Legislative Scorecards
VPIRG produces a scorecard of key votes at the conclusion of each legislative biennium.
Use these scorecards to find out how your representatives in the Vermont House and Senate voted on important public interest issues including – climate solutions, toxic chemical protections, zero waste issues, democracy reforms, consumer protection and more.
SCORECARD ARCHIVE
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What votes did we score for the 2023-2024 Legislative Scorecards?
VPIRG includes votes that reflect the variety of public interest issues we work on. In some cases, there may be several roll call votes on a particular bill (including potential amendments to the bill). We’ve chosen to include votes that are substantive, have a large effect on the outcome of the legislation, and that we believe provide the most accurate representation of legislators’ stances on key public interest issues.
Continue reading for a list of bills we included in this scorecard, descriptions of the substance of those bills, and links to the specific roll call votes that were used in the scorecard.
S.5 – The Affordable Heat Act: Following a two-year effort, the Vermont legislature overrode Governor Scott’s veto of the Affordable Heat Act (S.5) in the closing days of the 2023 legislative session, passing for the first time a comprehensive policy to address one of the most polluting sectors in Vermont’s economy: how we heat our homes and other buildings.
The Affordable Heat Act requires Vermont’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) to design a program requiring companies that import fossil fuels used for residential, commercial, or industrial heating to offer Vermonters (particularly low- and middle-income Vermonters) incentives and upfront assistance to switch to cleaner, cheaper heating options, sufficient to ensure climate pollution in Vermont’s thermal sector is reduced in line with the requirements of the Global Warming Solutions Act. This program will need to be approved by the legislature again in 2025 before going into effect.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)
S.5 – Amendment to Weaken the Global Warming Solutions Act (House only): During the floor debate on the Affordable Heat Act, Rep. Mark Higley introduced an amendment that, if passed, would have significantly weakened Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act, which turned Vermont’s climate pollution reduction goals into legally binding requirements. The amendment failed – those voting against it voted for the public interest.
S.25 – Nation-Leading Ban on PFAS and Other Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products: This law bans PFAS and other harmful chemicals from personal care products like shampoo, deodorant, makeup, and menstrual products. It also phases out the use of PFAS in textiles including outdoor apparel, and in artificial turf, cookware, kids’ products, and incontinence products.
See how the House voted
See how the Senate voted
Stepping up to protect Vermonters from lead: We wanted to recognize 28 House members who voted against an amendment to S.25 that would have allowed a higher amount of lead in consumer products as part of that bill. VPIRG opposed the amendment, but we did not include this vote in the final scorecard because, ultimately, the Senate and House reached an alternative compromise on this matter and the amendment vote in the House did not have a substantial impact on the final policy that was enacted. Nevertheless, these 28 legislators deserve credit for their efforts to reduce lead in consumer products. See who voted no on this amendment here: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/roll-call/2024/175
S.32 – Ranked Choice Voting in Presidential Primaries (Senate only): This bill would have put RCV in place for the 2028 presidential primary in Vermont. It would also have authorized municipalities to adopt RCV for local elections and would have commissioned a study to investigate what other statewide elections would be ripe for implementation beginning in 2026. The bill received broad, tri-partisan support and passed the Senate on a 23-7 vote, however the House opted not to take up the bill in 2024.
S.42 – Fossil Fuel Divestment (Senate Only): This bill would have required the Vermont Pension Investment Commission to divest public pension funds from the fossil fuel industry. The bill passed in the Senate, but ultimately was not considered by the House.
S.213 – Flood Safety Act:VPIRG supported the leadership of groups like Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Conservation Voters, and others in passing S.213, legislation to help Vermont become more resilient against climate change and future flooding. The legislation takes important steps toward safeguarding our communities from climate-induced flooding by protecting wetlands, moving future development away from high-hazard river corridors, and improving dam safety. The bill was passed by both chambers and the governor allowed it to become law without his signature.
See how the House voted
See how the Senate voted
S.259 – The Climate Superfund Act: This landmark legislation makes Vermont the first jurisdiction anywhere in the world to hold Big Oil financially accountable for climate damage. Specifically, the law creates a Climate Superfund that the largest polluters – like ExxonMobil and Shell – would pay into based on their contributions to climate change-related damage in Vermont. These funds could be spent on a host of critical activities to build resilience to, adapt to, and respond to the impacts of the climate crisis.
