2024 priorities for organizing, education, advocacy & action: an overview of some of the issue areas we  work on & support. Learn more at ruralvermont.org, follow us on social media, & subscribe to our emails. 

Federal On-Farm Slaughter Amendment: With national partner organizations, we’ll continue working to  protect States from arbitrary and capricious decisions by USDA officials in relation to “equal to” status of  meat inspection programs and to clarify the personal-use exemption language to explicitly allow livestock owners to slaughter their animals on the farm they were raised or to hire an itinerant slaughterer. The  Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets supports more clarity on this issue.  

Neonicotinoid Pesticides: As members of the “Protect our Pollinators” coalition, we are working towards  legislation which will further reduce & restrict the use of neonicotinoids in the environment, including  phasing out neonicotinoid treated seeds in VT, while advocating for supporting farmers in transition.  

Cannabis: We’ll continue our work with the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition for an agriculturally accessible, economically equitable, & racially just market. Some goals include: addressing barriers related to agricultural  status, supporting individual producers with challenges navigating regulations, investment in communities  disproportionately harmed by criminalization, and ensuring direct market access for producers & the public. 

Healthcare: In collaboration with grassroots & other healthcare advocates, we’ll continue to offer  farm(work)er specific training opportunities around healthcare access, amplify agrarian voices in healthcare,  & work in coalition with healthcare advocates towards publicly funded universal access to healthcare for all.  

Market Development & Rules for Composting Food Residuals On Farms: With the Protect Our Soils  Coalition, we are working to secure markets for on-farm and community scale composting of food  residuals by advocating for regulating PFOS/PFAS in agriculture and depackaging technology, and  strengthen-ing the source separation requirement and the hierarchy for organics management. As part  of the Food Cycle Coalition, we’re working on a Required Agricultural Practices rule revision to include  specifics about composting food scraps on farms - the release is coming in 2024.  

Land, Capital, and Housing: Long term secure access to land, capital, and housing are some of the most  pressing issues faced in the agricultural community. The Biodiversity Bill (Act 59) will roll out a public  engagement process in 2024 to shape a Conservation Plan that includes visions and policy recommendations  for keeping working lands open. Simultaneously, the Home Act charges all local planning commissions to set  goals for housing development. We are working nationally and locally to ensure that U.S. farmland stays in  the farmers’ hands. We will continue to monitor & communicate the work of groups such as the Land Access  and Opportunity Board & Milk with Dignity which focus on housing, land, & equitable access & distribution. 

Agricultural Program Development and Opposing Carbon Market Development: We’re uplifting farmer led needs to improve existing programs’ visibility, access, scope, funding and project turnaround. 

La Via Campesina supported Agroecology and Movement Building School: We are part of a collective  effort to build an agroecology & movement building school in Vermont in collaboration with local, national  and international partners. This emerging and itinerant effort highlights farmer to farmer training models,  popular & political education, and seeks to uplift the many farmers & farmworkers already leading this work.  

Workshop Series: We’ll continue food sovereignty workshops, partnering with farmers & other members of  the agricultural community to teach cooking of farmed, foraged, and wild foods; slaughter & processing of poultry, rabbits and livestock; growing & processing cannabis; & food scrap composting (new!).  

Solidarity: Food sovereignty & food justice are grounded in human rights, territorial rights, the right to food & culturally appropriate food, freedom from oppression, dignified lives & livelihoods, & solidarity.  We stand in solidarity with communities locally and around the world seeking self determination and essential rights, & work to influence policy towards anti-imperialism, food sovereignty, and a just peace.  

Quarterly Member Forums & Ongoing Grassroots Engagement: Member forums discuss particular issues  affecting farms or communities, and what we are currently working on. Additional feedback sought from  members and allies on an ongoing basis through 1:1 meetings, community conversations, surveys, & more.  

Small Farm Action Days: We’ll continue to co-host events at the Statehouse throughout the legislative  session for activists to become familiar with the Statehouse & legislative process, take action on active  issues, meet with representatives, or testify about issues impacting them.  

Amicus in Land Use Cases: It can be helpful in land use disputes for courts to hear from advocacy groups  and others about the laws and policies affected. Rural Vermont was denied the right to file an “Amicus brief”  in early 2023 during a member’s Accessory On-Farm Business case regarding an Act 250 permit. In 2024, we’re spearheading legislation to clarify the ability to file amicus briefs in land use cases in law.  

