House Republicans Bring Leadership to the House  
By Steve Adams 

As the leader of the Minority party in the Vermont House, people often ask me whether I’m seeing more checks and fewer balances in the Legislature. With all the concern about the economy and job security, distractions over industrial hemp and plastic bag taxes left us all questioning the priorities of Legislative leaders this session.

Thankfully, the entire legislative session was not entirely consumed by these issues. House Republicans were able to push aside many of the boutique policy initiatives that dominated this legislative biennium, and made our state’s economic situation a priority. At the beginning of the year, we outlined several challenges that House Republicans wanted to address during the session: Vermont’s economy, the cost of home heating fuel, health care affordability, property tax reform, and our state’s transportation infrastructure.

Early in the session, we introduced a proposal to end the legislative session a month earlier than last year. This proposal would have realized $1M in savings, which would have been allocated to the low income heating assistance program (LIHEAP). It would have provided much needed heating assistance to those Vermonters who are suffering from soaring energy prices, while setting the stage for a more efficient legislative session.

Our proposal was dismissed as a "gimmick" by House Democrats and promptly voted down. But months later, after being confronted by the stark reality of Vermont’s budget crisis, the Speaker of the House finally agreed to shorten the legislative session by two weeks. We are pleased that the Speaker took up our suggestion – by doing so, the Legislature was able to save taxpayers approximately $500,000 (half of what we could have saved under our original proposal).

House Republicans introduced a sweeping proposal to replace Act 60/68 – Vermont’s convoluted education funding system. The new proposal, known as the Local Education Affordability Formula (LEAF), would eliminate the statewide property tax for residential property, return control of our public schools to local communities, and simplify how we pay for education in Vermont. But despite campaign promises to tackle the property tax crisis, Majority leaders thwarted every attempt to bring about meaningful property tax relief, including the LEAF proposal.

We also introduced a proposal to close a loophole that allows wealthy beneficiaries of trust funds to receive property tax prebates and rebates. Closing the "trust fund loophole" would have helped reduce the property tax burden for working Vermonters, while ending tax subsidies for people living on trust funds. Much to our disappointment, Democrats defeated this reasonable proposal when it came up for a vote.

Working in cooperation with the Governor, the Legislature was able to pass an economic stimulus package, and a comprehensive energy efficiency program that sailed through the legislature with almost unanimous support.

But while we did see a number of successes this Legislative session, more could have been accomplished. Much of the Legislature’s time and energy was consumed by a litany of niche issues that took attention away from the real challenges facing Vermont. Over 1,250 bills were introduced in the House and Senate during this biennium – more legislation than we have seen in a decade. The session bore witness to bills that ranged from the absurd, such as a requirement that bicycles be registered and taxed like automobiles (H33), to the pointless, such as a proposal to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp – even though it remains illegal under federal law.

Next year, the Legislature will have to confront many of the challenges that it avoided during this past biennium. In addition to creating a better environment for job growth, the Legislature will need to address property tax reform, a looming healthcare crisis, and our state’s transportation infrastructure. House Republicans look forward to providing continued leadership to address these important issues.
 

Rep. Steve Adams, R-Hartland, is the House Minority Leader