Governor Peter Shumlin signed the final bills of 2013 into law this week and said they mark the conclusion of one of the most productive legislative sessions in recent memory.
‘Vermonters expect us to pull together and get tough things done on their behalf, and we were able to deliver. I am grateful to the legislature for their hard work this session,’Gov. Shumlin said. ‘With the third-lowest unemployment rate in the nation, we have now climbed out of the worst recession in memory. We have rebuilt better than Tropical Storm Irene found us. We have met the challenge of promoting jobs and economic development for our citizens and communities. And I am committed to making sure that progress continues into the second half of this biennium.’
‘The legislature completed a successful first half of the biennium. Our responsibility as legislators is to make investments in the state that will make it and its people stronger. This year we have met that goal. We’ve made investments in our communities, our infrastructure, and our people. These measures will produce lasting benefits to the state.’
‘It was a genuinely historic session,’said Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell. ‘Together, we passed an equal-pay bill to address paycheck inequity for women, a groundbreaking bill to allow the state’s many poorly paid homecare workers to collectively bargain, tripartisan reform of the state’s drug laws, and meaningful action on bringing down the staggering cost of higher education.’
The session’s work included a first in the nation program to provide free lunch to all qualifying students in Vermont, investments in value added farm and forest enterprises, commitment to early college, and increased funding for Vermont’s institutions of higher education.
In addition, lawmakers approved, and the Governor signed, measures providing heating assistance to low-income Vermonters to help meet the federal funding cuts, increasing capital spending to ensure that Vermont’s mental health system and state office complex serve the needs of Vermonters in the coming decades, and improving the rights of women in the workplace.
Legislation designed to curb the addiction and associated crime from opiates and methamphetamines also passed with broad support. The legislature also respectfully debated and passed end-of-life measures, marijuana decriminalization, and the rights of migrant workers to driver identification.
‘We still have a great deal of work to do to ensure the long-term prosperity of all Vermonters, but I am incredibly proud of the busy and successful 2013 legislative session, and I look forward to an equally productive second-half of the biennium next year,’said the Governor.
Bill
Title
Governor Signed
H.47
Fiscal year 2013 budget adjustment
3/17/13
H.41
Civil forfeiture of retirement payments to public officials convicted of certain crimes
3/20/13
H.63
Repealing an annual survey of municipalities
3/27/13
S.2
Sentence calculations
4/4/13
H. 531
Building 617 in Essex
4/23/2013
H.13
Statutory revision
4/23/2013
H.51
Payment of workers’compensation benefits by electronic payroll card
4/23/2013
H.431
Mediation in foreclosure actions
4/26/2013
S. 3
Allowing participation in out-of-state contests requiring a fee to enter
4/26/2013
S.144
St. Albans state office building
4/26/2013
S.159
Various amendments to Vermont's land use control law and related statutes
4/26/2013
H.510
T-bill: state's transportation program and miscellaneous changes to the state's transportation laws
4/29/2013
H.511
‘Zappers’and automated sales suppression devices
4/29/2013
H.280
Payment of wages
5/3/2013
H.71
Tobacco products
5/3/2013
H.401
Municipal and regional planning and flood resilience
5/6/2013
S.161
Mitigation of traffic fines and approval of a DLS diversion program contract
5/6/2013
S.47
Protection orders and second degree domestic assault
5/6/2013
H.2
Governor's snowmobile council
5/7/2013
H.527
Approval of the adoption and codification of charter of town of Northfield
5/7/2013
H.529
Approval of amendment to the charter of the Winooski Incorporated School District related to the term of district treasurer
5/7/2013
S.151
Misc changes to laws governing commercial motor vehicle licensing and operation
5/7/2013
H.406
Listers and assessors
5/8/2013
H.518
Misc amendments to VT retirement laws
5/8/2013
H.525
Amendments to charter of Stowe
5/8/2013
H.131
Harvesting guidelines and procurement standards
5/13/2013
H.136
Cost-sharing for preventive services
5/13/2013
H.182
Standards for conducting search and rescue operations
5/13/2013
H.205
Professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation
5/13/2013
H.474
Amending membership and charge of the Government Accountability Committee
5/13/2013
H.512
Approval of amendments to charter of the City of Barre
5/13/2013
H.513
Relating to the Dept of Financial Regulation
5/13/2013
H.54
Public records act exemptions
5/13/2013
H.178
Anatomical gifts
5/14/2013
H.403
Serious functional impairments
5/14/2013
H.50
Sale, transfer, importation of pets
5/14/2013
H.517
Approval of adoption and codification of the charter of the Town of St. Albans
5/14/2013
H.99
Equal pay
5/14/2013
H.26
Technical corrections
5/20/2013
H.315
Proposes to require employers domiciled outside of Vermont to offer the same health coverage and benefits with a same-sex spouse as to employees with an opposite-sex spouse.
5/20/2013
H.450
Expanding the powers of regional planning commissions
5/20/2013
H.541
Village of Essex charter
5/20/2013
S.104
Expedited partner therapy
5/20/2013
S.14
Fair share fee
5/20/2013
S.30
Electric generation plants
5/20/2013
S.77
Death with dignity/end of life choices
5/20/2013
S.88
Telemedicine services delivered outside a health care facility
5/20/2013
S.99
Standard measure of rates of recidivism
5/20/2013
H.95
Unclaimed life insurance benefits
5/21/2013
H.299
Consumer protection provisions for propane refunds, unsolicited demands for payment, failure to comply with civil investigations
5/22/2013
S.11
Austine School
5/22/2013
H.105
APS reporting requirements
5/24/2013
H.535
Town of Woodford charter
5/24/2013
H.537
Brattleboro town charter
5/24/2013
S.132
Sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, and the service of process
5/24/2013
S.59
Independent direct support providers unionization
5/24/2013
S.7
Social networking privacy protection
5/24/2013
H.530
Appropriations for the support of state government
5/28/2013
H.265
Education property tax rates and base education amount for fiscal year 2014
5/29/2013
H.533
Capital bill - capital construction and state bonding
5/29/2013
H.536
National Guard
5/29/2013
S.152
GMCB rate review authority
5/29/2013
H.226
Regulation of underground storage tanks
5/30/2013
H.521
Misc amendments to education law
5/30/2013
S.150
Misc amendments to motor vehicle laws
5/30/2013
H.262
Establishing a program for the collection and recycling of paint
6/3/2013
H.377
Neighborhood planning and development for municipalities with designated centers
6/3/2013
H.538
Misc amendments to ed funding laws
6/3/2013
S.1
Classification of criminal offenses
6/3/2013
S.156
Home visiting standards
6/3/2013
S.20
Increasing statute of limitations for certain sex offenses against children
6/3/2013
S.31
Property settlement in a divorce proceeding
6/3/2013
S.61
An act relating to alcoholic beverages
6/3/2013
S.73
Home health moratorium
6/3/2013
H.523
Court administration and procedure
6/4/2013
H.534
Winooski charter amendments
6/4/2013
S.148
VT Public Records Act: Criminal and Public Safety Investigation Exemptions
6/4/2013
S.18
Automated license plate recognition systems
6/4/2013
S.4
Concussions and school athletic activities
6/4/2013
H.240
Executive branch fees
6/5/2013
H.295
Technical tax changes
6/5/2013
H.522
Strengthening Vermont's response to opioid addiction and methamphetamine abuse
6/5/2013
H.65
Limited immunity from liability for reporting a drug or alcohol overdose
6/5/2013
S.38
Migrant ID
6/5/2013
H.200
Civil penalties for possession of marijuana
6/6/2013
S.130
Encouraging flexible pathways leading to secondary school completion and career and college readiness
6/6/2013
H.101
Hunting, fishing, trapping
6/7/2013
H.107
Health insurance, Medicaid, Vermont health benefit exchange
6/7/2013
S.155
Strategic workforce development
6/7/2013
S.37
TIFFS
6/7/2013
H.169
Relieving employers’experience-rating records
6/10/2013
H.515
Miscellaneous agriculture subjects
6/10/2013
S.157
Hemp production
6/10/2013
S.81
Regulation of octaBDE, pentaBDE, decaBDE, flame retardant known as Tris
6/13/2013
S.85
Presumption that a firefighter or rescue or ambulance worker with lung disease or an infectious disease has acquired the disease as a result of his or her employment.
6/13/2013
H.395
Vermont clean energy loan fund
6/17/2013
H.405
Manure management and anaerobic digesters
6/17/2013
H.520
Reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions
6/17/2013