Of course, we didn’t win every fight.  The Legislature failed to commit the necessary resources to weatherize our homes and businesses, for example.  But we’re taking the time to celebrate the wins, reflect on the losses, and get to work building the grassroots support to carry us forward again, next year!

To skip to specific recaps, click here:

• Protecting your Right to Know GMOs

• Banning Toxic Flame Retardants

• Keeping Vermont on the Path to Health Reform

• Holding Health Insurers Accountable

• Baby Steps on Clean Heat 

• Anti-Renewable Energy Provisions Defeated 

• State Voice in Tar Sands Pipeline Affirmed

• Commonsense Campaign Reform

Consumer Protection

H. 112—Protecting your Right to Know GMOs
In a historic vote, the Vermont House passed legislation to protect your right to know whether the food you’re considering purchasing contains genetically engineered ingredients (a.k.a. genetically modified organisms or GMOs). No other state’s GMO-labeling bill has gotten this far – Vermont’s bill to require labels on GMO food sold here is on track to become the nation’s first such law. VPIRG and our partners will now focus on the Senate so that the bill can become law next year. Then Vermonters will then have the same ability to make informed food purchasing choices as citizens who live in any of the more than 60 countries around the world with GMO-labeling laws have today.

Environmental Health

S.81 – Banning Toxic Flame Retardants
Upon learning that a cancer-causing chemical banned from children’s pajamas in the 1970s (chlorinated Tris) had found its way into numerous other children’s products and home furniture, VPIRG and our fire fighter allies successfully pushed for a ban on Tris in these products. The legislature unanimously supported this bill, which puts in place the nation’s strongest ban on these ineffective flame retardants, and is an important step on our path to broader chemical safety reforms.

Clean Energy

H.395/H.520 – Baby Steps on Clean Heat
Heating efficiency programs save energy and money, while reducing global warming pollution. But it takes money to save money, and in order to meet the statewide goal of weatherizing 80,000 (or one in four) Vermont homes by 2020, we need a serious investment of public dollars. Lawmakers, pressured by fossil fuel interests and Super PAC lobbying, failed to step up and make these investments. However, VPIRG did successfully back improvements to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which could bring in additional dollars to help Vermonters weatherize their homes. And we made some progress to expand electric vehicle adoption in the state.

To free up some financing to help individuals and small businesses invest in efficient heating, VPIRG also pressed legislative leaders to pass H.395, which will put about $11 million on the table for low-interest loans. These steps lay the foundation for more significant action in 2014.

S.30 – Anti-Renewable Energy Provisions Defeated
In one of the key votes of the legislative session, senators voted 16-14 to strip the most offensive provisions out of the anti-renewable energy bill – S.30. At different points, this legislation would have blocked wind, solar and other renewable energy sources of various sizes. Had it passed as its sponsors intended, it would have represented a major retreat from Vermont’s commitment to clean energy. With a clear majority of Vermonters demanding more clean energy, not less, VPIRG and our allies worked with Sen. Bernie Sanders and climate champion Bill McKibben to ensure that senators got the message. The 16 senators who voted for renewable power deserve our thanks, as do most House members who further improved the bill.

State Voice in Tar Sands Pipeline Affirmed
As the national and international debate over the Keystone XL pipeline heated up, VPIRG and our partners successfully pressed for more state control over a plan to ship tar sands oil through a 63-year old pipeline in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom. VPIRG activists sent in over 1,000 comments to the District 7 Environmental Commission calling for appropriate environmental oversight over any plan by Exxon to ship tar sands through Vermont. The Commission agreed, and ruled that a proposal to reverse the flow through the aging pipeline would require new environmental review.

Health Care

H.530 – Keep Vermont on the Path to Reform
Preparations are well under way to launch “Vermont Health Connect,” the virtual insurance marketplace required by the federal Affordable Care Act, so legislators and the administration spent much of the session considering how the transition would impact Vermonters who have subsidized insurance plans now. VPIRG urged policy makers to keep coverage consistent for those eligible for popular state programs like VHAP and Catamount. In the end, our efforts were somewhat, but not entirely successful. The new law will ensure most low and middle income Vermonters are spared a significant rise in what they pay in health care premiums each month.

H.107 – Holding Health Insurers Accountable

Revealing Health Insurance Industry Secrets – Last year, VPIRG led the effort to require health insurers to disclose financial data and new information on the number and type of health claims they deny (click here to see what we found!). Thanks to the passage of another VPIRG-backed bill this year, Vermonters will soon be able to access the same data from Medicaid as well as private insurers. Enabling consumers to make side-by-side comparisons of health insurance plans (and the insurer’s track-record) is a huge step toward a more transparent health care system.

Rate Review – Vermont already has one of the strongest rate review processes in the country, and this year we worked with lawmakers to make it even better. Thanks to legislation passed this year, consumers will be able to sign up to receive notifications when their insurer is planning to increase premiums—so they have a chance to comment before any proposed increase goes into effect. This law also gives consumer protection advocates (like VPIRG) the means to help the state stop unjustified rate hikes. In Oregon, a similar law has saved consumers over $80 million dollars since 2010, and we expect to see significant savings here in Vermont too.