Monitoring/Researching/Nascent Issues: We’ll continue watchdogging at the Statehouse for issues that  are relevant to our community. We are further exploring: the sale of uninspected parted poultry, revising “cottage” food production laws, protecting the farming community from potentially harmful ordinances,  equitable taxation, scale appropriate regulations for meat processing licensure, & more. 

Farm To Plate: We’ll continue our seat on the Farm to Plate Steering Committee & participation in a number  of groups within its new organizational structure, including: the Policy Priority Strategy Team (co-creating a  “policy roadmap”), Meat Slaughter & Processing Priority Strategy Team, the Food Cycle Coalition, & more. 

Rural VT has worked alongside many other organizations for a number of years to reduce and limit the use and impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides (“neonics”) - while supporting producers who are currently using these seeds and products in transition.  

In 2019 we worked with a coalition of organizations (the VT Pesticide Coalition) on H.205 (Act 35) to make neonic products (other than treated seeds) “restricted use” - meaning they were effectively taken off store shelves, and only could be applied by a licensed applicator.  In 2020, this coalition planned on working on legislation addressing treated seeds - however the advent of the Covid 19 pandemic brought other priorities forth.  

In 2021, we again worked alongside others to bring more accountability to the Vermont Pesticide Advisory Council (the body functionally recommending how to regulate pesticides in VT at the time).  The legislature instead created a new entity in H.434 to replace VPAC - the Agricultural Innovation Board, whose duties go beyond VPAC’s to include plastics and other toxics - and we worked to address the make-up of the board and its charges.  

In 2022, we again advocated in relationship to a bill (H.626 or Act 145) we did not know had been drafted which originally sought to transition away from the prophylactic use of neonic treated seed over a few years; however, it was rewritten in committee to task the Agricultural Innovation Board with a number of tasks and legislative reports, including: requiring the Agency of Agriculture, in consultation with the AIB, to adopt by rule BMPs for the use of neonicotinoid treated seeds;  requiring the Sec. of Agriculture to, “work with farmers, seed companies, and other relevant parties to ensure that farmers have access to appropriate varieties and amounts of untreated seed or treated seed that are not neonicotinoid treated article seeds”; a new program of monitoring managed pollinator health and developing benchmarks associated with it;  requiring the Agency and AIB submit their proposed rules to the Agriculture Committees and General Assembly in 2024, and in the case of BMPs for all treated article seed (as opposed to neonics alone) to the Ag Committees by February 15, 2023; among other things. 

Now, in 2023, we are a member of the “Protect our Pollinators” coalition which is working towards legislation which will further reduce and restrict the use of neonicotinoids in the environment, including phasing out the use of neonicotinoid treated seeds in VT, while advocating for the support needed for farmers to transition.  Currently, an overwhelming majority of corn seed (by some estimates, app. 99%) used in Vermont is treated with neonicotinoid pesticides and used prophylactically by farmers - but research shows that they rarely (in app. 10% of cases) provide an economic or agronomic benefit for farmers, namely during times with high pest pressure.  They also have significant detrimental impacts to insects, birds, and mammals - and can persist in the environment for years.  We have for many years now seen precedent for this type of policy set in places like the European Union, Ontario, and Quebec, and in 2022 the state of New York passed a bill that is awaiting the Governor’s signature.  

Please visit the coalition website to sign our petition calling for phase out of neonicotinoid treated seeds and a just transition for farmers!  We’ll keep you up to date on the campaign as it develops!

Securing decentralized waste streams of strictly source separated organics of food residuals is a central goal of the Protect Our Soils Coalition (POSC). Through submitting public comments as a coalition on the draft permit renewal for the depackaging facility in Williston Vermont, Rural Vermont advocates for depack to only be used for heavily packaged materials that have not been source separated. Valuable clean organic resources should instead be managed in agricultural use or in available and existing community composting systems!

Read POSC comments here.

See draft permit here.

