2022 Legislative Wrap-Up

Appropriations –  the “Big Bill” (H.740, Act 185) 

(most policy language is session law)

Passage of the “Big Bill” always signals the last days of the session, and on May 12, the legislature passed, H.740 the budget for FY23, The bill includes $566 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State Fiscal Recovery and ARPA Capital Projects funds. With all of the money bills accounted for, including H.740 and other legislation discussed elsewhere in this wrap-up, the total state budget figure is $8.3 billion. The bill was delivered to the governor on June 3.

Economic development initiatives are appropriated $99 million from S.11, the economic development bill, $45 million from H.518, the municipal energy resilience and fuel switching bill, and approximately $36 million from S.210 and S.226, the much scaled-back housing bills.

Appropriations committees generally take recommendations on policy and funding priorities from the committees of jurisdiction. This session, the unprecedented influx of federal funding ironically made the jobs of the appropriators more difficult because of legislators and advocates asking them “why wouldn’t you fund my priority?” The pandemic-fueled exhaustion of the last two years is starkly apparent as seven of 11 House Appropriations Committee members – including the chair, vice chair, and ranking member – are retiring, and of the five Senate Appropriations Committee members, one is retiring, another is seeking higher office, and one more is running for office in a new Chittenden County district. Things will look far different next year.

The Appropriations Table shows those programs of interest to local governments. The list is both longer and more generous than lists in the past– attributes local officials should not count on in the future when ARPA dollars are exhausted.

While the appropriations bill primarily allocates money, it also always includes policy language that dictates how that money is to be spent. The bill frequently includes other policy issues that committees of jurisdiction were not able to get across the finish line before the session ended. This year’s end of session felt particularly chaotic, and many provisions ended up in H.740 in the last couple of days that were not expected, including the items of note for local government that follow. We include the section numbers to help you more easily locate the appropriate language in the 248-page-long bill.

Section E.233.3 (a). Language makes clear that, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a municipality may accept and finance broadband projects with ARPA funds, including funds received as lost revenue.

Section E. 240.1. H.740 establishes the Cannabis Regulation Fund to be maintained by the Cannabis Control Board. The fund will include all state application, annual license, and renewal fees, as well as civil penalties collected from cannabis establishments, medical cannabis dispensaries, and the medical cannabis registry. The fund also will receive all cannabis excise tax revenue. The fund is to be used only to implement, administer, and enforce the cannabis law. Thirty percent of the revenues raised by the cannabis excise tax – up to $10 million per fiscal year – are to be used to fund substance misuse prevention programming in the following fiscal year. By July 31, 2025, unexpended and unobligated Cannabis Regulation Fund dollars are to be transferred to the General Fund – although we doubt the Cannabis Control Board responsibilities will be completed by then.

Section E. 134. H.740 establishes contribution rates for the Vermont Municipal Employees’ Retirement System (VMERS) for fiscal years 2023-2026. In past sessions, these rates were often established in a separate bill.

Section E.134.4. The state treasurer and Joint Pension Oversight Committee are directed to determine the cost of transferring certified law enforcement officials employed by county sheriff departments from Group F in the Vermont State Employees Retirement System to Group D in VMERS, and the cost of transferring sheriff department support staff from the state employees’ Group F to VMERS Group A, B, or C.

Section E. 139. The bill moves $9,000 from the Tax Department Reappraisal and Listing account to the Attorney General and $70,000 to the Division of Property Valuation and Review (PVR) to help fund final payment of expenses incurred by PVR or towns in defense of grand list appeals of hydroelectric plants and expenses incurred to appraise complex commercial and utility property appraisals to aid town valuations.  

Section G.400. The bill appropriates $30 million in ARPA funds to the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB) for affordable mixed income rental housing and homeownership units, improvements to manufactured homes, recovery residences, and, if eligible, farm worker and refugee housing. It provides an additional $10 million for housing investments to VHCB contingent upon FY22 revenue. The funds are also to be used for shelter and permanent homes for individuals experiencing homelessness. The bill also notes that S.226 appropriates $40 million for additional housing development programs.