Democracy

S.82 – Commonsense Campaign Reform: Delayed
Last November, when VPIRG laid out a plan to force Super PAC contributors into the light of day, legislators of all political stripes took notice. The window for passing comprehensive elections reform legislation – which had been closed for years – appeared to open. In fact, the Legislature took steps toward that goal. The Senate and House both approved versions of campaign finance and disclosure legislation. However, VPIRG had to threaten to oppose drafts of the legislation in both houses in order to prevent legislators from opening the floodgates to even more money in politics. In the end, legislators were unable to work out their differences before the session came to an end. VPIRG will be back next year to press for the strongest possible legislation next year to reduce the influence of money and require more transparency from politicians, PACs and political parties.

Montpelier, VT – Vermont received a “C+” when it comes to government spending transparency, according to “Following the Money 2013: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the fourth annual report of its kind by a federation of public interest research groups that includes the Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG).

“State governments across the country – including Vermont – have become more transparent about where public money goes, providing citizens with the information they need to hold elected officials and businesses that receive public funds accountable,” said Paul Burns, executive director of VPIRG. “But we still have plenty of room for improvement.”

“This report shows that many states are getting impressive results from making contracts and subsidies more transparent,” said Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy at U.S. PIRG.  “Vermont is not yet among the leading states, but it has shown marked improvement over last year.”

Officials from Vermont and 47 other states provided the researchers with feedback on their initial evaluation of state transparency websites. The leading states with the most comprehensive transparency websites are Texas, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and Oklahoma.

Based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states’ transparency websites, “Following the Money 2013” assigns each state a grade of “A” to “F.” The report describes Vermont, which launched a new transparency website called “Spotlight Vermont” in the past year, as an “emerging state” in online spending transparency. The Department of Finance and Management’s new website provides checkbook-level information on contracts, economic development tax credits, grants, and other expenditures in a central location. However, the website does not contain search tools to help users navigate the data, and lacks descriptions of the projected and achieved benefits of economic development subsidies. While there is plenty of room for improvement, the new website represents a great step forward towards spending transparency.

Vermont stands out as one of the top ten most improved states since last year, rising from a “D-” in last year’s report to a “C+” in this year’s report. Vermont is one of the twenty most transparent states when it comes to online spending information.

Since last year’s “Following the Money” report, there has been remarkable progress across the country with new states providing online access to government spending information and several states pioneering new tools to further expand citizens’ access to this data.

One of the most striking findings in this year’s report is that all 50 states now provide at least some checkbook-level detail about individual government expenditures. In 48 states – all except California and Vermont – this information is now searchable. Just three years ago, only 32 states provided checkbook-level information on state spending online, and only 29 states provided that information in searchable form. Thirty-nine state transparency websites now include tax expenditure reports, providing information on government expenditures through tax code deductions, exemptions and credits – up from just eight states three years ago.

“Open information about the public purse is crucial for democratic and effective government,” said Burns. “It’s not possible to ensure that government spending decisions are fair and efficient unless information is publicly accessible.”

The states with the most transparent spending stand out partly because they are comprehensive about the kinds of spending they include, such as data on economic development subsidies, expenditures granted through the tax code, and quasi-public agencies. Vermont is one of at least six states that have launched brand new transparency websites since last year’s report, and most made improvements that are documented in the report. The best state transparency tools are highly searchable, engage citizens, and include detailed information – allowing all the information to be put to good use.

States that have created or improved their online transparency have typically done so with little upfront cost. In fact, top-flight transparency websites can save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts.

It should be noted that while the state of Vermont has no searchable database for the “Checkbook” information, the checkbook-level data are searchable in a non-government website (www.vttransparency.org).  This website is a joint project of the Public Assets Institute and the Ethan Allen Institute.  While this website uses data supplied by the state, search features must be a part of a government website in order to receive credit in our report.

“We look forward to the state of Vermont building upon this year’s progress and further improving the breadth and ease-of-access of government spending information through a government transparency portal,” said Burns. “Given our state budget challenges, Vermonters need to be able to follow the money.”

To access the state’s transparency website, click here: http://spotlight.vermont.gov/.  To read the report, click here or visit: http://www.vpirg.org/?p=4835

VPIRG is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group that has focused on consumer and environmental protection, fair elections and government reform in Vermont for four decades. www.vpirg.org

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The report co-released by Container Recycling Institute and VPIRG, A Clean and Green Vermont: A Special Report on the Environmental and Economical Benefits of Vermont’s Bottle Bill, examines ways in which the Bottle Bill is uniquely effective at collecting and recycling beverage containers, and how the program could become even better.  Key findings include:

• Places with both bottle deposit programs and curbside recycling consistently have higher recycling rates with lower overall costs.
• On-the-go beverage containers make up a significant portion of consumption (30-50%), and recycling options away-from-home are limited, making the financial incentive of a bottle deposit particularly important and effective.
• Litter is significantly lower in Bottle Bill states, as demonstrated with new studies from the Midwest and Hawaii.
• The quality of material collected through the bottle deposit program is higher, and particularly for glass, that means it can be continually recycled, whereas single-stream glass is currently “downcycled” into single-use material like landfill daily cover.
• Vermont’s Bottle Bill could become even better by implementing best practices established in other regions.