On July 19, 2023, the CCB passed an amendment to Rule 2.2.4 banning the sale of refrigerated and frozen cannabis products as well as any cannabis products containing meat and dairy.   At the time, the CCB named administrative shortcomings (staffing shortages) as the driver behind the rule revision. Due to the CCB’s inability to adapt to limited agency capacity, Rural Vermont and allies asked for public comment to be submitted asking the CCB to follow through with the legislative intent of Act 65 (to increase the competitiveness and marketability of value-added cannabis products). We also asked Governor Scott and his administration to encourage cooperation and collaboration between the CCB, Department of Health, and the Agency of Agriculture and to instruct these agencies to fulfill their responsibilities in conducting food safety inspections of cannabis products and enforcing regulatory compliance. 

The proposed rule change was adopted at the 7/19 board meeting ( view the 7/19 meeting) . The CCB, at this time, notes that, in the future, this issue will likely be revisited. Currently, they do not have the staff or capacity to monitor, enforce, or regulate these products, and at this time, staffing, cooperation and collaboration between the CCB, Dept. of Health, and the Agency of Ag is lacking. 

Given the significant tax revenue generated by this sector of Vermont’s economy, we feel confident that the funding and oversight needed for an effective regulatory apparatus will evolve. On behalf of Vermont’s cannabis cultivators, retailers, processors, and manufacturers, we look forward to continuing our advocacy in 2024 - encouraging the work outlined in Act 65 to be done well and effectively.  We will continue to let the vision of an equitable, viable, and robust Vermont cannabis marketplace that benefits all Vermonters guide our work. 

The accepted changes read:

2.2.4 Health, Safety, and Sanitation

Cannabis establishments shall:

(f) not produce any product that contains any meat or meat products;

(g) not produce any dairy product as defined in 6 V.S.A.§ 2672;

(h) not produce any product that requires time and temperature control for safety

After months of promoting our On-Farm Slaughter campaign in D.C. neither the Vermont delegation nor other members of Congress are willing to spearhead the needed clarification in the Federal Meat Inspection Act that on-farm slaughter is legal at the moment. Our coalition recognizes that the issue is new to many, even to those who are invested in advancing meat processing issues. Together we now approach the campaign with what’s a common ground goal of many - to better protect state meat inspection programs from arbitrary USDA actions. 

Learn more about the background of this campaign here

Read the new factsheet here

Contact caroline@ruralvermont.org with your questions and comments

This final update (after the one-day veto override session on June 20th of the 2023 legislative session) aims to go beyond status updates on the Governor's vetoes but summarizes key takeaways from all bills passed by the General Assembly that we flag as relevant to agrarian communities. For the first time ever, we are also providing an audio recording of the whole thing so that you can listen in while tending to other stuff on and off the farm as well.

We celebrate important gains alongside the Cannabis Equity Coalition for the agricultural status of outdoor producers, for the establishment of cannabis nurseries, the ability for producers to resale products they had manufactured and more. We welcome any feedback about the writeup and recording and will do our best to answer any legislative questions you might have - feel free to reach out to caroline@ruralvermont.org.

Read on or tune in to learn all about the 2023 changes that become Vermont law and are relevant for many farming families' work and lives.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

H. 270 (now Act 65) - Miscellaneous Cannabis Bill

H. 494 - The Budget

H. 472 (now Act 73) - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

S. 115 (now Act 42) - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

S. 5 (now Act 18) - An act relating to affordably meeting the mandated greenhouse gas reductions for the thermal sector through efficiency, weatherization measures, electrification, and decarbonization

H. 126 (now Act 59) - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

S. 100 (Act 47) Development bill, so-called Home Act

H. 217 - Childcare

S. 135 (now Act 35)- VT Saves Establishes Mandatory Retirement Plans for Businesses w. 5+ Employees

H. 165 (now Act 64) - Universal School Meals

H. 270 (now Act 65) - Miscellaneous Cannabis Bill

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.270

Final Status: The Governor allowed H. 270 to become law without his signature (Governor’s letter).

Key Takeaways: The Governor reasoned not signing H. 270 into law with a critique of the Cannabis Control Boards (CCB) authority: “As an independent entity, the CCB regulates a multi-million-dollar industry with no oversight. Again, while I have complete confidence in the current CCB, this lack of oversight creates the risk for future mismanagement, conflicts of interest and other harmful impacts.”

This law provides important achievements from our coalition's original priorities (Cannabis Equity Coalition priorities). 

