Rep Sibilia: Veto Session & Office Hours Thursday

Please join me in person at the Wardsboro Library on Thursday night June 20th at 6 pm for open discussion and my monthly office hours.

Brief updates on yesterday’s veto session and my votes below. Please watch for upcoming information sessions on the Act 250 bill, Property taxes and the education finance structure, and energy transition bills.

Veto Session Results:

Property Tax Bill (H.887)

House and Senate overrode the veto of the annual property tax legislation, essential for funding schools. H.887 will result in an average property tax increase of 13.8%. Efforts to mitigate this increase through new revenues and surplus funds were included. The override votes were 103-42 in the House and 22-7 in the Senate, largely along partisan lines. I voted to override the Governor’s veto and explained why here: Rep. Sibilia: Veto of Yield Bill Creates Confusion for Vermonters.

I wrote previously about how this situation developed in these two pieces:

Overdose Prevention Sites (H.72)

The Senate and House overrode the veto of H.72, establishing Vermont’s first overdose prevention center in Burlington. Allocating $1.1 million from opioid settlement funds, this center aims to reduce drug-related deaths and connect individuals to treatment and support services. The final vote was 20-9 in the Senate and 104-41 in the House. I voted in favor of this bill in January and to override the Governor’s veto yesterday and support the potential for a properly resourced and community supported pilot facility. More info here: VTDigger: Lawmakers override Phil Scott’s veto of overdose prevention center bill

Renewable Energy (H.289)

The legislature also overturned Scott’s veto of H.289, mandating Vermont utilities to source all their electricity from renewable energy by 2035. House vote was 102-43 and the Senate vote was 21-8. I was a lead sponsor of this legislation and the lead legislative facilitator of the consensus position that developed to bring forward this modernization of Vermont’s existing Renewable Energy Standard, a mechanism which has resulted in Vermont having the lowest residential and commercial electric rates in New England. The non partisan Joint Fiscal Office fiscal note, explains the cost to the state and projects impacts on rates. They estimated the increase on rates – over doing nothing – to be between $4.50 and $13.50 over ten years. I voted to override the Governor’s veto.

I wrote about this bill previously here: Sibilia: Understanding H.289 and Modernizing Vermont’s Renewable Energy Standard

Pesticide Ban (H.706)

H.706, which bans the use of neonicotinoid pesticides harmful to bee populations by 2025 for ornamental plants and by 2029 for agricultural seeds, was also passed by wide margins in both the House (114-31) and Senate (20-9). I voted to support the Governor’s veto of this bill after hearing from a number of dairy farmers.

Act 250 Reform (H.687)

The House and Senate voted to override the veto of H.687, a comprehensive reform of Vermont’s Act 250 land-use law and housing incentives. The bill seeks to balance housing growth with environmental conservation, relaxing Act 250’s reach in development centers to encourage compact housing development amid a housing shortage. It also extends automatic protections to ecologically sensitive areas. The vote was 107-38 in the House and 21-8 in the Senate. I voted to support the Governor’s veto and have significant concerns about the lack of supports for helping rural Vermont communities with these historic changes. Please look for a public information session to detail the changes in this sweeping legislation.

Data Privacy Bill (H.121)

The House voted to override the Governor’s veto 128-17 but the Senate sustained Scott’s veto of the data privacy bill, H.121, which was considered one of the strongest in the nation by a vote of 14-15. The bill would have allowed Vermonters to sue companies who misuse their data and violate Vermonter’s privacy, a provision the Governor argued would make Vermont unfriendly to businesses. I voted to override the Governor’s veto and considered this to be one of the most urgent bills we considered this year with the rapid rise in AI technology.

Read more on the fight for digital privacy here: Vermont governor rejects privacy law that would be among strongest in US

Please watch for additional details on the other bills passed this session and dates for sessions on the Act 250 bill, Property taxes and the education finance structure, and energy transition bills.

As always, if you have suggestions, concerns or critiques please be in touch so we can schedule time to discuss. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need assistance navigating government services at (802) 384-0233 or lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us. Follow my regular posts online at http://www.laurasibiliavt.com

Rep. Laura Sibilia – Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton, Wardsboro