The $129.8 million appropriation of ARPA dollars to climate change mitigation efforts in Section G. 600 includes: 

• $45 million Home Weatherization Assistance Program in the Office of Economic Opportunity; 

• $35 million to Efficiency Vermont for weatherization incentives to moderate income Vermonters; 

• $2 million to the Agency of Transportation for electric vehicle charging infrastructure along highways (an additional $32 million from the General Fund and $550,000 from the Transportation Fund will support electric vehicle charging, electrification incentives and public transit); 

• $27 million to the Department of Public Service for upgrades to home electrical systems, heat pump water heaters, and load management systems for low and moderate income homes; 

• $15 million to improve landscape resilience and mitigate flood hazards, including $14.75 million to Vermont Emergency Management for buyouts of vulnerable parcels; 

• $4.76 million to help farmers implement soil-based practices to improve soil quality, minimize erosion, and reduce agricultural waste discharges; 

• $1 million to the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation for the Urban and Community Forestry Program to plant up to 5000 trees to improve air quality and reduce heat island effects in urban areas.

The bill also appropriates $8 million in General Fund dollars under the Climate Mitigation heading to reimburse up to 70 percent to municipal and cooperative electric utilities for implementing systems of advanced metering infrastructure approved by the Public Utility Commission. And H.518 appropriates $45 million from ARPA for the Municipal Energy Resilience Grant Program.

Significant investments totaling $104 million are made in clean water, including: 

• $31 million for stormwater retrofit projects;  

• $30 million for water and wastewater projects and pretreatment projects; 

• $20 million to eliminate or reduce wet weather sewer overflows; and 

• $23 million to repair or improve water and wastewater systems in Vermont homes. 

Resources for this article:

• H.740 as passed 

• H.740 Joint Fiscal Office web report spreadsheet 

• Vermont FY23 Appropriations Overview 

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Appropriations Table

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• Legislative Council Act Summary 

• FY23 Education Fund Outlook as Passed 

• Estimated Impacts of Updated Pupil Weighting, May 12, 2022

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Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act (H.606) 

(Vetoed)

H.606 would have mandated that 30 percent of Vermont’s total land area be conserved by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050. For purposes of this legislation, “conserved” meant “protected” and that the land proposed to be conserved meets the definitions of an ecological reserve area (permanent protection from conversion of natural land cover and managed to maintain a natural state), a biodiversity conservation area (permanent protection from conversion of natural land cover for the majority of the area and managed for sustaining species or habitats), or a natural resource management area (permanent protection from conversion of natural land area for the majority of the area but subject to long-term sustainable forest management).

Reaching the 2030 and 2050 goals would have required a mix of these three types of areas. By 2023, the Secretary of Natural Resources would have had to develop a plan to implement Vermont Conservation Design goals incorporating the three areas and provide the report to the legislature. The report would have included a review of the three conservation categories, an inventory of permanently conserved land and existing relevant programs, an evaluation of intergenerational land transfer trends, a summary of conservation practices available to reach the goals, and an assessment of staffing and financial goals.

The governor vetoed the legislation on June 2, however we fully expect that the issue will be revisited in the next session. 

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Rental Housing (S.210, Act 181) 

(adds 20 V.S.A. Chapter 172, Rental Housing health and Safety)

The rental housing bill ended up a much shorter piece of legislation than it had been all session. The proposal to establish a rental housing registry was left on the cutting room floor to encourage the governor to approve of the remaining legislation – which he did. The bill transfers the responsibility for inspection of rental housing from the local health officer – frequently a volunteer with no particular expertise in health and safety matters related to housing – to the Department of Public Safety.

As passed, S.210 authorizes, but does not require, the Commissioner of Public Safety to adopt rules that establish standards for the health, safety, sanitation, and fitness for habitation of rental housing. He may bypass the usual route for rule adoption and immediately adopt a rule incorporating the state Rental Housing Health Code. Once rules are adopted, the commissioner must design and implement a complaint-driven system to conduct rental housing inspections. 