Click here to download the report.

A new poll released today by the Castleton Polling Institute continues to show overwhelming public support for building renewable wind energy turbines on Vermont ridgelines.  Further, the poll indicates that support for wind among Vermonters does not drop off when the question is asked about building a wind project “in your community.”

In fact, the support for building wind actually increased from 66 percent to 69 percent when the question was specifically asking about wind power being developed in your community.

“Wind power in Vermont is clean, safe and abundant,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.  “It’s no wonder that support for wind remains so strong, despite the extreme rhetoric from groups like Energize Vermont and Vermonters for a Clean Environment.”

“It’s pretty clear that people see right through the false claims of the professional wind opponents,” he added.  “I think Vermonters know that developing wind and other local renewable energy sources is good for our economy and good for the planet too.”

The support for wind crosses all major demographic lines according to the poll.  Among men, women, Republicans, Independents, Democrats, college educated or not, and across all household income categories, general support for building wind projects in Vermont only ranged from a low of 63 percent to a high of 71 percent.  Actual opposition to wind averaged just 19 percent.

“This really should put an end to the question of where Vermonters stand on wind.  They absolutely, unequivocally want more wind built in Vermont,” said Burns.

Meanwhile, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee continues to mark up a bill that could effectively put a halt to wind development in Vermont.  A vote on the anti-wind bill could come as soon as tomorrow.

”Obviously, this poll is a timely reminder of just how out of step the supporters of anti-wind legislation are with most Vermonters.  This is the time when we should look to Vermont’s leaders to promote actual solutions to our energy needs, not retreat from the state’s commitment to popular clean energy goals,” Burns concluded.

For more information about the poll, please go to the Castleton Polling Institute:  http://www.castleton.edu/polling/feb26_2013/pollresults.htm

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These unnecessary and ineffective chemicals expose our children to substances that can cause cancer and have been linked to developmental problems, hormone disruption, and other serious health problems. There is no reason that parents should have to worry when their kids take naps at daycare.

Click to download the study.

 Download the report here.

The Vermont Public Interest Research Group released its 2011-2012 Legislative Scorecard on public interest issues today. As the state’s largest consumer and environmental advocacy organization, VPIRG is involved in a broad range of policy debates in Montpelier, from health care reform to banning fracking.

The 2011-2012 Legislative Scorecard tracks votes on clean energy, health care, consumer protection, green cleaning, campaign finance reform, Bottle Bill expansion, a ban on fracking and more.  Most of the votes included are on issues that VPIRG supported, but this year’s scorecard also has several votes where the public interest vote was a “no.”  These include a proposed moratorium on wind power development and a proposed delay in health care reform.

For example, a lot of children’s products, including backpacks, paper clips, 3-ring binders, and lunch boxes, are decorated with PVC coatings.   Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is a type of plastic that contains dangerous chemical additives like phthalates, lead, and cadmium, which can harm children’s health. Toxic chemicals released by the PVC lifecycle have been linked to chronic diseases that are on the rise, like cancer, asthma, obesity, and learning and development disabilities. Even small exposures to these chemicals can pose a risk to children.  Our buying guide identifies items that contain PVC, and recommends alternatives, such as cardboard or fabric covered binders rather than vinyl ones.

Click here to download the Back-to-School Guide for Safer School Supplies.

Inspired to do more?  Click here to ask the Governor to push for stronger regulation of chemicals in our products.

Read the Environment America report When It Rains, It Pours to learn more about global warming-induced increases in precipitation and how we can address them.

When It Rains, It Pours

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Many of the products tested are aimed at children. The chemicals found in the jewelry have been linked to acute allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer.  The full report is available at: www.HealthyStuff.org.

Thirty-nine pieces of jewelry studied were collected from Vermont retailers: 13 from Walmart, 3 from Icing, and 23 from Claire’s. Each retailer was selling at least one piece of jewelry that contained high levels of toxins. Three pieces of jewelry sold in Vermont had high levels of lead (greater than 300 ppm), one piece had high levels of cadmium, and other jewelry contained toxins such as nickel, mercury, arsenic and chlorine (PVC).

Nationally, over half (57%) of the products tested had a “high” level of concern due to the presence of one or more hazardous chemicals detected at high levels.  Four products contained over 10% cadmium, a known carcinogen.  Fifty percent contained lead, with over half of these containing more than 300 ppm of lead in one or more components, exceeding the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) limit of lead in children’s products.

Click here to see the results of the toxic jewelry study.