AGCVT Weekly Legislative Wrap - Week 8
Salutations, members,
In their waning working days before their mid-session break, legislators completed a few final dashes on select pieces of legislation before heading home to their constituents next week for Town Meeting Day. Notably, the Senate on Friday greenlit the latest iteration of the Budget Adjustment Act, as negotiated by the House and Senate's conference committee (convened to reconcile minor differences between the House and Senate's versions of the bill). According to VTDigger, the House won't grant its final blessing to the midyear budget tune-up until March 12, after Town Meeting Day — so we still have a ways to go before the bill reaches the Gov. Phil Scott's desk for his signature or veto. Whichever tact he takes could set up a major test for this year's Legislature: Upon the bill's initial votes in the House and Senate, respectively, the chambers voted 87-51 and 18-12 to pass the spending plan — notably not by a large enough margin to override Scott's veto, should he issue it.
Also in a final burst of activity before next week's hiatus, the House's General and Housing Committee on Friday signaled strong, bipartisan support for its omnibus housing bill via a unanimous 11-0 straw poll vote. While the bill steers well clear of any reforms to Act 250 or wetlands regulations, it does include sections on appeals reforms and brownfields mitigation that could be great steps forward for home construction in the state. The goals of these sections are to raise the bar on appeals to housing projects — in order to prevent nay-sayers from running out the clock with petty appeals — and to allow for on-site mitigation of urban soils for brownfields development. These reforms have, in ways, been third-rail issues in Montpelier for years, but it appears this House committee is committed to getting them across the finish line. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this bill, or any housing issues, so I can deliver your perspective to lawmakers as this bill progresses.
The conversation on transportation funding also began heating up this week, with the House Transportation Committee beginning discussions on this year's T-bill and, more largely, the longterm outlook of Vermont's transportation fund. Unlike other funds within Vermont's state budget, the T-fund has been consistently underperforming, and lacks a growing revenue base (think sales and use tax in the general fund, and property taxes for statewide education). This simmering issue could come to a boil if Vermont is unable to meet its state funding requirements in order to leverage our federal match dollars for roads and bridges — quite literally leaving money on the table. The good news is, lawmakers are having these hard conversations this year, and key transportation leaders are committed to finding a fix. AGC-VT, of course, is at the table.
Yours truly attended the discussion on behalf of AGC-VT, in order to represent the construction industry and discuss the potential impact of tariffs on building materials, specifically.
The week ended on a high note in Burlington Friday morning, where folks from the Vermont business community met with fellow Canadian business leaders and government officials to discuss Vermont-Canadian business relations in the current political climate — particularly as tariffs on Canadian imports are set to take effect next week (barring another course-change from the White House over the weekend). From Vermont's Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Deputy Secretary Tayt Brooks and Director of Recruitment and International Trade Tim Tierney attended. From Canada's national government, Minister of National Revenue Élisabeth Brière and member of parliament Marie-Claude Bibeau attended, as well as Canada's Consul General in New England, Bernadette Jordan, who visited the Vermont Statehouse last week. Yours truly attended the discussion on behalf of AGC-VT, in order to represent the construction industry and discuss the potential impact of tariffs on building materials, specifically. The conversation was productive and civil, and I think it's safe to say everyone left with a sober understanding of the potential harm of a tariff war — but committed to maintaining good relations between Canada and Vermont, specifically. I've attached some pictures of the event to this email.
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One last reminder: Town Meeting Day is this coming Tuesday, March 4. Please attend! Vote local and vote often. This is your chance to make your voice heard on issues that are, quite literally, right in your backyard — like your local school budget, to name one. You can also take the opportunity of Town Meeting Day to speak with your local electeds (including your state legislators, if they attend) about the issues you care about most.