When conducting such an inspection, Department of Public Safety staff from the Fire Safety Division will need to issue a written inspection report that contains findings of fact regarding violations and requirements and timelines for correcting those violations. It must also give notice that the landlord is prohibited from renting the unit in question to a new tenant until the violation is corrected, and notify tenants that the landlord (or those acting on their behalf) must have access to the unit to make repairs. Inspection reports will be given to the landlord and all tenants affected by the violation and will be available as public records. Failure to correct a violation may result in administrative penalties of up to $1,000 per violation.

The bill authorizes the creation of five inspector positions in the Department of Public Safety and appropriates $400,000 for that purpose.

When rules for rental housing inspections are adopted, the department will have primary authority to enforce state laws governing rental housing health and safety. Thereafter, the local health officer will have concurrent authority to inspect rental housing. If the inspection is conducted entirely by the local official, they must submit the same inspection report.

The bill also establishes the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program in the Agency of Commerce and Community Development to incentivize private apartment owners to make significant improvements in housing quality and weatherization. The program is funded with $20 million. Through the program, the agency will award funds to statewide or regional nonprofit housing organizations to provide grants and forgivable loans to private landlords who are rehabilitating non-code compliant units or building new accessory dwellings. A grant would be up to $50,000 and the landlord must contribute matching funds or in-kind services equal to 20 percent of the loan. Units would need to be leased to households exiting homelessness or working with an immigrant or refugee resettlement program – or, if no such household exists, to a household with an income less than 80 percent of median income or another household approved by the granting agency. A landlord could convert the grant to a forgivable loan.

The bill takes effect upon passage, and the governor signed it on June 7 at Salisbury Square, a re-developed former blighted abandoned factory complex in Randolph. 

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Housing and Act 250 (S.226, Act 182) 

(amends 9 V.S.A. §§ 4500, 4503; 10 V.S.A Chapter 15, subchapter 5, §§ 6001,6081, 6084, 6086; 24 V.S.A. §§ 2793b, 2793e, 4306, 4307, 4414; 32 V.S.A. §§ 5930aa, 5930u; adds 26 V.S.A. Chapter 106 and 24 V.S.A. § 4449)

S.226 and S.234 were two efforts introduced this session to address land use and housing. Both bills passed. While much of the content of the two bills was the same when they were introduced, S.226 focused on facilitating housing construction and redevelopment, and S.234 focused on Act 250, Vermont’s 52-year old statewide land use law. Because legislators anticipated a veto of S.234, segments of the bill that addressed housing landed in S.226 in the last few days of the session. On June 2, as expected, the governor vetoed S.234.

First-Time Homebuyers. S.226 authorizes the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA) to reserve funding in the Down Payment Assistance Program for first-time homebuyers who are also first-generation homebuyers and to adopt guidelines for financial assistance. VHFA will work with partners to develop a plan to help Vermonters who have historically suffered housing discrimination. The bill allocates $1 million for that outreach and grants. The bill also appropriates $2.5 million for manufactured home community small-scale capital grants, $750,000 for manufactured home repair grants, and $750,000 for new manufactured home foundation grants.

Community Partnership Pilot Program. The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is directed to develop a Community Partnership for Neighborhood Development Program to develop a pilot neighborhood and demonstrate new models to support development of homes in inclusive, smart growth neighborhoods. The program will be steered by a new Housing Equity Council that includes representatives from several agencies, VLCT, regional planning commissions, and regional development corporations. The council will recommend a pilot demonstration neighborhood development project using a competitive process to select a municipality that demonstrates need, collaboration, bylaw modernization, and financial commitments to support smart growth and housing near an area of compact settlement. The program is funded with $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). A project report is due to the legislature by 2026.

Downtown Tax Credits. S.226 expands eligibility for the Downtown and Village Center Tax Credit Program to neighborhood development areas until 2025. It also provides for approval of a flood mitigation tax credit to be approved by the Downtown Development Board if someone undertakes a flood mitigation project to reduce or eliminate flood damage to buildings or contents that are in Federal Emergency Management Agency-mapped flood hazard areas.

