kick off the 2024 legislative session — and Vermont Public will be tagging along.
Here's what our reporters expect to cover in Montpelier this year.
Government and politics
For Vermont Public's government and politics coverage, here's what reporter Bob Kinzel is watching this legislative session:
We are picking up where we left off last year — things will start up quickly as some of the work was already started last session.
One thing we'll see is conversations around housing and Act 250, which is a priority for all sides.
Another thing we'll see is lawmakers addressing flood-related concerns, especially in public infrastructure projects. Gov. Phil Scott has made it clear that the state has little extra money, but he's hoping to take advantage of the federal matching funds.
A big trend I'll be following this session is the question: What is the appropriate role of government in dealing with key issues facing the state? Is the state government the solution, or is the private sector more effective?
Because there's a Democratic legislature and a Republican governor, there's a philosophical difference when it comes to answering this question.
Secondly, there's the question: Will this be a session of cooperation or confrontation? I think there will be some of both. It's also an election year. So there really are two different approaches, which could lead to more vetoes or impact important decisions for voters to make in November.
Climate
For Vermont Public's climate coverage, here's what reporter Abagael Giles is watching this legislative session:
One major energy bill lawmakers are signaling they want to take on is a big overhaul of the Renewable Energy Standard — the regulations that govern where Vermont utilities get their electricity from, and how much has to be renewable.
Since 2015, utilities have been required to get their electric portfolios to 75% renewable by 2032, among other requirements.
Last year, lawmakers commissioned a working group to study the economic and rate impacts of going beyond that — something the state’s 2021 Climate Action Plan called for.
I think it’s likely we’ll see a bill that pushes utilities towards 100% renewable energy by 2030, but I expect there will be a lot that still has to be hashed out about what should count as renewable power and where that renewable energy should come from.
It’s also looking as though lawmakers will continue work to update regulations on chemical contaminants, the use of pesticides in water and potentially hunting and trapping, among other issues.
I also expect that flooding and flood resilience will be a hugely hot issue this year at the Statehouse.
Education
For Vermont Public's education coverage, here's what reporter Lola Duffort is watching this legislative session:
As is often the case, money is likely to dominate education debates at the Statehouse in 2024. Vermont’s tax commissioner has projected that property taxes could rise by nearly 19% next year. And while we won’t actually know what education spending will look like until Town Meeting Day in March, we know a few key pressures will almost certainly impact tax rates. Schools face the end of pandemic-era federal aid, and, like most employers, growing health care costs and inflation.
Schools are also facing another big budgetary problem that is sure to command a lot of Montpelier’s time: deferred maintenance in aging buildings. Vermont put a moratorium on school construction aid back in 2007, and in the interim, a lot of districts put projects on hold. A task force is expected to report back to the Legislature in January to recommend financing mechanisms to reboot construction aid.
To make matters more complicated, per a new state mandate, schools continue to test for PCBs — a class of toxic chemicals widely used in construction materials until they were banned in 1979. Several schools have already detected elevated levels and are facing sticker shock at the remediation costs. The state now has to decide how much additional money it wants to set aside to help districts — or whether it should pull the plug on testing, or adjust the thresholds at which schools must take action.
On the policy side, I’ll also be following whether lawmakers take up the subject of restraint and seclusion in schools, which advocates have long said disproportionately impacts students with disabilities. And I expect the House to debate S.18, a bill passed last year by the Senate that would ban the sale of flavored tobacco products.
Housing
For Vermont Public's and VTDigger's housing coverage, here's what reporter Carly Berlin is watching this legislative session:
Legislation aimed at easing Vermont’s acute housing shortage is likely to resurface at the Statehouse in 2024. Last year, lawmakers targeted local zoning laws for reform, passing measures that mean cities and towns must now allow for denser housing development. But this year, legislators intend to revisit more sweeping changes to state regulations: namely Act 250, Vermont’s decades-old law that dictates whether and how large construction projects should move forward.
Act 250 critics argue that the law stifles development and contributes to Vermont’s housing deficit, while some environmental advocates maintain that its protections are critical for protecting natural resources. A crop of studies issued by lawmakers last year took on the question of how to modernize the law, and their findings are likely to shape the debate in Montpelier this year.
More from Brave Little State: Vermont is changing. Should Act 250 change with it?
Those discussions will center around where Vermont should encourage more housing development. Last year’s repeated flooding — which inundated many village centers and downtowns, where much of Vermont’s housing is already located — will loom over these debates, too. I’ll be curious to see what other measures lawmakers might take up as Vermont recovers from the 2023 floods and anticipates more in the future, like a flood disclosure requirement for home sellers and landlords, something that an increasing number of states have adopted as climate change contributes to more frequent floods.
Amidst a rise in homelessness, lawmakers will also be tasked with finding a path forward for the hundreds of unhoused Vermonters still finding shelter through the state’s pandemic-era motel program, which is set to sunset on April 1. Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has pitched an ambitious plan to stand up a slate of new emergency shelters by then to help meet the need. But the Scott administration also argues that the plan is a form of triage, and the underlying problem can only be fixed if the state prioritizes building a lot more housing.
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