Right now, all Vermonters who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) who are 16 or older, are eligible to register for vaccination, along with everyone living in their household. Anyone who falls into that category can register to receive the COVID-19 Vaccine here. Prior to this stage, Vermont set up vaccination clinics for the members of …
Late yesterday, Gov. Phil Scott released his proposal for the over $1 billion in funds Vermont will receive from the American Rescue Plan Act. Included in his proposal is $200 million over the next four years in energy affordability and climate investments. This is an important down payment on the strategic investments necessary for Vermont …
Our democracy is under attack right now in states across the country. In fact, more than 250 anti-voter bills have been introduced in at least 43 states. The new Georgia law (which, among other things, makes it a crime to give food and water to a voter standing in line at the polls) is so …
Let’s Make Vermont the Most Voter-Friendly State in the Nation Read More »
In a unanimous final vote on Thursday, April 1, the Vermont Senate passed H.10, a bill that allows candidates to use campaign funds to cover the expense of dependent care while running for office. Having passed final reading in the House on March 17th, H.10 will now head to the Governor’s desk. While Vermont …
VT Senate Passes Bill to Make Child Care a Campaign Expense Read More »
We’re past the halfway point of the 2021 legislative session, and even though we released a legislative update just four weeks ago, we’ve already made amazing progress on a wide range of key public interest initiatives. From advancing the most comprehensive PFAS legislation to addressing Vermont’s digital divide to passing much needed reforms to our …
On Monday, the Vermont Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued an order that would extend the moratorium on involuntary utility disconnections due to nonpayment of electricity, natural gas, and landline phone through May 31st, 2021. Under the previous order, it would have expired this Wednesday. This is good news. We are grateful that the PUC has decided …
Going into this legislative session, one of our key priorities was a set of policies designed to advance modernizing Vermont’s transportation infrastructure – to give Vermonters better access to affordable transportation, and to cut our climate pollution. Just past the halfway point in the session, we just hit a major milestone in advancing that goal. …
Cultural liaisons are a go-between for families (primarily those with limited English proficiency, LEP) and school and town staff. They have been brought on in both the Burlington and Winooski school districts, and they have been hard at work helping families with everything from filing taxes to accessing social services and building trust in our government to getting kids to class on time. Liaisons are a vital component of our communities working with LEP families all year long, bringing them together …
On March 24, the Vermont Senate gave its final approval by a vote of 22-8 to legislation (S.51) that would make important changes to state campaign finance law. Most significantly under S.51, only individuals, political committees, and political parties would be allowed make political contributions to candidates. The bill would increase transparency in campaign finance as well, by requiring political committees (a.k.a. PACs) to include the name …
H.175 is the best opportunity we’ve had in decades to modernize Vermont’s popular Bottle Bill. Recently, hundreds of our VPIRG members responded to our call to action and sent an email to their representatives in the Legislature. This added a burst of momentum to our campaign and apparently scared the bejesus out of the corporate opponents of the Bottle Bill. …