Missing Middle Housing. The bill establishes the Missing Middle Income Home Ownership Development Program with appropriations of $5 million in FY22 and $10 million in FY23. The program would provide subsidies for new construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of affordable owner-occupied housing by income eligible homebuyers. “Missing middle” housing in this program means affordable owner-occupied housing available for purchase by income-eligible homebuyers. An “income-eligible homebuyer” is a Vermont household whose annual income does not exceed 120 percent of area median income.

Residential Contractor Registration. An element of another bill added to S.226 as it passed is the requirement for residential contractors who do more than $10,000 of work for a homeowner to register with the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation.

Discrimination in Housing. The section of law prohibiting discrimination in housing practices clarifies that the prohibitions apply to dwellings and other real estate. The term “harass” is amended to specify that harassing conduct need not be severe or pervasive to be unlawful.

Tax Sales for Non-Payment of Property Tax or Utility Fees. If a town intends to proceed with a tax sale on a residential property, a notice must be sent to the delinquent taxpayer’s last known address 60 days before proceeding with the sale. The notice must state that the delinquent taxpayer may be eligible for assistance through the Vermont Homeowner Assistance Program (VHAP). VHAP is a VHFA program to help homeowners with payment of past due taxes and water and sewer charges. If an applicant’s application is successful, payment of delinquent taxes, charge, interest and penalties will be made on the applicant’s behalf.

The same notice will need to be sent if a delinquent taxpayer’s property was sold before June 7, 2022, the effective date of S.226, but the deed conveying the property had not been executed. In this latter event, the notice needs to be sent no more than 30 days after the bill’s effective date (July 1). The redemption period will be extended until the applicant is deemed ineligible, the application is closed due to inaction by the applicant, or payment is issued. 

The notice will need to apprise the delinquent taxpayer of the help that VHAP offers.

Once notified that a VHAP application is pending, a municipality may not proceed with a tax sale until the homeowner is deemed ineligible, the application is closed due to inaction by the applicant, or payment is issued to the municipality on a qualifying application. The VHAP language will be repealed on September 30, 2025, and notices will no longer be necessary when funding is exhausted.

Vermont Land Access and Opportunity Board. The legislation establishes an 11-member Vermont Land Access and Opportunity Board, which the Vermont Housing Conservation Board will administer. Its FY23 allocation is $200,000. The board’s purpose is to promote improved access to woodlands, farmland, and land and home ownership for Vermonters from historically marginalized or disadvantaged communities who face barriers to ownership. 

Municipal Zoning and Designation Programs. Several sections of the bill are designed to facilitate the development of housing through amendments to planning and zoning statutes and to Act 250. It expands a municipality’s ability to adopt bylaws that allow for building infill housing in suitable parts of a designated neighborhood development area containing pre-existing development that might be in a flood hazard area or river corridor. If a neighborhood development area includes flood hazard areas or river corridors, local bylaws will need to ensure that the development will not contribute to fluvial erosion hazards within the river corridor and also protect river corridors outside the development area. The legislation eliminates the requirement that a neighborhood development area be served by municipal or community wastewater. Applications for designation of new town centers will be approved if regulations enable densities not less than four units per acre and at least as many units per acre as are allowed in any other part of the municipality.

Municipal land use permits for a site plan or conditional use must remain in effect for at least two years from the date of issuance.

DHCD will receive $150,000 to hire a consultant to evaluate the state designation programs and conduct statewide stakeholder outreach. The consultant is to recommend how to map and define existing compact settlements; make regional plans more consistent; modernize the designation programs and make them more accessible to municipalities; and strengthen incentives to encourage place-based economic development, climate action, complete streets, and equity and efficiency of public investment and service delivery. The consultant’s report is due by July 1, 2023.

Municipal Planning Grants. S.226 allocates $870,000 to Municipal Planning Grants in FY23, up from the $460,000 figure that was the annual appropriation for more than a decade. DHCD is authorized to use up to six percent of that amount to administer the grants. The new funding is to be used for Municipal Bylaw Modernization Grants, which are designed to help municipalities update their land use bylaws to increase housing choice, affordability, and opportunity, and support patterns of development that are pedestrian-oriented in places planned for smart growth. The legislation is quite specific in dictating what a municipality must have in place in order to secure such a grant. DHCD is also to adopt guidelines to help municipalities apply for the grants by September 1, 2022. In fact, the legislations says that to the extent increased funding is provided to the Municipal and Regional Planning Fund, $650,000 must be used for Municipal Bylaw Modernization Grants.