• It includes numerous aspects of agricultural status to outdoor producers as perhaps its most significant and consequential outcome. Specifically, treating all outdoor cannabis growing operations as agriculture would prohibit local ordinances from regulating them as public nuisances or through local zoning different from other agriculture. 

• It allows cannabis producers to take back into their possession for resale products which they contracted manufacturers to produce from their plants.

• It funds its existing social equity program w. $500K (the Cannabis Business Development Fund), and though it makes no direct investments in community members harmed, or communities disproportionately harmed, we did get a study included which will work to develop data by which we can inform the development of a program like this. 

• It includes a new propagation license that allows for the establishment of cannabis nurseries that serve cultivators in Vermont (though it does not allow for direct sales of plants to the public for license holders)

• It increases the number of plants allowed for caregivers and the ability for a caregiver to have 2 patients (among some other very limited improvements to the medical program)

• It raises the income threshold for Tier 1 manufactures from $10k to $50k

H. 494 - the Budget

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/H-0494/H-0494%20As%20Passed%20by%20Both%20House%20and%20Senate%20Unofficial.pdf

Final status: The budget was vetoed May 27 (veto letter here) and has been overridden on June 20 without changes so that all agriculture relevant budget items remain unchanged.
Key Takeaways:

• Protests accompanied the beginning of the veto sessio on the House floor and demanded lawmakers to take action to address the humanitarian crisis of people unsheltered in Vermont and to secure housing for those who just lost their state-sponsored motel housing on June 1st and June 15th and for those just about to be removed from the program on July 1st (VTDigger). Almost 3,000 people, including about 700 children, are affected, making Vermont have one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness in the United States. End Homelessness VT is a group of community volunteers and is currently working to allocate resources to assist people - more info here and on VTDigger here and here.

• The House amended the Senate version of H. 171 in an effort to revoke some of the harm occurring by the rollout of an end to the motel program by the legislature. The change requires the Agency of Human Services to keep the motel program in place until alternate stable settings can be identified between now and April 1, 2024. VTDigger reported that this relevant extension would exclude those already evicted in June and that would include many with an immediate need for medical care (more here).

• Indeed, Sec. 6 of the amendment describes: “Not later than April 1, 2024, the Agency of Human Services, directly or through its community partners, shall assist in finding or offer to each household housed as of June 30, 2023 [emphasis added] in a hotel or motel through the pandemic-era General Assistance Emergency Housing Program an alternative housing placement, unless a household secures its own housing placement.”

• The budget as passed included $50 million for the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to build housing, of which $10 million would be for shelter expansions and homes for those experiencing homelessness. Another $10 million aimed to get grants to landlords to get vacant and derelict units back online through the Vermont Housing Improvement Program

• One time Working Lands Enterprise Grant Program: 1M stayed unchanged despite the request from Governor Scot and VAAFM to increase funding to $4M (see press release here)

• New Ag Development Program: passed with $2.3M appropriation for grants for the meat, maple and produce sectors and grantees in the produce sector will not include hydroponic operations. Secretary Tebbetts and the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets originally requested $10M for this program 

• Land Access and Opportunity Board: $1.2M base funding for the board to continue its work

• Organic Dairy Relief: One-time $6.9M to help carry Vermont’s organic dairies through the year.  Organic farmers who were shipping milk in 2022 will get approx. $5/hundredweight of milk shipped to compensate for nightmarish economic circumstances.

• Conservation Districts: advocacy to increase base funding for Conservation Districts through VAAFM secured additional $250K to now $612K total. The Conservation Districts started to work on a process to re-write their enabling statute, the Soil Health Restoration Act. Get in touch with your local District Manager or Board of Supervisors to engage with your ideas for how to revitalize local governance and support for land managers and habitat restoration through Conservation Districts.

• New! Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program: One-time VAAFM funding reduced from $350K to $150K

• Takeaways: 

• aims to support small farmers to transition and diversify their operation w. easy access grants of up to 15K

• Definition of “small farmer” in this bill refers to any small farm that’s subject to the Required Agricultural Practices

• Grants would be used for (1) farm diversification, (2) transitioning farm type, (3) on-farm processing, or (4) add on-farm accessory businesses.

