Legislature rolls out 164 bills, governor’s budget falls short

• Rural Administrative Capacity Bill (H.124): Along with the co-chairs of the Rural Caucus, this bill would address the inequities faced by smaller, low-income towns without the administrative capacity of their larger counterparts. This bill would provide technical assistance to rural communities seeking American Rescue Plan Act-funded opportunities; prioritize underserved communities for remaining coronavirus recovery funds; require that funds be distributed to regional planning commissions based on the number of municipalities in the service area; require that state-funded grant programs target funds to underserved communities; and create a Rural Recovery Coordination Council to identify strategies that strengthen coordination among stakeholders involved in rural development and to build municipal and regional capacity in support of rural economic development.

• Workforce Housing Bill (H.111): With feedback from developers, town planning commissions, regional planning commissions, real estate agents, statewide organizations and agencies, H.11, which has 50 co-sponsors, proposes to provide strategic investments to create more middle-income housing, incentivize smart growth in village centers by reducing costs and regulatory burdens, and add capacity at the local and regional level for planning and zoning.

• Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment Bill (H.81): Manufacturers have been limiting access to any kind of repair to equipment they sell by proclaiming that it violates their proprietary rights to the software. This leaves farmers stuck paying high costs or waiting long periods to fix tractors, balers and other equipment critical to their businesses. This bill would reform existing law to require original manufacturers of agricultural equipment to provide consumers and independent repair businesses equal access to repair documentation, diagnostics, tools, service parts and firmware as their direct or authorized repair providers.

• Solid Waste Management Bill (H.48): The only disposal facility operating in Vermont — the Coventry landfill — is expected to reach capacity in 22 years. Rep. Woody Page and I put together a bill to develop long-term solutions to Vermont’s solid waste management challenges, limit out-of-state importation of waste and establish a fund to close existing landfills, plan for new landfills and remediate contamination caused by landfills.

To see the list of all bills I’ve co-sponsored, check out my page on the General Assembly website.

Other highlights of the session so far are a paid family and medical leave bill, a budget adjustment for 2023 that would shift $324 million in state spending toward broadband, health care staffing, PFAS remediation and IT investments. The proposal includes $50 million for housing, $9.2 million for emergency relief to certified organic dairy farmers and $3 million to help small towns “identify priority projects, submit applications, and then actively manage projects and corresponding reporting, should funding be awarded.”

Gov. Phil Scott also offered his budget proposal for the next fiscal year. While I appreciate many of his budget proposals, I also have some concerns. While he recommended an additional $56 million — for a total of nearly $120 million a year — for child care, it falls significantly short of the $179 to $279 million called for in the recently released RAND Early Care & Education Financing Report to expand access to, and affordability for child care for all Vermont families.

I was also disappointed to see that the governor’s proposal fails to allocate the total funding required by statutory requirement for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, regional planning commissions, regional development corporations and the municipal planning grant program.

Katherine Sims, Orleans-4, represents the towns of Albany, Craftsbury, Glover and Greensboro.