To the editor: Clarkson updates legislative work at the halfway mark

Both chambers in the Vermont Legislature are working their way through the large number of bills which ‘made’ the ‘cross-over’ deadline. Cross-over is a deadline we set each year which roughly marks the halfway point of our Legislative Session.

It forces us to finish the work in our House and Senate committees on the bills which we hope will make it through the entire legislative process and become law. As you’ll recall, each bill needs to be voted on and passed by each chamber before it makes its way to the Governor for his signature. Policy committees needed to have voted out their bills by Friday March 14 and the money committees (House Ways and Means and Appropriations and Senate Finance and Appropriations) needed to have reviewed all those policy bills for their fiscal implications and voted them out of committee by Friday March 21.

Now, each chamber is going through the process of reviewing, debating and voting on these bills. As a result, we have had rather lengthy Floor sessions and anticipate another week of the same as we consider all the policies contained in each bill.

The Legislature continues to work on our top priorities this Session: reducing education property taxes, addressing how we can deliver high quality public education at a sustainable cost, and our housing and health care crises. Many other issues are being addressed as well. Some of these issues aren’t always profiled by the press, but they bear focusing on. Several such bills have passed the Senate in the last week.

Many of Windsor District’s town and village centers have highways running through the center of them. I’ve had many complaints about excessive muffler noise, and once, when I was in the House, introduced a bill to prohibit muffler modification. This year, Senator White’s efforts have paid off and the Senate passed S.66 which will reduce noise pollution and improve our quality of life. The bill tightens state inspections and motor vehicle exhaust standard which prohibit inadequately muffled vehicles and those mufflers which have been modified to produce more noise. And it requires big heavy trucks to muffle their air compression engine brakes.

Both measures will be appreciated by anyone who lives on a major road, dines outdoors or is trying to talk to a walking companion. Protecting Vermonter’s data privacy is of major concern for legislators. We are addressing it in several bills this Session. The first to pass the Senate is what we refer to as the “Kid’s Code,” S.69. The objective of this bill is to protect our Vermont youth from the increasingly addictive social media/app design features and predatory online data collection affecting our teens behavior patterns and mental health.

This bill requires that big tech companies, like Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok and Facebook, limit their addictive algorithmic designs which lead to a pattern called the ‘infinite scroll’ and which are proving so harmful to those 18 and under. These apps/products are purposefully designed to prey on the vulnerabilities of our young people.

Vermonters are one step closer to having the opportunity to amend our state Constitution with Proposal 3 in the 2026 General Election. This proposal would enshrine Vermonter’s right to organize and collectively bargain in our Constitution. As required by statute, a proposal for a constitutional amendment must pass both Chambers in two consecutive biennia. It did so last biennium. Last week, with a unanimous vote, the Senate sent it to the House for its final vote before Vermonters weigh in November 2026.

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.