Accessory Dwelling Units. A municipality may not require an accessory dwelling unit to have more than one parking space per bedroom.

Act 250. Priority housing developments in municipalities of fewer than 3,000 residents may include up to 50 units without triggering Act 250. Priority housing projects consist of mixed income housing or mixed use located entirely within a designated downtown, new town center, growth center, or neighborhood development area – but not in a designated village. 

The definition of mixed-income housing for purposes of Act 250 is revised to mean that for owner-occupied or rental housing, at least 20 percent of the housing units must now meet the requirements of affordable owner-occupied housing adjusted for the number of bedrooms, a number that VHFA publishes annually. In the case of rental housing, those units need to meet the definition for at least 15 years.

The bill also specifies that if a person applies for an Act 250 permit and a municipality fails to respond to the request within 90 days regarding impacts related to educational, municipal or governmental services, the project will be presumed to have no adverse impact on those services.

Manufacturers of wood products and those who aggregate value-added wood products from forestry operations will receive special consideration regarding seasonal, weather, and land-dependent conditions affecting operations in any Act 250 permit that is issued. 

Act 250 jurisdiction is extended to the construction of improvements on tracts of land owned by a person that involves more than one acre of land “within a radius of five miles of any point on any involved land” in a municipality that has not adopted permanent zoning and subdivision bylaws. Current law states that development “on more than one acre of land” in a municipality without permanent zoning and subdivision is subject to Act 250 review. The bill also states that the intent of the change is to clarify how jurisdiction over commercial and industrial development in towns without zoning and subdivision bylaws has been interpreted since the passage of Act 250 in 1970.

By next January, the Natural Resources Board is to report to the legislature how Act 250 should be applied to agricultural businesses, including those already operating as farms. The report should define what is or is not an accessory on-farm business, and whether different levels of review should be applied to different businesses.

The entire bill takes effect on July 1, 2022, except for the Missing Middle Housing Program and VHAP requirements, which take effect on passage.

The governor signed S.226 on June 7. 

Municipal Energy Resilience Program (H.518, Act 172) 

(adds 29 V.S.A. §§ 168a, 168b)

Municipal governments own and operate more than 2,000 buildings around the state. Used to provide services to their citizens, they include libraries, garages, town halls and offices, recreation facilities, and more. Act 172 establishes a new Municipal Energy Resilience Grant Program to “covered municipalities” – that is cities, towns, fire districts, or incorporated villages and all other governmental incorporated units, except for school districts.

Act 172 directs the Department of Buildings and General Services (BGS) to issue a request for proposals for a comprehensive energy resilience assessment of municipal buildings and facilities by September of this year. The consultant that BGS hires must complete that assessment by 2024. Municipalities – in coordination with regional planning commissions that will help them develop plans or on their own if they so choose – may apply to BGS for an assessment of their buildings and facilities.

The assessment will include a scope of work for the cost and timeline of the projects. It will also include recommendations to reduce operation and maintenance costs; enhance comfort; reduce energy use by improving heating, cooling, and ventilation systems; renewable energy opportunities; improvements to thermal envelopes; and the potential for on-site renewable energy generation, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging options. The scope of work needs to include the costs for these recommendations in each assessment.  

To qualify for an assessment, a municipality must have access to high-speed internet or at least a plan to have access by 2024. As well, any assessed building must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by the time the project is completed.

The new program will provide up to $500,000 to complete approved projects in municipal buildings for weatherization and thermal efficiency improvements, and to replace fossil fuel heating systems with more efficient renewable or electrical systems. The program will also provide up to $4,000 to facilitate community meetings and communication on municipal energy resilience. The primary design of replacement heating systems is to prioritize renewable or electric heating systems. A recommendation may include an upgraded fossil fuel heating system as a primary heating sources if nothing else is technically feasible.

