Sen. Clarkson: Priority housing bill comes before House

By Sen. Alison Clarkson

What an intense and productive two weeks it has been in the Vermont legislature. Crossover is largely finished and, with it, the passage of many bills from one chamber to the other. Getting this much work, representing the first half of this 2023 session, presented on the floor in each chamber meant we had very long floor sessions rich with robust debate.

In addition to the policy drama of negotiating the last pieces of important bills, the Senate experienced a personal drama as Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale of Burlington, the only pregnant senator in recent memory, had to be taken to the hospital, where she’ll be until her baby is born in the next few weeks. This meant some of us had to step in to present the bills she was to have reported.

The Senate passed on to the House many of its top priority policy bills, which address a range of issues:

• Housing S.100
• Childcare S.56
• Ranked Choice Voting S.32
• Divesting from fossil fuels S.42
• the PRO-Act Labour bill S.102
• an update to our Discrimination and Equal Pay laws S.103
• a Sheriff oversight and reform bill S.17
• reducing violence in our Communities S.4
• to miscellaneous Agriculture, Education, Judiciary and Transportation bills.

I presented three of these bills on the Senate floor this past week: the Housing, Divestment and Labor bills.

The Housing bill S.100, known as Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone (HOME), balances Vermont’s need to build more housing with protecting our undeveloped environment.

This bill promotes denser development in areas designed to grow, in our designated downtowns and village centers that have the infrastructure (water, sewer, transportation). It allows for multi-family housing in all neighborhoods and up to five housing units per acre in areas served by water and sewer.

In appropriately served smart growth areas it allows for many more priority housing projects that are exempt from Act 250. The bill invests close to $90 million in workforce and middle-income housing, in the renovation of vacant, blighted or non-code compliant rental units, in creating accessory dwelling units, in mobile home parks (homes and infrastructure), and in expanding our successful home-sharing opportunities across the state.

It creates a new eviction rescue fund to help tenants stay in their apartments, and it creates a rental housing revolving loan fund to support new rental units for middle-income households. Finally, the bill asks that the study on Act 250 currently being done by the Natural Resources Board include a review of the housing development triggers for Act 250.

With S. 42, the Divestment bill, Vermont finally takes a step toward divesting its pension funds of fossil fuels. It does so in a thoughtful phased in fashion in a process negotiated by the state treasurer, the Vermont Pension Investment Commission, the environmental community and the legislature. It’s important that Vermont be consistent in both our policy and our investments. We shouldn’t be using state funds to support activities we are trying to phase out. Our Global Warming Solutions Act sets goals for reducing the state’s carbon footprint through our emissions. However, our carbon footprint is also in our investments – and this bill puts us on the path to de-carbonizing them as well. The bill asks for a review of what fossil fuel investments are held in our pension funds and establishes shorter- and longer-term goals for a divestment process. The Treasurer supports this work as the bill makes clear divestment is only to take place if it is financially prudent and consistent with sound fiduciary practice.

S.102, the Protect the Right to Organize bill, gives more Vermonters the opportunity to join or form a union. It allows agricultural and domestic workers to organize, prohibits ‘captive audience meetings’ (meetings at which an employee is required by the employer to listen to religious or political speech) and it allows for ‘majority sign-up’ aka card check – a more democratic method for employees to organize a union.

I appreciate hearing from you. I can be reached by email: aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us or by phone at the Statehouse Tuesday through Fridays at 802-828-2228 or at home Saturday through Mondays at 802- 457-4627.

Sen. Clarkson represents the Windsor District in the Vermont General Assembly.