Legislature adjourns

Senate overrides governor’s veto of affordable heat bill

The Senate adjourned our 2023 Legislative session at 8:23 p.m. Friday evening May 12, three hours earlier than the House, which needed to act on the last bills the Senate had messaged. With an impressive number of new legislators re-energizing the Legislature, we accomplished a great deal in our brief four and a half months. We realized many of our top priorities  passing important bills addressing our housing crisis (S.100), childcare (H.217/S.56), workforce (in the FY24 budget and H.452), reducing climate change (S.5) and protecting Vermonter’s health and safety (lots of bills). And, in the last week of the session, we successfully overrode the governor’s veto of S.5, the affordable heat act, our signature climate change mitigation bill. Simply, this bill puts in place the planning process to help us affordably transition off expensive and polluting fossil fuels and onto cleaner renewable energy systems. 

In the last few weeks of the session many bills made their passage toward the governor’s desk to be signed (or not) into law. Here is a sampling of what we passed: An update to the 50-year-old bottle bill (H.158) which expands the types of redeemable bottles and enables the creation of more redemption centers; an elections bill which creates the opportunity for Vermont to adopt ranked choice voting (H.429) first as an option for towns and later for statewide elections; measures to increase firearm safety in an effort to help prevent suicide and domestic violence (H.230); bills (S.37 and H. 89) which further protect reproductive liberty for Vermont providers and out of state patients;  a household hazardous waste bill (H.67) which helps divert more toxic products from further contaminating our environment and entering our landfills; a universal school meals bill (H.165) which reduces stigma and improves academic performance by guaranteeing two meals a day for all students; a bill which creates VT Saves (S.135) a program which will help more Vermonters save for the future; and of course, the big bill (H.494) the FY24 budget. 

One of the last pieces of business that the Legislature conducts is the passage of the budget. Every appropriated line in the FY 24 budget and revenue bills tells a story about some aspect of Vermont which impacts us in different and important ways. How we raise and spend our taxpayer money articulates what the Legislature values and has prioritized for the people of Vermont – from supportive housing to paving to mental health. 

I am not only proud of what we accomplished but how we accomplished it. The Vermont Legislature works well together. The vast majority of our decisions are made unanimously. When we disagree, we tend to not be disagreeable. We are a big tent with 180 legislators – each with strong opinions, representing a wide range of life experiences and expertise. No one forgets why we are there — to improve the lives of Vermont and Vermonters.  We debate, we compromise and move forward to make progress for Vermonters. Our Legislature is a model for how democracy, at its best, functions. 

Sen. Clarkson can be reached by email:  aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us or, now that the Legislature has adjourned, by phone at home: 802- 457-4627. To get more information on the Vermont Legislature, and the bills which have been proposed and passed, visit the legislative website:  legislature.vermont.gov.