• Criteria for grant applications for advancing accessory on farm businesses, farm stands or farm stores include 50% of the annual sales from these business venues need to be from farm products 

• Securing meaningful additional funds for agricultural programming is hard - as the reduction of this program to 150K from the desired 500K shows, also with an eye to the underfunded Working Lands program. Rural Vermont and allies stressed early on this session (during Small Farm Action Day in February) for lawmakers to look into addressing shortfalls of existing programs with a goal to improve their accessibility and ability to meet on-the-ground needs. We still believe looking into reforming existing programs to address shortfalls is necessary - as pre-existing shortfalls like competitiveness and oversubscription will reoccur with this new pilot. 

H. 472 (now Act 73) - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.472

Final Status: Signed June 19, 2023

Key Takeaways:

• This bill makes many small technical changes to statutes related to meat processing, bees and apiaries, and agency regulation of nurseries and pests. 

• Most of these changes are semantic or insignificant, but the bill does create a new grant program for agricultural fairs and makes changes to apiary registration rules that will be impactful.

• Changes to the state’s bee and apiary legislation are intended to bring the statute into alignment with existing agency practices and policy

• Change to inspection of bees within 45 days prior to any sale instead of requiring one summertime inspection. 

• The agency already does inspections within the 45 days prior to selling bees to allow for inspections just before the spring sales of bees, instead of in the annual cycle before the distribution of many hives.

• This might require more inspections for those selling bees throughout the season.

• Beekeepers near borders will likely need more import permits for moving apiaries in and out of state (see Section 14 of the bill)

• Bees that are transported out of Vermont for less than 75 miles away for 30 days or less would require an import permit

• There is no import permit required for bees just traveling through Vermont to another destination though that information is now required on the annual report

• Changes to the annual report required by VAAFM include 

• No report on prospective changes to whether the location of an apiary will change in two weeks of report submission 

• New requirement to report bees, colonies and equipment that are just passing through the state

S. 115 (now Act 42) - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/S.115

Final Status: Signed into law Jun 1, 2023

Key Takeaways:

• Unsafe Dairy Products. VAAFM has the authority to quarantine dairy cows that are suspected of producing unsafe milk or other dairy products because they are suspected of having been exposed to biological or chemical agents that may cause adulteration; 

• Requirements for the sale and marketing of eggs. Current rules date back to Act 149 (1973) and are online here; the new rules clarify and tighten enforcement rules and add the explicit prohibition into state law to not advertise or label eggs in a false and misleading manner or to sell, offer for sale, deliver, or donate eggs that are adulterated. Previously, this was subject to the more general Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. VAAFM issues a written warning before determining a violation, especially before issuing a cease and desist order. Those affected have 15 days to request a hearing. Penalties for violations have been increased from max. 1K to max. 5K per penalty. But the law counts every day a violation continues as a new distinct offense, and did so in the past, so that the maximum total dollar amount for penalties was increased from $25K to $50K.

• Stormwater management on farms. This bill prohibits municipalities from assessing stormwater fees on farms on the basis that the state currently handles agricultural stormwater, with a goal to avoid that farms in some towns are being double-penalized. 

• The final version of this law does not include the issuance of a report to further assess impacts of potential stormwater management changes for municipalities. VAAFM staff succeeded to oppose municipalities getting into a farms stormwater management (more on VT Digger 4/25)

S. 5 (now Act 18) - An act relating to affordably meeting the mandated greenhouse gas reductions for the thermal sector through efficiency, weatherization measures, electrification, and decarbonization

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/S.5

Final Status: House and Senate did override the Governor’s veto so that S.5 became law

Key Takeaways:

• Rural Vermont endorsed advocacy led by 350VT, Vermonters for a Clean Environment and other organizations and advocates in demanding that the Affordable Heating Act should have removed clean heat credits for biomass, liquid biofuels and ‘renewable’ natural gas as they are ineffective at reducing GHGs but rather further institutionalize unlimited growth - in a green umbrella  - at the cost of converting forests and agricultural lands to industrial scale fuel production, further threatening biodiversity and clean water.

• Rulemaking and implementation planning will provide opportunities for public engagement. 

H. 126 (now Act 59) - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.126

Final Status: Passed into law without the Governor’s signature on June 12.

Key Takeaways:

• Mandates conservation goals for Vermont in alignment with federal and international “30 by 30” initiatives with a goal to conserve 30% of Vermont by 2030, and 50% by 2050.

