By STEPHANIE JEROME
On May 12, the Vermont House of Representatives started the last day of the Biennium at 10am with a devotional of live bagpipe music and ended at 11:30 pm with a speech by the Governor recognizing the work we have done this legislative session. With the musical devotional and final speeches, I was reminded of the responsibility that we have to uphold the ideals of democracy in Vermont. Here are a few highlights of the last week in the General Assembly:
H.494 Budget Bill:
The last bill of the biennium is always a vote on the budget. The $8.4 billion budget is the culmination of months of work that reflect the commitment of the legislature toward building a better Vermont. It addresses critical areas, such as housing assistance, healthcare, education, workforce development, and infrastructure. The House and Senate conference committee worked together to agree on the best budget for 2024. The budget meets pension, transportation, and clean-water obligations, fills all statutorily required reserves, and makes essential investments in housing, childcare, workforce, economic development, human services, and the environment. Total unduplicated spending in this budget is $8.45 billion.
My work in the Commerce committee focused on the workforce and economic development portion of the bill. The budget provides about $40 million to create or enhance programs to increase workforce participation – it funds programs that educate, train, and help businesses hire and retrain workers. It funds forgivable loan programs, scholarships, and certificate programs. In this budget we make financial commitments to our teacher workforce, adult education and training, graduates of Vermont colleges and universities, the trades, up-skilling certifications, criminal justice, technology, critical occupations, mental health practitioners, EMT, nurses, human services, the arts, and rural economic development.
S.5 Affordable Heat Act bill:
The House voted to override the Governor’s Affordable Heat Act veto on a roll call vote of 107 – 42. This climate legislation is designed to lower Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions from the thermal sector and to help low- and moderate-income Vermonters transition to cleaner heating. The bill now becomes law. The Public Utilities Commission will develop clean-heat standard rules through a public process. These rules will come back to the legislature in 2025 for consideration along with the results of studies including cost analyses. This information will help guide us on the best path for implementation of the clean-heat standard.
S.100 Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone bill:
This bill addresses several goals to help alleviate the housing crisis, including increasing the availability of affordable housing, promoting homeownership, and expanding housing opportunities. Five changes were made to municipal zoning and Act 250 in the bill:
- Requires towns to allow density of 5 units per acre in areas served by municipal water and sewer
- Reduces excess parking requirements so that space and dollars go to build housing, not unnecessary parking spaces
- Allows developers building affordable housing a 40% density bonus, in downtown areas with water and sewer
- Allows duplexes anywhere a single-family home is allowed
- Prohibits local zoning boards from paring down a proposal that fully complies with zoning bylaws to appease pressure from neighbors.
This bill prioritizes solutions that balance the need for smart growth development while preserving our natural environment and the rural character of Vermont.
S.56 Childcare bill:
We passed a childcare bill that will help our young families and is a pivotal piece of Vermont’s economic future. This bill broadens public funding, making childcare more affordable. It sets us on a path to work toward the goal that no family should have to spend more than 10% of their income on childcare. The bill invests in high-quality child-care programs. Child-care providers will receive more funding to cover the true cost of quality early childhood care and education — including a developmentally appropriate curriculum and small class sizes. S.56 ensures that childcare workers are compensated fairly by increasing pay to providers. Child-care programs will also have more funding to provide benefits to their employees. It further explores how best to advance Vermont’s mixed-delivery Universal Pre-K System. Vermont is recognized as having some of the highest pre-K participation rates in the country. The bill calls for a plan to expand upon what’s working so we can ensure as many children as possible benefit from publicly funded Pre-K in our state.
In conclusion, I am proud of the difficult work the legislature has done this session. We tackled tough issues, looking at all sides of the problems, and always working to create a better Vermont. We have scheduled June 20-22 to return to Montpelier in case the Governor vetoes any of the important bills that have passed this legislative session. I am hoping that he will agree to the policies and budget that we have developed.
I will be working from Brandon until I return to Montpelier next January. I will resume my constituent meetings throughout the summer and fall. The next Constituent Coffee Hour will be held at the Brandon Free Public Library on 5/27 at 10am. Hope to see you there.
Take care,
Stephanie
Rep. Stephanie Zak Jerome
(Rutland-6, Brandon)
