VRGA has compiled a list of bills relevant to the membership, their status, and the changes they create below. Bills are organized by category in the dropdown menu below. If you have questions regarding any of these bills, or other issues not reported on, please contact Erin at erin@vtrga.org.
The 2024 Vermont legislative session officially adjourned just before 6pm on Monday, June 17, 2024. Both the House and Senate returned for the pre-scheduled veto session to attempt to override seven vetos from the Governor. The supermajority was successful in their overrides for six of the seven bills. While VRGA did not win everything, VRGA worked hard to represent the interests of retailers and grocers in the Legislature. It was a tough session, but we were able to beat back new taxes that would have been piled on top of that more than 14% increase in property taxes next year.
This session, we stopped the Legislature from raising more than $30 million from tax payers as retailers and grocers as the tax collector, including:
eliminating the tax exemption on clothing over $110. ($6.8 million)
eliminating the business tax exemption on Software as a Service/the Cloud Tax ($6 million)
imposing an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages ($20 million)
increasing the tax on vape products that are already taxes at 92%. Legislators wanted to increase the tax to 100%.
Aside from taxes, VRGA:
killed the bill that would have banned the sale of flavored tobacco and tobacco alternatives
helped pass legislation that will monitor offenders with multiple offenses or violations of conditions of release
pushed the retail theft bill through passage. While the bill doesn’t do exactly what we wanted, this is one small step toward passing aggregation of thefts.
Stopped legislation that would have eliminated loyalty programs, prohibit businesses from using targeted marketing to reach customers, and eliminate the ability for businesses to cross promote products.
Property Taxes
H.887 Homestead property tax yields, non-homestead (commercial) rates, and policy changes to education finance and taxation – the bill will increase property taxes by about 14% this year and add pressure on property taxes next year before factoring in next year’s school budgets. This increase is on homes and commercial property and will be felt on top of the universal childcare tax starting July 1, 2024, a 20% increase in DMV fees, 16% increase in healthcare premiums and more. Governor’s veto message
The deficit that the Senate faced in the final days brought about a myriad of new taxes that VRGA was able to beat back. Proposed taxes that were considered in the final days of the session included:
Eliminating the tax exemption on Software as a Service/the Cloud Tax ($12 million)
Removing the tax exemption from clothing that cost $110 per item or more ($6.8 million) as well as
An Excise tax on sugar sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages (which includes maple), increasing the vape tax to 100%
A win for VRGA and retailers across the state, we were able to beat back a each of those proposed taxes.
Local Option Taxes
Municipalities now have the authority to implement a Local Options Tax without needing the approval of the state Legislature. Specifically, the new law (H.546), which was signed by the Governor, removes the previous legal requirement that municipalities must draft and request a Charter change in front of the Legislature to impose such a tax. This simplifies and expedites the process for municipalities to levy a Local Options Tax.
Act 250 and Housing
H.687 Community resilience and biodiversity protection through land - a bill with significant compromise to reduce regulatory barriers to increase workforce housing and make exemptions from Act 250 for building housing in villages and downtowns across the state. The bill creates a 5-member board with the goal of providing more predictability and a timelier process. Governor’s veto message.
Retail Theft
While the Legislature failed to include provisions that would aggregate multiple retail theft incidents within a 14-day period at one or more locations within a single county in the final version of H.534, some progress was made to address retail crime this session. The final bill as passed and signed by the Governor implements a graded penalty system for multiple offenses. Under this system, penalties start at $500 for the initial offense and increase by $500 for subsequent convictions, along with longer imprisonment periods for second, third, and fourth offenses. However, a conviction is needed, and as we’ve seen an increase in court backlogs, offenders are not facing a conviction.
Luckily, S.195, a bill that proposes structural adjustments to pre-trial conditions and considerations, and will empower courts to apply stricter consequences to repeat offenders. The bill lifts the $200 bail cap and creates the option for pre-trial monitoring for those with multiple offenses or violations of conditions of release. Unfortunately, the Department of Corrections has estimated the need for nearly $900,000 to set up the pre-trial monitoring program and the Legislature allocated $661,000.
VRGA Quashes Bill Requiring Retail Businesses to Accept Cash
VRGA president Erin Sigrist testified mid-session S.175, a bill that would have required all businesses to accept cash transactions of up to $1000 each. During testimony, evidence showed that only "three to four constituents emailed the committee" advocating for the passage of S.175 to safeguard Vermonters’ access to goods and services, however a poll of VRGA membership showed no evidence that retailers were not accepting cash. In fact, 100% of respondents reported that they accept cash. With insufficient data to support the need for a mandate and concerns voiced by retailers, the committee concluded that S.175 is currently unnecessary.
