Vermont Legislature 2019: What passed

MONTPELIER - The news coming out of the Vermont Legislature this spring has been largely about what failed: No deal on increasing the minimum wage. No deal on marijuana retail sales. No deal on a paid family leave program of any kind.

Democrats and Progressives found that their numerical supermajority — meaning, in some cases, they might be able to override Gov. Phil Scott's veto — did not translate into easy lawmaking. 

Amid the finger-pointing, a significant number of bills passed.

Here are some of the major bills that reached the governor's desk this year. 

The legal age for buying tobacco and Juul products 

Vermont will require young adults to wait an additional three years before they can legally buy cigarettes or Juul or vape devices.

Lawmakers approved S.86, raising the legal age for tobacco and tobacco substitutes to 21. That will match the legal age for buying alcohol and possessing small amounts of marijuana. 

Separately, lawmakers also approved a 92% excise tax on electronic cigarettes, often known by the brand name Juul, banned those products from being sold to Vermont consumers online, and required them to be sold through licensed dealers.  

Previous coverage:Would raising the tobacco age to 21 cut down on smoking? Vermonters react

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: The tax on electronic cigarettes and the ban on internet sales took effect July 1. The legal age rose to 21 on Sept. 1. 

Vetoed: A waiting period for handgun purchases

The parents of Andrew Black, a 23-year-old Essex man who died by suicide in December, turned their heartbreak into advocacy when they asked lawmakers to enact a waiting period for gun purchases.

Previous coverage:Vermont gun legislation: Essex parents ask legislators for waiting period on gun sales

Legislators responded by passing a 24-hour waiting period that would apply only to handguns.

The bill would have required anyone who transferred or sold a handgun, other than to an immediate family member, to wait 24 hours after the completion of a background check before handing over the gun.

The bill, S.169, would have also tweaked the restrictions on gun magazines that were imposed last year by allowing large-capacity magazines to be willed to an immediate family member.

Status: Vetoed by Gov. Scott. 

A ban on plastic shopping bags

The Legislature voted to prohibit stores and restaurants from giving customers single-use plastic carryout bags, styrofoam food and drink containers, and plastic stir sticks.

Exempt from the ban: bags for produce, prescription medicine, baked goods, bulk-section items, dry cleaning and  garments; and bags to wrap flowers, frozen foods, meat or fish.

S.113 is intended to encourage shoppers to bring reusable bags to the store, but if they forget, retailers could sell paper bags at the register for 10 cents each. Straws will be available only upon request. 

The statewide ban preempts any local laws, such as the plastic bag ban in Brattleboro.

Previous coverage:How Vermont's plastic bag, foam packaging ban would change the way you shop

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: The plastic and foam bans take effect July 1, 2020. 

Retailers that had an inventory of the prohibited items on May 15, 2019 would be allowed to hand out those items until July 1, 2021. 

School equity 

Act 1 creates a 20-person working group that will make recommendations about how Vermont's school policies and statewide standards can "recognize fully the history, contributions, and perspectives" of groups that have been historically marginalized.

The group will particularly look at how schools can recognize nondominant ethnic groups, groups that have been historically subject to persecution or genocide, women and girls, people with disabilities, immigrants, refugees, and individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, or nonbinary.

Status: Signed into law.

Effective date: The bill took effect immediately with the governor's signature in March. 

The working group's task began in September and continue for several years. The State Board of Education is required to consider adopting ethnic and social equity studies standards for Vermont schools by June 30, 2022.

Water quality money

Gov. Scott insisted at the start of the year that Vermont could pay for its required water quality obligations without raising new tax revenue. 

After considering a variety of new taxes, including a short-lived proposal to impose the sales tax on cloud software, legislators eventually adopted the governor's philosophy. 

UVM: Poor lake quality has hefty price tag

S.96 pays for Vermont water quality efforts by chipping off a chunk of rooms and meals tax revenue. Six percent of that revenue stream, or about $8 million in the coming fiscal year, will be taken from the General Fund and dedicated to clean water. News of an anticipated revenue surplus made the decision palatable.

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: The new allocation of the rooms and meals tax money begins on Oct. 1. 

Education tax rate

The average homestead education property tax rate in Vermont would rise about a penny under this year's education finance bill, H.536.

The nonresidential rate, which applies to commercial property, rental property and second homes, would also rise about a penny. In the future, this tax will be called the "nonhomestead rate." 

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: July 1.

Expanding the tax on online sales

Amazon and other online retailers that facilitate third-party transactions will be required to collect Vermont's 6 percent sales tax under the education finance bill. 