BGS, Efficiency Vermont, regional planning commissions, experts in the field, and VLCT are to cooperatively design the program. The group is directed to establish a streamlined application process; an outreach and education plan by regional commissions; an equitable system for distributing grants that gives priority to municipalities with the highest energy burdens and lowest resources and to those that lack administrative support to apply for grants; guidelines for renewable and energy efficiency buildings systems; and eligibility criteria. The municipality must include a written commitment to conduct community workshops and a self-assessment.

The act includes a $45 million appropriation from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund; $36.6 million of that amount will be available for grants to municipalities. Hiring a contractor to conduct assessments may cost up to $5 million. An additional $2.4 million is allocated for regional commissions to assist with grant applications and provide programming and technical assistance to municipalities.

Act 172 also creates a Municipal Energy Loan Program at BGS to make energy and efficiency improvements, replace outmoded equipment, and improve energy efficiency and the conservation and use of renewable resources. The act creates a Municipal Energy Revolving Fund to finance the program. The revolving fund would be initially capitalized with $2.8 million allocated in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Each year, the BGS commissioner is to report to the legislature on expenditures from the fund. That report must summarize each project receiving funding and the municipality’s expected savings. By January 15, 2023, the Department of Public Service is to report to the legislature on total grant amounts approved by the state and transferred to the Municipal Energy Revolving Fund.

The legislation provides for two positions at BGS lasting three fiscal years to administer the municipal energy resilience assessments of covered municipal buildings and facilities and also provides technical assistance to municipalities implementing projects. An additional two positions will administer the program.

The act takes effect on July 1, 2022.  

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Restrictive Covenants in Deeds (H.551, Act 143) 

(adds 27 V.S.A. § 546)

A new section of statute prohibits – after July 1, 2022 – a deed, mortgage, plat, or other recorded device from containing a covenant, easement, or any other restrictive requirement that would restrict ownership of real property on the basis of race or religion. Likewise, any such covenant or restriction that was previously executed is declared contrary to the policy of Vermont and is both void and unenforceable. The bill was signed by the governor on May 27 and takes effect on July 1, 2022. 

Temporary Election Procedures for 2022 Annual Meeting (S.223, Act 79) 

(session law)

Act 79 addresses temporary election procedures for 2022 town meetings. It provides that no person will be required to collect voter signatures in order to have that person’s name placed on the ballot as a candidate for a local election held at a 2022 annual municipal meeting. It also allows the legislative body of a school district to prohibit ballots from different towns from being commingled before counting for the 2022 annual district meeting. The ballots, however, may be counted by each member town, and the results reported to the school district clerk to determine the official district-wide results. 

Act 79 is only in effect for annual meetings during 2022. 

Marriage Licenses (H.680, Act 92) 

(amends 18 V.S.A. §§ 5131, 5139)

Act 92 makes one small amendment to Vermont law that will make it easier for Vermont residents to secure marriage licenses. Under current law, marriage licenses for Vermont residents may only be issued by the town clerk in the town in which either party resides. People from out-of-state, on the other hand, can obtain a marriage license from any Vermont town clerk. Act 92 simply states that a marriage license can be issued by any town clerk – regardless of where either party resides.  

Act 92 goes into effect on July 1, 2022.  

Miscellaneous Local Government Law Amendments (S.181, Act 157) 

(amends 1 V.S.A. §§ 312a, 316; 18 V.S.A. § 5361; 20 V.S.A. § 47; 24 V.S.A. §§ 2291, 4322, 4460, 5152; 32 V.S.A. §§ 4404, 4467; adds 17 V.S.A. §§ 2645a, 2646a, 2561a; repeals 19 V.S.A. § 312) 

Act 157 makes numerous amendments to general statutory law and expands ordinance authority to provide more robust local jurisdiction in specific areas of the law. The different measures are generally grouped into three categories: ordinance authority under 24 V.S.A. § 2291, voter-approved authority, and legislative body authority without voter approval. VLCT advocated for these commonsense adjustments to state law to give greater control over local matters to local officials and voters without having to adopt or amend a charter. We feel strongly that local governments and their residents need to have the authority to work directly on issues that truly are local in nature.  

