Around this time last year, Governor Phil Scott stood in front of reporters, TV cameras and other onlookers on the waterfront in Burlington to reiterate his alleged support of Vermont’s climate commitments and the Paris Climate Accord, and to announce the creation of the Vermont Climate Pledge Coalition, a voluntary group working to reduce Vermont’s …
U.S. Climate Alliance: 1 Year Anniversary Report Read More »
Over the past year, VPIRG has been working to ensure that the $18.7 million Vermont will be receiving as part of the settlement on the Volkswagen emissions cheating scandal. Last week, that work started to pay off. After the Scott Administration, and Governor Scott himself, made clear that they intended to spend a significant portion …
For more than two decades, we’ve been working to end the giveaway of millions of dollars in unclaimed bottle deposits to the beverage industry and put that money to work for Vermonters. Last night, the governor signed S.285, which finally reclaims the deposits and uses the money to help clean up Vermont’s water ways. This …
New law will use unclaimed Bottle Bill deposits for clean water Read More »
On May 22nd, Gov. Scott signed H.410 – legislation that expands Vermont’s appliance efficiency standards. Gov. Scott listened to the voices of Vermonters, as well as the vast majority of the Vermont House of Representatives and State Senate, which passed the bill on tri-partisan votes of 137-4 and 25-4, respectively. This law goes beyond current …
Passed: Expanded appliance efficiency standards! Read More »
(Update 5/24/18): In yet another shameful display of putting corporate polluters ahead of Vermonters’ best interests, Gov. Scott vetoed S.197 – legislation that would have provided a modest step towards justice for Vermonters harmed by toxic chemical exposure by providing medical monitoring at the polluting entity’s expense. “The governor’s veto of S.197 is a severe …
Updated: Phil Scott vetoes S.197, medical monitoring bill for toxics victims Read More »
Updated (5/29/18): Last week, Gov. Scott signed H.739 into law. Earlier today, the House and Senate passed H.739, a bill that creates a three year pilot program to give Efficiency Vermont more flexibility in working with some of the largest businesses in the state on custom efficiency and energy saving programs. This bill now heads …
Updated: Efficiency Vermont pilot program for VT businesses passed into law! Read More »
All session long, VPIRG and our members have been advocating for H.764 – better known as the Data Broker Bill. Data brokers are third party companies (like Equifax) that buy and sell your personal information without your knowledge. You don’t interact with these companies and would probably be surprised to learn that they may have …
Vermont Close to Passing Landmark Data Privacy Legislation Read More »
With just days left in the Vermont Legislative session, state legislators are working to finalize language on a proposal to promote net neutrality in Vermont. S.289 – the Net Neutrality Bill – is being negotiated in a committee of conference, before heading to both the House and Senate for a final up-or-down vote. If passed …
Earlier this week, VPIRG held a press conference outside of the Lowe’s Home Improvement store in South Burlington as part of a national “Mind the Store” campaign urging Lowe’s to stop selling deadly paint strippers. Executive Director Paul Burns made brief remarks outside of the store and presented the store manager with a letter requesting …
In a sad day for Vermont’s children, the Vermont House was unable to secure the votes to override Governor Scott’s veto of S.103 – therefore, the veto is sustained and regrettably S.103 will not become the law here in Vermont. The vote was 94-53. The house needed 98 YES votes to secure an override. See …
A minority of House members kill legislation to protect kids from toxics Read More »