Special note: The House took two separate roll-call votes on this bill, once on second reading and once on third reading. The substance of what legislators voted on in these votes was identical, and no legislator changed their vote between second and third reading, but the legislators that were present for these votes differed slightly. Therefore, in an effort to fully capture legislators’ position on this bill, we have combined these two votes into a single vote for scoring purposes. In other words, if a legislator voted yes on either of the votes in the House, that was counted as one vote in favor of the public interest for scoring purposes, and if a legislator voted no on either of the votes in the House, that was counted as one vote against the public interest for scoring purposes.
See how the House voted on second reading
See how the House voted on third reading
See how the Senate voted
H.66 – Paid Family and Medical Leave (House only): If enacted, this bill would have established a paid family and medical leave program to provide working Vermonters with paid leave time to care for a new child, or to care for a seriously ill or injured loved one. The U.S. is one of the only economically advanced countries in the world without mandated paid parental leave. The bill passed the House but was not considered by the Senate.
H.121 – Vermont Data Privacy Act & Kids Code: This legislation would have required businesses to limit the information they collect on consumers to only that which is necessary to deliver the good or service a consumer has requested. It would have given consumers the ability to opt-out of having their data sold, used for targeted advertising, or profiling. It would have prohibited businesses from processing Vermonters’ sensitive data without consumer consent. And the bill would have prohibited the sale of such data outright. The bill also would have required online products reasonably likely to be accessed by kids to institute privacy by design and default and be designed with kids’ best interests. The bill would have allowed consumers to hold large data collectors and data brokers that violated their privacy rights accountable in court. The bill was vetoed by the governor, and while the House overwhelmingly voted to override, the Senate ultimately sustained the governor’s veto.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)
H.158 – Modernizing the Bottle Bill: VPIRG has been leading the charge to modernize Vermont’s popular Bottle Bill program for decades. And we’ve never come closer to making important updates to the law that would have expanded recycling and made redemption more convenient than we did this biennium. H.158 would have expanded the scope of the program to include beverages like water, wine, and sports drinks, opened up more redemption centers, and reduced the burden on small retailers. The legislation passed the House and Senate in 2023, but Gov. Scott vetoed the bill. Legislators in the House overrode the veto easily in 2024, but the override vote fell just short in the Senate.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)
H.289 – Modernizing the Renewable Energy Standard: This legislation updates Vermont’s renewable energy standard to nearly quadruple the amount of new renewables Vermont utilities are required to help get built and get Vermont to 100% renewable electricity by 2035 (with utilities serving most Vermonters hitting that mark by 2030). The bill was vetoed by Gov. Scott, but both chambers voted to override the governor and enact this bill into law.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)
H.508 – Burlington Ranked Choice Voting Charter Change (Senate Only): In March 2023, a large majority of Burlington voters favored extending RCV (which was already in place for city council races) to future mayoral races and other city contests. That proposed charter change won approval in the House and Senate and the governor allowed it to become law without his signature. There was no roll call vote in the House.
See how the Senate voted
H.509 – All-Resident Voting in Burlington: This charter change – which allows legal permanent non-citizen residents of Burlington to vote in local elections – was passed by Burlington voters and approved by the legislature but vetoed by the governor. The legislature voted to override the governor and allow Burlington to implement this pro-democracy reform. Similar charter changes were previously approved by Winooski and Montpelier voters – and those bills also had to overcome gubernatorial vetoes.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)
H.706 – The Pollinator Protection Act: In a huge win for both pollinators and public health, legislators overwhelmingly enacted legislation that will ban the use of toxic neonic pesticides on field crop seeds like corn and soy beginning in 2029. It will also restrict outdoor uses of neonics that are harmful to bees and other pollinators. Exemptions will be available in certain cases. It’s critically important because the neurotoxic pesticides, which provide little if any benefit to farmers to begin with, are devastating bees and other pollinators while threatening other species as well. The governor vetoed this bill, but both chambers voted to override his veto and enact H.706 into law.
See how the House voted (veto override)
See how the Senate voted (veto override)