Ordinance authority. Twenty-four V.S.A. § 2291 inventories most of the ordinance authority of local governments. The act adds to statute the following powers, most of which are amendments to underlying law to align with the practices of municipalities: 

• amends § 2291(1) to authorize the installation of sidewalks and bike paths; 

• amends § 2291(4) to authorize the implementation of traffic-calming devices; 

• amends § 2291(6) to authorize the regulation of storm drains; and 

• amends § 2291(13) to authorize establishing health and safety standards for municipal premises to protect the public or prevent physical injury to other properties in the vicinity.  

Cemeteries. Although not an ordinance power, 18 V.S.A. § 312a is amended to align with current municipal practices. The authority to vote the necessary funds to “improve” cemeteries is added to a municipality's authority. The power had been assumed but not directly authorized until now.  

Public Records Act. The act amends the Public Records Act to allow an agency to provide copies or public records in a nonstandard format, create a public record, or convert paper public records to an electronic format “if requested by the party requesting the records.” Previously, this request by the person seeking the documents did not require the agency to make such a determination.  

Highway Funds. The act finally eliminates a very old provision of law that requires municipalities to keep locally raised transportation funds separate from other general funds and aligns with what is current practice. Most town budgets show transportation funds as separate line items or department budgets. Highway funds are more complex and harder to identify clearly and delineate from other municipal monies, and separating these funds is sometimes close to impossible. For example, are salaries and benefits of highway employees under the general fund or highway? Are public works employees in sewer or engineering in the highway budget? Are capital projects and equipment that span two departments or types of work (sewer, water, roads, engineering) considered highway or general fund? 

Nineteen V.S.A. § 312 has made audits very difficult because municipalities have to manually strip highway money for an audit to comply with this section of statue that has no value-add reason. It is a perfunctory step taken merely to comply with the law. Act 157 repeals 19 V.S.A. § 312; thus, a town will no longer have to separate transportation funds within its overall budget unless it chooses to do so. 

Abbreviated Charter Change Procedures. Municipalities with charters have been locked into certain provisions that pre-date general statutory authority the legislature passes later. Because municipal charters are more specific, they are an alternative to general statutory authority for those municipalities. From time to time, the legislature does change general law that provides alternative powers that those communities cannot adopt until they change their charter. Act 157 add a new provision that allows a municipality with a charter provision “frozen in time” to adopt a general provision of law adopted after the provision in question. 

Voters at an annual or special meeting warned for that purpose may vote to suspend a specific authority in the municipality’s charter and instead use general municipal authority granted to all Vermont municipalities enacted later by the legislature. The suspension is technically for no more than three years with the intent that the legislature amend those charters accordingly. Once a municipality votes for the charter change, the town clerk must certify the results to the House and Senate Government Operations committees. Each November 15, the Office of Legislative Counsel is to prepare a list of charter provisions that are subject to a repeal review pursuant to this new statutory authority.   

Nonresident Officers. Various Vermont statutes mandate certain town offices to be filled by town residents or voters. Some communities report having difficulty finding residents to fill these offices, while others have expressed a desire for a more regional perspective on certain boards and commissions. A new provision of law added to Title 17 enables a municipality to allow Vermonters who reside outside of a town or city to be elected or appointed town officers. This authority does not apply for local legislative bodies or justices of the peace. Additionally, the majority of statutory board or commission members must be residents of the municipality. The proposal must be approved by the voters at any annual or special meeting warned for that purpose, and each board, commission, or officer position must be clearly identified in the underlying vote. 

Constables. Many municipalities have also had a difficult time filling the role of town constable, and some have removed that position from town via a legislatively approved charter. Act 157 now enables a municipality to vote to eliminate the office of constable. If a town votes to eliminate the office, the selectboard will appoint a different town officer to discharge any constable duties, subject to 24 V.S.A. § 1936a. None of the duties that may be assumed by another town officer are to be law enforcement in nature, and only those enumerated under 24 V.S.A. § 1936a – such as assisting the town health officer and removing disorderly people from town meeting may be assumed by the town officer. A vote to eliminate the constable position remains in effect until rescinded by voters at an annual meeting warned for that purpose.  

