On Wednesday, March 10th, the Senate Government Operations Committee advanced legislation (S.51) that would effectively ban corporate campaign contributions directly to candidates. If enacted, S.51 would be a meaningful step towards getting big money out of politics. Currently, Vermont’s campaign finance law allows corporations to contribute the same amount as individuals. The idea here is simple: corporations are…
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Act 89 – a wide-ranging data privacy and consumer protection law goes into effect today. This VPIRG-supported law contains a number of key provisions that safeguard Vermont students’ privacy, better informs all Vermonters when their data has been compromised and keeps Vermonters out of unwanted ‘zombie contacts.’ VPIRG members and…
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The 2019 Vermont Legislative Session has officially ended – and once again, VPIRG, our members and our allies went toe-to-toe with the most powerful, big-moneyed interests there are and delivered major victories for Vermont’s people and our environment – including some landmark, first-in-the-nation achievements. Unfortunately this session also came with…
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We’re excited to announce that Vermont just enacted the best single-use plastics law in the nation! VPIRG has been leading the charge for bold legislation to address plastic pollution, and now Governor Phil Scott has responded by signing S.113, which represents the toughest anti-plastics legislation yet on the statewide level.…
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Vermont legislators have raised the bar when it comes to regulating the scourge of single-use plastics. S.113 – the single-use plastics bill – with overwhelming legislative support was sent to Gov. Phil Scott Wednesday. It takes aim at plastic bags, straws, drink stirrers and expanded polystyrene. “Single-use plastics like bags,…
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The Senate has given final approval on a 30-0 vote to S.113 – legislation to address the problem of plastic pollution in Vermont. The Senate had previously given initial approval to the bill on a 27-3 vote. Though this is just the first step toward stopping the problem, if passed…
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In Montpelier on Election Day 2018, citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of Article 4, marking the first major step in the fight against plastic pollution in Vermont’s capital city. The measure was an official charter change that would grant the City Council of Montpelier an additional power to regulate the…
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Conventional wisdom suggested that 2018 would be another year of very low voter participation in Vermont. After all, we didn’t have hot races for the US Senate or House, and in the last non-presidential election year – 2014 – Vermont experienced its worst voter turnout in more than 50 years.…
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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…
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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.…
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