Town Meeting Day Report 2023
The 2023 legislative session officially began on January 4th, when we returned for the first in-person opening week ceremonies in a few years. The energy in the legislature this year is incredible with so many new faces. It's exciting to have more parents, more young people, and more diversity here in the body. Already, we’ve passed some significant legislation in these first two months, and this report provides some highlights and a preview of the work ahead. This year, I’m serving on the Ways & Means Committee, one of the two money committees and as a co-chair of the Rural Caucus. It’s an honor to serve as your state representatives. Please reach out anytime with ideas, questions and concerns.
2023 LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES
The legislature will be tackling some really tough issues this year. The era of federal stimulus for Covid recovery is ending so we’ll need to work creatively to address our challenges and fund our programs in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way.
Our priorities include:
Passing a fiscally responsible, balanced state budget that supports Vermonters in all 14 counties.
Tackling the complex and interconnected challenges of housing, workforce, and child care.
Enacting inclusive strategies to combat climate change, support a just transition and prepare for severe weather patterns.
Creating affordable housing for Vermont’s working families by modernizing zoning laws and increasing funding for construction.
Supporting business growth in all corners of Vermont and increasing the capacity of our rural communities to access resources and plan for a vibrant future.
In all of this work, we’ll center equity — thinking deeply and looking toward the future to enact legislation that protects the most vulnerable, boosts vitality in all 14 counties, and leaves no Vermonter behind.
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The legislature will be tackling some really tough issues this year. The era of federal stimulus for Covid recovery is ending so we’ll need to work creatively to address our challenges and fund our programs in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way.
Our priorities include:
Passing a fiscally responsible, balanced state budget that supports Vermonters in all 14 counties.
Tackling the complex and interconnected challenges of housing, workforce, and child care.
Enacting inclusive strategies to combat climate change, support a just transition and prepare for severe weather patterns.
Creating affordable housing for Vermont’s working families by modernizing zoning laws and increasing funding for construction.
Supporting business growth in all corners of Vermont and increasing the capacity of our rural communities to access resources and plan for a vibrant future.
In all of this work, we’ll center equity — thinking deeply and looking toward the future to enact legislation that protects the most vulnerable, boosts vitality in all 14 counties, and leaves no Vermonter behind. text goes here
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The House approved H.145 the budget adjustment bill, which is a mid-year true-up of the current budget. Highlights include additional investments in housing and supportive services, broadband that leverages federal grant funds, and IT improvements. The proposal included $3 million for a new Rural Infrastructure Assistance Program, which would help small towns “identify priority projects, submit applications, and then actively manage projects and corresponding reporting.”
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The House has started working on the next Fiscal Year 2024 budget. We are seeing substantial revenue growth this year, largely due to the impact of federal pandemic stimulus and recovery dollars. Our challenge is to make strategic use of one-time funds to meet state priorities. Those priorities include leveraging federal funds to support improvements in roads, bridges and other infrastructure needs under Congress’ Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Other targeted statewide priorities are those that will deliver long-term dividends for Vermonters including investments in housing, broadband expansion, workforce training, clean energy and childcare.
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The House Education Committee is considering options to address the statewide backlog of renovation needs or replacement of school buildings. The committee is considering school construction models being used in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. The Education Committee is considering how to move forward with a similar program that includes a non-partisan commission to develop a formula to allocate any state contribution to a school construction project.
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The House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry Committee passed H.165 to make permanent Universal school meals, where schools in Vermont make school breakfast and lunch available to all students at no charge. Universal school meals offer many benefits, including more predictability for schools in meal planning and purchasing, less stigma surrounding school meals, and increased opportunities for partnerships with local farms, leading to the re-entry of dollars into Vermont’s economy.
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The benefits of paid leave are well established and the U.S. is the only wealthy country without a national paid leave program. H.66, Family Medical Leave Insurance Bill has passed out of the General & Housing Committee and would provide wage replacement for Vermonters that need to take off from work for family and medical reasons such as illness, the birth of a child, or to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
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The lack of affordable, high-quality early childhood education profoundly impacts Vermont and its economy. The Senate has begun work on S.56, an act relating to child care and early childhood education which would increase state-funded financial assistance for children in child care, expand the current funding for part-time pre-K to a full-time program for all 4-year-olds in Vermont, increase compensation for early childhood educators and financial support for community and home-based child care programs by reimbursing centers for enrollment, and streamline state-level oversight of early childhood education.
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A town wide reappraisal is required when a town’s grand list falls below 85 percent of fair market value or rises above 115 percent of fair market value. Currently, 2/3 of Vermont's towns will require reappraisals. We do not have the workforce to perform those appraisals. The House Ways & Means Committee is working on a bill to address those issues by moving to a consistent statewide system for property appraisals. The intent of a more consistent system is to avoid large changes in values that catch property owners by surprise, and to relieve pressure on municipalities to manage appraisals with limited resources.
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My focus is bringing our rural perspective to the priority issues this session. Here’s a bit more about some of the bills I’ve introduced as lead sponsor:
Provides strategic investments to create more middle-income housing, incentivizes smart growth in our village centers by reducing costs and regulatory burdens, and adds capacity at the local and regional level for planning and zoning.
H.263 Emergency Medical Services Stabilization
Seeks to stabilize our EMS system, a critical part of our healthcare system, by addressing issues around funding, regional coordination, and workforce development.
H.81 Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment
Reforms existing laws to require original manufacturers of agricultural equipment to provide consumers and independent repair businesses equal access to repair documentation, diagnostics, tools, service parts and firmware as their direct or authorized repair providers.
H.105 Disaster Mitigation Infrastructure Fund
Establishes a program funded through a fee assessed on insurance companies to provide funding to municipalities for disaster mitigation and community resilient infrastructure.
H.128 Act 250 Reform for Working Lands Businesses
Modernizes Act 250 for farms and forest products businesses with clear and consistent regulations that allow operations to grow in place at the appropriate scale for the current and next generation.
STAY IN TOUCH
Your input and feedback provide invaluable perspective as we work through bills.
Visit my website to sign up for my newsletter and monthly “office hours.”
Rep. Katherine Sims