• The conservation vision for Vermont is inclusive of working farms and forests and is articulated as follows: “The vision of the State of Vermont is to maintain an ecologically functional landscape that sustains biodiversity, maintains landscape connectivity, supports watershed health, promotes climate resilience, supports working farms and forests, provides opportunities for recreation and appreciation of the natural world, and supports the historic settlement pattern of compact villages surrounded by rural lands and natural areas.”

• Defines “sustainable land management” as “the stewardship and use of forests and forestlands, grasslands, wetlands, riparian areas, and other lands, including the types of agricultural lands that support biodiversity, in a way, and at a rate, that maintains or restores their biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality, and their potential to fulfill, now and in the future, relevant ecological, economic, and social functions at local, State, and regional levels, and that does not degrade ecosystem function.”

• Includes a review of conservation categories and how they apply to agriculture in a to be developed Conservation Plan by VHCB and the Secretary of Natural Resources 

• Agricultural goals include to inform a comprehensive strategy towards conserving agricultural land that would “enhancing the State of Vermont’s current investments and commitments to working lands enterprises, rural landowners, and the broad conservation mission implemented by the Secretary and VHCB, including conservation of agricultural land, working forests, historic properties,  recreational lands, and surface waters.”

• Types of agricultural lands that will qualify as supporting and restoring biodiversity will be determined to count towards the Natural Resource Management Area category. 

• Deadlines:  the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board is developing a review of conservation categories as part of an inventory by July 1, 2024 and is developing a plan to implement the conservation goals by December 31, 2025. The act includes the mandate to conduct 12 or more public meetings on the plan development between July 2023 and December 2025. 

• The inventory should also include an analysis of how existing programs will be used to meet the conservation goals and if new programs will be needed. 

• Part of the conservation goals is also to prioritize ecological reserve areas to protect priority natural communities and maintain or restore old forests. 

• Includes an appropriation of $150K for the development of the related statewide conservation plan. The conservation plan development is led by the Secretary of Natural Resources; involvement of the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets is not a formal part of the legislation.

S. 100 (Act 47) Development bill, so-called Home Act 

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/ACTS/ACT047/ACT047%20As%20Enacted.pdf

Final Status: signed into law June 5, 2023

Key Takeaways: this bill modernizes zoning and land use regulation in Act 250  to allow for higher density development like the new construction of duplexes or the rehabilitation of housing units to address the housing crisis with a prioritization of the development of areas that already have sewer and water services. Changes include:

• Statewide Housing Needs Assessment - Regional planning commissions will inform the Department of Housing and Community Developments estimates on housing needs with  a goal to establish statewide and regional housing targets. Their plans should use data on year-round and seasonal dwellings and include specific actions to address the housing needs of persons with low income and persons with moderate income.

• Rural Vermont recommends planning commissions to understand the Home Act in concert with the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act that expresses support for “the historic settlement pattern of compact villages surrounded by rural lands and natural areas” as part of the conservation vision for Vermont that also expressly envisions support for working lands businesses. Given the impairments that the housing crisis, development of price inflation, and lack of economic viability in agriculture impose on land access for farmers and farmworkers these pieces of legislation should inspire to seek policies that would facilitate land access as part of this development and conservation agenda. We are going to stress this position as part of the Farm to Plate Land Access and Land Use Topic Exchange, in public engagement processes and in dialogue with stakeholders.

• Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming efforts of the “Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies that shall consider new methods of public engagement that promote equity and expand opportunity for meaningful participation by impacted communities in the decisions affecting their physical and social environment.” With that public participation they will craft a report on statutory recommendations by December 15, 2023 (see Section 15).

• A new prohibited effect of municipal rules might benefit farms who want to develop accessory dwelling units: “criteria for conversion of an existing detached nonresidential building to habitable space for an accessory dwelling unit shall not be more restrictive than the criteria used for a single-family dwelling without an accessory dwelling unit.” (p.2)

• New definition of “accessory dwelling unit”: means a distinct unit that is clearly subordinate to a single-family dwelling and has facilities and provisions for independent living, including sleeping, food preparation, and sanitation, provided there is compliance with all the following:

(A) the property has sufficient wastewater capacity; and

(B) the unit does not exceed 30 percent of the total habitable floor area of the single-family dwelling or 900 square feet, whichever is greater.

• Review of potable water and wastewater connection permitting with a goal to identify approaches to reduce administrative burdens and costs, simplify and expedite permitting processes for permit applicants and municipalities (more in Section 25). Recommendations will be presented to the legislature in January 2025.

• Includes the new middle-income homeownership development program that aims to provide subsidies for new construction or acquisition and substantial rehabilitation of affordable owner-occupied housing for purchase by income-eligible homebuyers.

• Allows duplexes for year-round residential housing with changes to the definition of “development” and other tweaks to Act 250

• One parking lot required per residential dwelling unit

• Efforts to increase compliance with energy codes

• Without any specifics or deliverables the act includes an expressed intent of the legislature towards the Department of Housing and Community Development to use some of their close to $24M in grant funds to expand home-sharing opportunities (Section 31); $1M is appropriated for their first generation homebuyer program outlined in Section 34. 

H. 217 - Childcare

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/H-0217/H-0217%20As%20Passed%20by%20Both%20House%20and%20Senate%20Unofficial.pdf

Final Status:  Governor Scot did veto H. 217 6/6/2023 (VTDigger) and, as anticipated, the legislature voted to override the veto 6/20. 

Key Takeaways:

• H. 217 provides critical financial support for VT families and childcare providers

• Legislators who voted against H.217 criticized the establishment of a new payroll tax that would add burdens for all Vermonters, regardless of their income status. In response those in support pointed out that for less than $1/week any family would gain access to otherwise unaffordable childcare. 

• H. 217 increases the bar for co-payments to $52,500 for a family of four to be eligible to receive a full subsidy from the state. It also upgrades the partial subsidies to families who earn up to 575% of the federal poverty level or $172,000 for a family of four (VT Digger).

• Aims to increase access and quality of child care services

• Creates a study committee to undertake a stakeholder engagement process and to make recommendations on how to expand prekindergarten education

• Aims to increase funds and simplify applications to Child Care Financial Assistance Programs 

• Establishes subsidies for children otherwise not eligible due to citizenship status as part of the Child Care Financial Assistance program 

S. 135 (now Act 35)- VT Saves Establishes Mandatory Retirement Plans for Businesses w. 5+ Employees

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/S-0135/S-0135%20As%20Passed%20by%20Both%20House%20and%20Senate%20Unofficial.pdf

Final Status: VT Saves was signed into law on Jun 1, 2023.

Key Takeaways: This new law encourages Vermonters to save for retirement. Employers who don’t sponsor their own retirement savings plans for their employees will be required to set up an individual retirement account with the VT State Treasurer for every employee over 18 years of age when they have at least five employees. Employees have the option to opt out of the program. We’re at the beginning of learning how this is going to work for farms and agricultural businesses - feel free to reach out with your questions to caroline@ruralvermont.org and we’re doing our best to help you access the resources and support you need. 

H. 165 (now Act 64) - Universal School Meals

LINK: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.165

Final Status: H. 165 became law without the Governor's signature (Governor’s letter; VTDigger) 

Key Takeaways:

• Creates a permanent statewide free meals program in perpetuity that will provide free breakfast and lunch to students that qualify

• In anticipation of a possible veto override, the Governor allowed H. 165 to pass into law without his signature. In his letter, Governor Scott critiqued universal free school meals regardless of a family’s income, noting that the program will fund free meals for even wealthy students: “With H.165, the Legislature has added $20-30 million in property tax pressure to pay for school meals for all students, including those from affluent families. This will be paid for by all Vermonters, including those with low incomes. That's not progressive education funding policy, it's regressive policy that hurts the very families we are trying to help. [...] And I ask the Legislature to rethink this sincere but regressive policy in the future, so working Vermonters are not paying for the meals of families who could better afford it.”

• In difference, our reading of H. 165 clearly ties eligibility of students for free meals to those meeting standards for assistance under the National School Lunch Act or Child Nutrition Act (see p. 5)

• The National School Lunch Act defines children eligible for free lunch and breakfast when they are a member of a household receiving SNAP or medicaid; are part of a family that does not exceed 133 percent of the poverty line; are a migratory child as defined in law; are a foster child or homeless (p. 28, 29); 

• Independent schools are encouraged to opt into the program as well 

• Appropriation: $29M from the Education Fund to the Agency of Education for fiscal year 2024

• In the previous years of 2020 and 2021 the program was paid for by federal pandemic aid funds; in 2022 VT then funded the free meal program from surpluses in the education fund.