VRGA Kills Bill to Allow All Pets in Retail Stores
H.853, a bill that would allow customers to bring their dogs into any retail store, regardless of whether they are a support pet. The proposal would violate federal (and state) food safety rules. Store owners would be saddled with increased insurance costs as well as potential for litigation in the event of a bite or damage to people or property. VRGA spoke with the bill sponsor on the implications of his proposal and why we not support it. The bill ultimately died within the originating committee.
PFAS, Other Chemicals Banned in Cosmetics and Menstrual Products
Legislation passed that will ban a number of chemicals from cosmetic and menstrual products, along with juvenile products, textiles and clothing, cookware, and artificial turf. S.25 prohibits a manufacturer from selling, offering for sale, distributing for sale, or distributing for use in this State any cosmetic or menstrual product containing certain chemicals or chemical classes, including PFAS. It prohibits a manufacturer from knowingly selling, offering for sale, distributing for sale, or distributing for use in this State any cosmetic or menstrual product containing dioxane at or exceeding 10 ppm and authorizes the Department of Health to adopt rules prohibiting a manufacturer from selling, offering for sale, distributing for sale, or distributing for use in this State any cosmetic or menstrual product containing intentionally added formaldehyde-releasing agents. The bill also recodifies in Title 9, with some modifications, statutes pertaining to chemicals of concern in food packaging.
Vermont employers will be required to disclose compensation or a compensation range in job advertisements, as set forth in Act 155 (H.704). This act requires most written job advertisements to include certain information regarding the type and range of monetary compensation that an employer expects to offer. It does allow employers some leeway to hire employees within or outside the advertised compensation ranges based on qualifications or market conditions.
The Attorney General’s Office must publish guidance for employers and employees regarding these provisions by January 1, 2025, and is expected to conduct outreach and education in coordination with stakeholders prior to the July 1, 2025 effective date.
Expanding Employment Protections and Collective Bargaining Rights
Act 117, S.102, prohibits employers from penalizing or threatening an employee for not attending meetings that are religious or political in matter, and will provide employees the ability to form a union without a secret ballot election if a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit sign a petition in support of forming the union.
The legislation also creates a committee to study the labor and employment laws that apply to Vermont agricultural workers, to develop a proposal for legislation to permit Vermont agricultural workers to collectively bargain, and to identify additional potential changes to labor and employment laws in relation to agricultural workers.
A similar bill that was passed in CT is currently being litigated in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Regardless of potential litigation warnings from the Solicitor General, the committee proceeded.
Expansion of the Bottle Bill
H.158, the bill that would expand the scope of the bottle bill and create a Producer Responsibility Organization that would be responsible for managing the redemption system and increasing the rate of redemption in Vermont died again this session after the Governor issued a veto at the end of the 2023 legislative session.
Bill to Make Big Oil Pay Passes
As reported by VPA Lobbyist Matt Cota, lawmakers passed first-of-its-kind legislation to add up the cost of climate change on Vermont's infrastructure and ask large oil production and refining companies to foot the bill. The legislation (S.259) spends $600,000 to tally up the damage and determine who should pay hundreds of millions into a “Vermont Climate Superfund.” The Governor allowed this legislation to become law without his signature. It will almost certainly result in a legal challenge.
Miscellaneous Amendments to the Laws Governing Alcoholic Beverages and the Board of Liquor and Lottery
Retailers over the next two years will have the ability to obtain a special venue serving permit to serve beverages at special events. An employee will be required to participate in a 1 hour training, but the business will not be required to hire bartenders or caterers to serve beverages.
Act 156 of 2024, also delays the requirement for establishments that are licensed to serve alcohol for on-premises consumption to obtain liability insurance from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2026, requires the Department of Liquor and Lottery to report on two matters, including:
- before December 15, 2024 on the creation of a license to allow a parent company of two or more licensed manufacturers or retailers to provide unified payroll and administrative services for the licensees, including an appropriate fee for the license; and
- on or before January 15, 2025, regarding the placement of beverage alcohol products in licensed retail establishments.
Banning Flavored Tobacco and E-Liquids
After the April 2024 veto of S.18 by Governor Scott, the Senate chose to decline an attempt to override and referred the bill back to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee where it remained for the session. While preliminary support was garnered in the House and Senate, the work VRGA did to identify the true financial impact to the State - at least $25 million - the reality of rising property tax rates and the fiscal impact to retailers and communities set in. VRGA expects the proposal will be considered again in 2025.