The Legislature's nonpartisan Joint Fiscal Office estimates the change will add $13.4 million to the education fund in the next fiscal year. 

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: June 1.

Burn pits 

S. 111 requires leaders of the Vermont National Guard and state veterans affairs officials to contact every veteran in Vermont who may have been exposed to toxic smoke from burn pits, and to encourage them to join the federal burn pit registry. 

Previous coverage:Vermont vet is dying from exposure to toxins in Afghanistan. The VA was slow to help

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: Took effect immediately.

Abortion rights 

H.57 affirms a "fundamental right" to abortion in Vermont, without any legal restrictions and without government interference. The legislation also affirms individuals' right to make decisions about contraception, sterilization and pregnancy. 

In a related move, the Senate and House also gave preliminary approval to a proposal that would add "personal reproductive autonomy" to the state Constitution. The Legislature's next vote on the effort will be in 2021-22. 

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: Took effect immediately.

Budget: Child care, tuition and dental care 

The state budget surpassed $6 billion for the first time this year. It includes a number of changes from previous years, including $3 million to mitigate a planned in-state tuition hike at Vermont state colleges. 

The budget also includes money to expand the amount of dental care available through the adult Medicaid program beginning in January 2020.

More:Low-income Vermonters could soon get more help for their teeth — if they can find a dentist

An additional $7.4 million is dedicated to boosting support for child care, including bringing subsidy rates up-to-date and raising the subsidy amounts for eligible families.

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: July 1.

Indigenous Peoples' Day instead of Columbus Day

Act 18 renames and replaces Columbus Day, joining other states that mark the first Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day. 

More:Vermont moves to drop Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples' Day

Status: Signed into law. 

Effective date: The law takes effect July 1, and Vermont will officially recognize its first Indigenous Peoples' Day in October.

A path to shorter prison sentences 

S.112 reinstated a system of "good time" in Vermont prisons. A former version of the good-time program ended in 2005.

Inmates and furloughed offenders could see their sentence shortened by five days for every month of good behavior if they meet certain milestones. People sentenced to life without parole would not be eligible. 

The commissioner of corrections could award up to 30 days of "extraordinary good time" for an act of heroism.

Previous coverage:Vermont moves to shorten prison sentences for good behavior, 'heroism'

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: As soon as the bill became law, the Department of Corrections gained the ability to grant "extraordinary good time." The overall earned good time system needs to be developed through a rulemaking process.

Bee-harming pesticides

H.205 restricts the use of a class of pesticides, neonicotinoids, that can be harmful to bees. 

Status: Signed into law by the governor.

Effective date: July 1.

Hemp farming

S.58 empowers the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to regulate hemp farming and hemp products, including food and personal care products that contain CBD. State regulators will be able to visit retailers that sell hemp products and take samples for testing.

Farmers will pay a registration fee based on their acreage.

Status: Signed into law by the governor.

Effective date: Took effect with the governor's signature on May 30. 

No statute of limitations for lawsuits over child sexual abuse 

Vermont will allow lawsuits over childhood sexual abuse to be filed at any time. The previous statute required lawsuits to be filed within six years. 

The new law applies retroactively to abuse cases where the statute of limitations already expired, but only in cases of "gross negligence."

Status: Signed into law by the governor. 

Effective date: July 1.

Paying people to move to Vermont

This year's workforce development bill allows more people to take advantage of Vermont's highly publicized remote worker grant program. 

Starting in January 2020, people who are moving to Vermont to take a job could be eligible for expense reimbursement up to $5,000, or up to $7,500 in areas of Vermont with high unemployment or low wages.

The job must pay 160 percent of minimum wage, or 140 percent of minimum wage in high-unemployment areas.

Some occupations and skill sets will be prioritized for the grants. 

About $1.2 million is dedicated to the worker relocation program in fiscal year 2020.

Previous coverage:Vermont may expand its pay-to-move program, would pay up to $7,500 to all eligible non-residents

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: The bill took effect July 1,  but the expanded grants are available in 2020.

Breaking up Chittenden County's Senate seats

Chittenden County is the largest district in the state Senate, with six senators representing the entire region.

Act 2 will create new Senate district boundaries based on the 2020 census. No district will be allowed to have more than three senators.

Status: Signed into law by the governor.

Effective date: Jan. 1, 2021.

Health care record sharing by default

Prior to this bill, Vermonters had to opt in to allow their health care records to be shared in a statewide electronic system, run by a group called Vermont Information Technology Leaders.

S.31 changed the consent process so that Vermonters' information would be shared by default, unless they opt out. 

Status: Signed into law by Gov. Scott.

Effective date: The new consent process takes effect March 1, 2020. 

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum.