Vermont Speaker of the House Shap Smith made the following statement at the end of the 2013 legislative session.
‘This week, the legislature completed a successful first half of the biennium. We have recognized that in times of great uncertainty it is our responsibility to make investments in the state that will make it stronger. These have included investments in our communities, in our infrastructure, and in our people.
"Legislators return home to their communities this summer with good news for Vermonters about their safety, the roads and bridges in their towns, and the future of their children.’
Highlights include:
Investments in infrastructure:
Legislators and the Governor worked together to ensure that the state will be able to draw down federal funds. As a result, Vermont will make investments that will continue to improve the state’s roads and bridges.
Resources from the weatherization program will be better utilized by identifying the homes that are receiving the most LIHEAP assistance and prioritizing those homes for thermal efficiency investments. This will allow homes to conserve energy and will save the state money.
Loans and financing will be available to businesses to encourage development of sustainable energy efficiency projects.
Investments in Vermont’s children:
The 2014 budget includes more than $5 million in increased investments in child care and early education.
The budget increases funding for higher education by $2.5 million, which will be used to hold down tuition increases at UVM and the state colleges.
High school students will be given more flexibility in their final years of high school by providing them more opportunities to take college level courses, challenging them to learn at a higher level while providing cost-cutting measures to the price of college credits.
The legislature passed a bill that makes school lunch free for all low-income students.
Investments in safe communities:
A new comprehensive opiates bill works to prevent abuse of prescription drugs by ensuring that doctors who prescribe drugs and pharmacists who fill prescriptions have effective tools to avoid duplicate prescriptions. The bill also builds on the work of the House over the past 10 years to prevent addicts from accessing the ingredients to make methamphetamine.
Communities have been given more flexibility to address blighted properties.
Investments in businesses and working Vermonters:
The Legislature approved legislation that lowers unemployment insurance premiums for employers who had to lay off workers during Tropical Storm Irene.
The Equal Pay Act requires that a person be paid the same wage for the same work, no matter their gender. It also allows an employee to request alternatives to regular work hours without fear of retaliation, regardless of the outcome of the request.
End of Life Choices: The legislature passed a bill that gives terminally ill Vermonters freedom to choose when to end their life.