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2021 VLCT Legislative Preview

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2021 VLCT Legislative Preview Issue No. 1 Inside This Issue Looking Ahead to a Socially Distanced Session 1 Looking Ahead to a The pandemic-centered general election is way behind us. In Vermont, there Socially Distanced was no controversy surrounding re-election of Governor Scott, who garnered Session 68.8 percent of the vote, a significant mandate. That is a good thing as he and his administration continue to use science and a calm demeanor to guide 2 Town Meeting 2021 us through the COVID-19 crisis. While much will be different in the 2021 3 Equity, Inclusion, and legislative session, a lot will mirror the past. Leadership in both the House Social Justice at the and Senate will change, but committee chairs – and, therefore, both their Local Level priorities and perspective on issues important to local officials – are likely to remain similar to those of the previous biennium. 4 The Vermont Budget – What it Means for Local Governmentss At least in the first few months, the session will continue to be conducted remotely. One important advantage of this practice is that anyone can watch 8 Public Safety committee meetings or legislative action from the safety of their home (or 10 Cannabis public WiFi location, if your personal internet remains inadequate). Committee meetings and House and Senate action are streamed live via 11 Transportation Issues Zoom video conferencing and posted on YouTube, where you can watch 12 Self-Governance in either live or later. You will find the hyperlink to the meetings on the top of 2021: Thriving each committee’s agenda webpage on the legislature’s easy-to-navigate Municipalities in Post- website, https://legislature.vermont.gov/. You can also watch House and COVID Vermont Senate “floor action,” and the links to those meetings are on the respective chamber’s home page. The next biennium does not lack for monumental issues that concern local government. During the pandemic, the administration and legislators have Karen Horn relied heavily on local governments to inform individuals and businesses Public Policy & Advocacy about the required actions to protect Vermonters, which are driven by Director scientific data. And local officials continue to deliver a significantly Gwynn Zakov reimagined and broad array of services to all while keeping core municipal Municipal Policy Advocate functions operating in a remote and changeable environment. These David Gunn services include managing volunteers, hosting food distribution sites, Editor providing after-school hubs and COVID-19 test sites, distributing masks, and helping downtown businesses adapt to socially distanced business models, VLCT ADVOCACY as well as road maintenance, water and wastewater facility operation, [email protected] keeping town clerk offices open, elections and land records, zoning permits, libraries, open meetings and public safety. Truly, local officials are on the LEGISLATORS legislature.vermont.gov front lines, and Vermonters are thankful for that. SERGEANT-AT-ARMS 802-828-2228 1 | VLCT LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW DECEMBER 18, 2020 ISSUE NO. 1 VERMONT LEAGUE OF CITIES AND TOWNS | 89 MAIN STREET, SUITE 4 | MONTPELIER, VT 05602 | 802-229-9111 | VCLT.ORG Vermont is a Dillon’s Rule state. That means that local governments may only do those things that the legislature –and this year’s emergency executive orders – specifically allow them to do. In 2020 – as Vermont shut down, and then carefully re-opened by innovating in almost every aspect of daily life – it was more evident than ever how constraining legislative authority over local government could be. Yet clearly the state cannot do everything alone. Especially during this pandemic, the state needs to unleash the creativity and innovative energy of local officials to implement reimagined solutions for the many problems the coronavirus continues to deliver. Local democracy has always been important across the country and is consistently touted in Vermont’s narrative of town meeting and local control. However, the ability of local officials to meet the needs of their communities in today’s restrictive climate is insufficient. At the beginning of the 2021 session, a bill to provide options for towns that hold town meetings will be introduced and, presumably, promptly passed. Budgets and funding concerns will dominate conversations this year. The total Vermont budget for FY21 (current fiscal year) is $7.19 billion, $1.25 billion of which is from Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) dollars and $4.8 billion in pandemic payments to Vermont overall. In the current fiscal year, fully 42 percent of the state budget is from federal funds – it’s usually 30 percent in an ordinary year. General Fund, Transportation Fund and Education Fund revenues all exceed targeted amounts so far in the current fiscal year. Of particular note, property transfer tax revenues through November are 62 percent above their target. Meanwhile, 46 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Vermont were reported in November, there is as