A lot has happened in the legislature
in the two weeks since I wrote my last article on the budget. I took
time out from writing to celebrate Easter with my family and friends.
Work in Montpelier continued, however, and we passed two major bills
dealing with Education and Water Quality, and my committee on Natural
Resources & Energy began taking testimony on the siting of
electrical energy generation facilities. Any one of these topics
would take up an entire article, so let me give you an insight this
week on the consideration of the water quality bill by the House.
Recognizing that Lake Champlain and
Vermont's other bodies of water are extremely important to our
state's economy, the House took a giant step with the water quality
bill (H.35) in an effort to reduce the amount of phosphorous and
other pollutants entering these waters. It engages all land use
sectors - including roads, highways, agricultural operations,
developed land in urban areas, waste water treatment plants, and
forest lands - to implement the Lake Champlain Total Maximum Daily
Load (TMDL) limits and the impending TMDL for other waters using cost
effective strategies. There was not much disagreement on what needs
to be done to accomplish this gargantuan task, one that will take
years to accomplish. Having heard from pretty much everyone who has
an interest in the problem, the Fish Wildlife & Water Resources
Committee introduced the bill with the theme “All In”. The
disagreements surfaced, however, with how the effort was going to be
paid for.
Approximately $8M has to be raised for
the effort. This would be done primarily through fees on agriculture
operations and through a surcharge on the property transfer tax. A 2
cent surcharge on gasoline was also proposed but did not make the
final cut. Small farms, defined as a parcel of land on which 10 or
more acres are used for farming and that houses a specified number of
animals (e.g., fewer than 200 mature dairy cows) or produces crops
for sale, will be assessed $250 - $500 annually. Medium sized farms
(200 - 700 mature dairy cows) will be assessed $1500 and large farms
(more than 700 mature dairy cows) $2500 annually. Fees will also be
assessed on feed and fertilizer. These fees will go into an
Agricultural Water Quality Special Fund to assist farmers to comply
with Accepted Agricultural Practices set by the Agency of
Agriculture and for enforcement.
A 0.2% surcharge will be placed on the
value of property subject to the property transfer tax. The surcharge
is not assessed on the first $100,000 in value of property used as a
principal residence, and is not assessed on the first $110,000 in
value of property purchased with VHFA funds. The surcharge will be
deposited in the Clean Water Fund and will sunset in 2021.
Because of the broad implications of
the bill, which spanned 100 pages in the House Calendar, four
committees were involved with its development: Fish Wildlife &
Water, Agriculture & Forest Products, Ways & Means, and
Appropriations. Of the 40 committee members voting to move the bill
for consideration by the full house, only 3 voted against doing so.
During the floor debate, a motion was made to vote on the non-funding
sections of the bill first and then on the funding sections. The
non-funding sections were passed 142 – 0. As Rep. David Deen,
Chair of Fish Wildlife & Water, said, “We've done the easy
part.” An amendment was offered on the remaining sections to
remove the fees and transfer the required amount from the General
Fund, which would have thrown the budget that was passed the week
before out of whack. That amendment was defeated 100 – 40, and the
remaining sections were adopted on a vote of 125 – 16. The final
vote to pass the bill the following day was 133 – 11 indicating
broad tri-partisan support for the bill. You can find more about the
provisions of this bill in the guest posting by Representatives Bob Krebs and Sarah Buxton below.
I continue to welcome your feedback on
this and other issues. I can be reached by
phone (802-233-5238) or by email (myantachka.dfa@gmail.com).
