MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – This will be a busy week in Montpelier where Vermont lawmakers face a key deadline to advance legislation. Some of those bills deal with housing and Act 250 reform, a proposed ban on flavored tobacco and vapes, and school construction and PCB testing funding.
Friday marks “Crossover Day,” the halfway point of the session where bills move from one chamber to the other.
VT. LAWMAKERS FOCUS ON ACT 250
Act 250 reform and housing development are expected to take center stage. This session, there have been several bills percolating.
One in the House backed by House leadership focuses on the conservation of ecosystems and determining where Act 250 is applied through a tier-based approach. However, nearly 40 lawmakers in the rural caucus wrote a letter to House leadership saying that the conservation-based bill does not do enough to address the housing shortage.
Another bill, a tripartisan proposal backed by Gov. Phil Scott, focuses on lowering barriers to building housing through permitting reform and others.
The governor has threatened to veto the conservation-focused proposal, so it remains to be seen what the final housing and Act 250 deal looks like by Friday.
HOW CAN VERMONT FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
School construction and PCBs are also up for debate. It’s related to the ongoing property tax problem.
Many of our schools are decades old and face infrastructure issues. The bill would seek to restart a school construction aid program that has been on ice for more than 14 years. It would also pause the PCB testing program.
FLAVORED TOBACCO BAN
Lawmakers may also vote on a ban on flavored tobacco and vapes in Vermont as early as Wednesday. The bill, years in the making, is aimed at kids who are hooked on vaping. It aims to save money on health care costs in the long run. But along the way, the proposed ban has raised lots of questions about the impact on small businesses, state coffers and whether the prohibition of flavored tobacco products works.
There are more bills in the works, too. Those dealing with spending or raising revenue have an extra week to be worked on.
Being the second year of the biennium, if bills don’t make it over the finish line, they will have to start again next session.