On Oct. 8, legislative leaders released a proposal to address climate change in the 2021 Vermont Transportation Bill. As the transportation sector makes up nearly half of Vermont’s carbon emissions, these key proposals will produce results to immediately begin achieving the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act.
Historically, members of the House Committee on Transportation wait for the governor and the Agency of Transportation to submit a draft transportation budget of their priorities. Members of the transportation committee then deliberate on how to incorporate their priorities into an already established budget.
However, legislators are letting the governor and lt. governor know that the following proposals are transportation priorities and that these concepts will be part of what the Transportation Committee plans to be in the 2021(FY22) Transportation Bill.
The proposal has four key areas of transportation policy:
- A state with a majority of electric vehicles
- Transportation demand management and public transit: increasing riders
- To increase walking and bicycling: roads made safe
- Sprawl: the structural problem
In January, members of the house transportation committee will be introducing legislation in the 2021 session of the Legislature to create a Climate Section of the Transportation Program (T-Bill).