Members of Appropriate Municipal Panels. Act 157 enables municipalities to adjust the number of seats on the local board of adjustment, development review board, and planning commission at a special and annual meeting. If the number of members is reduced, the member with the nearest expiration of their terms of office is to serve until the term expires, after which the office terminates.  

Emergency Authority. During the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments had to make huge adjustments to governmental operations, and there was no statutory authority to handle many of the problems that occurred. Act 157 codifies many of the helpful temporary provisions added to law during the pandemic. In the future, whenever the governor declares a state of emergency during an “all-hazard” emergency – such as a natural disaster, health or disease-related emergency, terrorist radiological incident – the following provisions will be “activated” to help communities conduct business during the state of emergency. (Each provision should be familiar to municipalities as they were adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.)  

Open Meeting Law. During a declared state of emergency, public bodies will be able to meet electronically and not have to designate a physical location. Posting locations for agendas and notices may be done electronically and must also be posted in or near the town clerk’s office. Public bodies must record any meeting held in this manner and provide a copy of each notice or agenda to the newspaper of general circulation for the municipality.  

Property Inspections. During a declared state of emergency, a board of civil authority is not required to physically inspect a property that is subject to an appeal. If an appellant requests in writing that a property be inspected, a member of the board must conduct the inspection electronically. If the appellant does not facilitate the inspection electronically, the appeal is deemed to be withdrawn. Similarly, a hearing stemming from an appeal does not require an officer to physically inspect a property, but must do so electronically, if requested by the appellant.  

Utility Disconnections. A municipality that runs a public water or sewer system is prohibited from disconnecting any person from those services during a declared state of emergency, if the all-hazard event or declared emergency will cause financial hardship on any ratepayer who is unable to pay for those services.  

Municipal Deadlines. A municipality may extend statutory deadlines for municipal licenses, permits, programs or plans and extend or waive deadlines for non-statutory municipal licenses, permits, programs or plans. Any expiring license, permit, program, or plan issued by a municipality that is due for renewal or review will remain valid for 90-days after the declared state of emergency ends. 

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Municipal Charters (M-7, M-9, M-10, M-12, M-13, M-14, M-15, M-17, M-18, M-19)

(amends Title 24 Appendix: Municipal Charters) 

“Towns are creatures of the state” is a concept given force of law by the Vermont Constitution. The reference is to an 1872 ruling by Iowa Supreme Court Justice John F. Dillon which said that municipal corporations may exercise only those powers specifically granted to them or that are necessary and essential to the declared purposes of the municipal corporation. As a Dillon’s Rule state, Vermont specifically grants municipalities through statute the authority to carry out certain endeavors, mandates them to carry out an ever-increasing list of responsibilities, and pre-empts them from addressing others. 

There are 62 cities and towns with governance charters adopted at the local level that have been approved by the legislature and subsequently enacted. Currently, 45 incorporated villages have governance charters, although on July 1, the Village of Essex Junction will cease to exist (see M-10). A host of special purpose districts – fire, school, waste management, and recreation districts – have legislatively approved governance charters. These charters enable municipalities to deviate from general statute in specific instances, when their voters have voted to change or adopt a charter, and when that locally voted amendment has been reviewed, dissected, frequently amended, and finally approved by the legislature. Once legislators receive a voter-adopted charter in the form of a bill, however, they may amend any part of the underlying charter they choose. 

Every year, voters approve charter amendments that have been passed in other municipalities and that fall squarely within the realm of municipal government best practices but are not authorized in general statute. And, every year, those charter amendments need to be submitted to the legislature for their review, possible amendment, and approval. Only after a charter amendment has been approved by the legislature does it take effect at the local level.   

In 2019, five charters were approved, two were partially approved with significant changes made to the original, and four were not approved. In 2020, three charters were approved and four were not. In 2021, two charters – from Montpelier and Winooski – passed the legislature but were subsequently vetoed, the first time we can recall a governor taking such an action. During the 2021 veto session, the legislature overrode both vetoes and both charter amendments became law.  

The following table lists the charters proposed to the legislature during the 2022 session.