Rep. Stevens: Spotlight on three bills headed to the Senate

March 29, 2023  |  By Rep. Tom Stevens 

It was an extremely busy week on the floor of the House. Called “Crossover Week,” we considered a number of bills that are priorities for this session. Bills passed by the House at this point head to the Senate for their consideration, and we will receive bills from the Senate for our consideration as we head into the last third of the session. 

Here is a synopsis of three of the major bills recently passed by the House.

H.66 Paid Family Medical Leave Insurance Program

On a voice vote after two days of debate, the House gave final approval on Friday to H.66, which creates a paid family medical leave insurance program. This program will provide Vermonters up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave with 90% pay and job protections in place to ensure employees can return to work after taking time for a serious illness or care for a family member. 

We know — and our experiences with leave during the pandemic showed — that paid and protected leave is important for both employees and employers. Keeping trained and loyal employees benefits companies large and small sustainable, and knowing that employees don’t have to make a choice about being able to care for themselves and their family or leaving their job relieves stress. 

The House’s proposal is for a minimal payroll tax to fund the program paid for by both the employer and employee. We’re extremely proud to offer this proposal and will be working with the Senate to ensure that the levels of leave and salary protection remain satisfactory.

H.165 Permanent Universal School Meals Program

The pandemic exposed the cracks in our current systems of support around food insecurity.  Vermont’s universal school meals program has been up and running successfully for three years, it is effectively serving the needs of students, and school food service directors and teachers overwhelmingly support continuing it. Food for hungry students is about more than just nutrition, universal school meals also promote community building and belonging for students.  

The House gave final approval to H.165, a bill to make the currently operating universal school meals program a permanent program in Vermont schools. For the past three years, Vermont students have benefited from a universal school meals program that provides a healthy, nutritious breakfast and lunch during the school day to all students.  Universal school meals eliminate hunger and erase stigma in our schools by ensuring that two healthy meals are available to all.  

H.126 Conserving Vermont’s Natural Landscape

The House passed H.126, a bill addressing community resiliency and biodiversity protection, with overwhelming support. This bill builds upon the important conservation work and policies in Vermont to ensure we conserve the necessary elements of our natural landscape. Vermont biodiversity has been declining at an alarming rate in recent decades. The state continues to lose forest cover, and the remaining forest land is increasingly fragmented. 

This bill establishes the conservation goals of 30% conserved land by 2030 and 50% conserved land by 2050. More than 100 countries, including the United States, have signed onto these conservation initiatives. H.126 supports Vermont’s leading work in conservation efforts and charts a path to ensure Vermont is able to adapt and mitigate climate change impacts — for both human and natural communities — conserving an intact and connected landscape will benefit our economy in the short and long term.  Open space and access to the outdoors are the foundation of our lifestyle and the Vermont brand and essential to our natural and working lands and outdoor recreation economies.

Feel free to reach out about these or any issues of interest during the session. This last portion of the session will have us dealing with important housing issues, as well as child care.

Rep. Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, represents the Washington-Chittenden House district towns of Waterbury, Huntington and Bolton and Buel’s Gore. He chairs the House General and Housing Committee. Reach him at tstevens@leg.state.vt.us.