yet no further stimulus package from Congress, the estimated increase in education property taxes is nine percent, and current fiscal forecasts project unmet budget pressures for FY22 in the range of $180 to $200 million. Both towns and school districts will need to tighten their belts for yet another year if Vermont has any hope of remaining affordable to its citizens. That means that your Advocacy staff will have to work harder than ever to ensure that municipalities have the flexibility to meet the challenges of the pandemic and its aftermath. We will focus our efforts on securing the flexibility you need to make decisions that help your residents navigate and recover from the pandemic, and funding to ensure that you are able to continue providing the services they expect. That said, we will need your help. Please: • join our bi-weekly Zoom meetings; • read our Legislative Report each Friday; and • contact your legislators regularly with your concerns! Thank you for all you do in your cities, towns, and villages! Town Meeting 2021 During the last week of the 2020 legislative session, the legislature passed and the governor signed Act 162 with an eye towards Town Meeting Day 2021. The act permits a municipality to apply the Australian ballot system to any municipal meeting held in the year 2021 by vote of its legislative body. It also eliminates requiring a person to collect voter signatures in order to have his or her name placed on the ballot as a candidate for a local election held at a 2021 municipal meeting. These two provisions are 2 | VLCT LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW DECEMBER 18, 2020 ISSUE NO. 1 certainly helpful as towns prepare for town meeting, however towns have identified several temporary adjustments to statutory requirements that are also necessary to comply with the governor’s COVID-19 Executive Order and social distancing measures. Over the past two months, several legislative committees, the secretary of state, local officials, and VLCT have participated in discussions of potential legislation to facilitate town meeting 2021. The chairs of the House and Senate Government Operations committees promised to prioritize a bill that will specifically address Vermont’s version of “direct democracy practiced in its purest form.” In addition to allowing legislative bodies to permit Australian ballot voting if they so choose, the legislature will enable towns to mail out ballots to voters. The state enjoyed great success with a similar measure during the November general elections, and the secretary of state hopes that mailing ballots to all local voters for their annual town meetings will achieve the same success. The governor is working to include funding for mailing of town meeting ballots to registered voters. The legislature also promises to authorize legislative bodies to move Town Meeting Day to a date later in the 2021 calendar year. Some communities may want to hold their town meeting outdoors when weather is more favorable to accommodate socially distant outdoor gatherings. This may also allow time the COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed within local communities ahead of town meeting. Neither the secretary of state nor the legislative committees were sympathetic to requests from several towns that wanted authorization to hold town meetings remotely. The secretary of state worried that internet and broadband deficiencies across the state would limit participation from voters. They were also concerned that managing the technology by voters would similarly limit or even prevent participation, and it would be very difficult for town officials to verify voters and votes throughout the meeting. Due to these concerns, the legislature will not pursue this enabling authority for towns. However, the public bodies of towns (such as selectboards) may still hold remote meetings, which will allow pre-town meeting information meetings, because no binding action will occur at them. The House and Senate Government Operations committees also discussed the option of eliminating the requirement for signatures on items petitioned to be placed on the ballot. They agreed that local legislative bodies already have the authority to waive signature requirements. Committee members also considered allowing electronic signatures on petitioned ballot items, but they ultimately decided that there are enough questions about how that would happen and how signatures would be certified, that putting a system in place before the deadlines for petitioned items would be a very heavy lift. The legislature promised to prioritize this legislation and a bill will start in the House Government Operations Committee. We expect that a bill will be passed and forwarded to the governor for signature by the third week of January. Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice at the Local Level Following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May and the nationwide protests that followed, Vermont legislators discussed at length the issues of equity, inclusion, and social justice throughout Vermont’s history as well as in the present day.
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