Balance Brings Common Sense
On Friday the House unanimously approved the final version of the landmark S.325 bill that reigns in the overreach of Act 181. I'm happy to report that none of us got exactly what we went in with, but we all got what Vermonters asked for and needed. We got the full repeal of Tiers 2 and 3 and the Road Rule, and we got the public engagement plan and both Burtt amendments supporting accessory on-farm businesses hemmed with some neighborliness guidelines and an effectivity date a year out allowing towns time to make any necessary ordinances. This is a balanced, common sense result. This would never have happened without the small amount of rebalancing we brought to the House and Senate in 2024. This achievement is a perfect example of the power of balance and thus the need for more of it.
Other recent examples of more balance achieving good results for Vermonters include:
S.323 protects Vermont’s hemp business, and properly trains inspectors while eliminating annual fees for Vermont’s concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO);
H.941 provides much needed clarification of municipalities’ ability to regulate farming after a recent Vermont Supreme Court ruling upended decades of precedent;
S.193 is in negotiation to provide Vermont a true “forensic facility” to safely retain and care for those apprehended for the most violent crimes yet found not competent to stand trial;
S.212 defines efficiency improvements for the Dept of Environmental Conservation water and wastewater permitting processes to reduce housing construction costs;
H.915, the “bottle bill”, retains our beloved beverage redemption system without changing the 5 cent deposit or the containers to which it applies, but incentivizes system efficiency and access upgrades and puts responsibility for its operation into the hands of the producers of the containers rather than state government.
These recent examples, along with bills I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters such as military pension tax reductions, land posting, and the Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP), could not have happened without the slightly improved balance in our legislature this biennium.
There were many other opportunities offered for common-sense, balanced solutions to solve Vermonter’s very real problems, but most were voted down. As Corinth, VT based farmer Neil Rayn stated in his recent article “There is a widening divide…between legislators who view policymaking as an adaptive process responsive to the lived experiences of the people who elected them and those who view constituent appeals to the legislature as distractions or impediments to their preconceived agenda.”
Other important bills will hopefully benefit from balanced and open-minded negotiations as we wrap up the session this coming week. There were high hopes for significant healthcare cost improvements, but bill S.190 got so watered-down by amendments that it doesn’t really achieve its stated goals. The big bills defining the education transformation, budget, and property taxes are all still in the hopper for this last week! Vermonters need these to achieve glorious levels of improvement.
Stay tuned and stay engaged.
I remain honored to be your Representative,
Rob North
Addison, Ferrisburgh, New Haven, Panton, Vergennes, and Waltham