Shelter is a fundamental need for everyone in our community.  As an organization, Rural Vermont believes that communities and governments have the ability, and responsibility, to ensure that our neighbors’ basic needs are met.  Nearly 3,000 people in Vermont, including 500 to 600 children, are in the process of losing their housing right now as the “motel voucher program” ends.  Housing advocates have lobbied and organized throughout the legislative session for adequate funding in the State budget to address these essential needs, but the legislature did not do so and passed a budget creating what housing advocate Brenda Siegel described as a predictable and preventable “humanitarian crisis”.

There is still time for our representatives to act, and there are opportunities for you to get involved supporting people on the ground right now.  

The Governor has vetoed the budget, sending it back to the legislature.  This gives legislators an opportunity to revise the budget and provide the support needed for these members of our communities.  Despite strong opposition from leadership in the House and Senate, there are a number of courageous lawmakers who voted against the budget originally because of the lack of an adequate appropriation to continue to house the people reliant on this program - and many of them have suggested their willingness to vote to sustain the Governor’s veto if the budget is not amended or another solution to keeping all Vermonters sheltered is not made.  These legislators who are willing to stand up to leadership, and stand for meeting people’s essential needs, need your support.  They need to hear from you that their commitment to this is valued, is important, and is worth more than the potential loss of status in the Statehouse that may come from refusing to acquiesce to leadership.  And the rest of the legislature and the administration needs to hear from you:  that a lack of willingness to invest in the basic needs of people is not acceptable, that all people experiencing homelessness are vulnerable, that we must support people newly entering homelessness, and that we cannot exclude anyone who meets Vermont’s definition of disability or restrict our programs and support to only meet the needs of particular categories of people.  Having a safe and secure place to live does not need to be a privilege, and with the percentage of VT’s homeless population increasing - we need to not only take immediate action, but we need to develop a long term plan for meeting the housing needs of the people who live here.

For specific recommendations on how to take action with policymakers (who to contact, thoughts on messaging, etc.) - see this page from End Homelessness Vermont.  

People also need on-the-ground support right now.  We’ve done our best to compile here resources, opportunities, and information for people who want to get involved in supporting these needs:

1. According to housing advocates, there has been some confusion or misrepresentation related to who remains eligible for motel housing through June 30th.  If you are in one of these categories, you continue to be eligible for motel housing through the 30th of June:  

• SSI/SSDI

• Pregnant

• A Victim of Domestic Violence (without hoop jumping)

• People who have children living with them 

• People under 18 and over 60. 

2. End Homelessness VT is creating a statewide resource guide.  If you are providing, or would like to provide, services to people in this community, and would like to be listed in this guide, please contribute your information here. 

3. End Homelessness VT is also asking people to sign up to volunteer. Please sign up here to volunteer. If you have any land or space for rent, or to offer to displaced individuals, please let End Homelessness VT know here.

VT's bipartisan childcare bill - H.217 - which provides critical financial support for VT families and childcare providers has been vetoed by the Governor.  As we wrote about 3 years ago in this Brief on Childcare which is a part of VT's Strategic Agricultural Plan, the affordability and accessibility of childcare is an issue which has particular impacts on farmers, farmworkers, and other members of our rural communities.  Though we expect the veto to be overridden by the strong bipartisan majority of legislators who support this bill, now is the time for us to contact our representatives to assure the passage of this essential piece of legislation.

Please use this form from Let’s Grow Kids - or reach out to your representatives directly via phone or email - and encourage them to vote to override the Governor's veto later this month.

The new House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry took the lead on introducing legislation for those sectors this session. Committee members introduced or co-sponsored at least seven relevant bills. Granted, their colleagues on the Senate side secured the organic dairy relief that was in limbo in the Senate at first, and developed the language and secured aspects of agricultural status for outdoor cannabis producers. Here is a status update on which bills that we’ve been monitoring, supporting or informing did and did not pass. 

Stay tuned for an in-depth End-of-Session Recap with key takeaways from bills that passed into law!

Bills that We Anticipate Passing into Law

Please note: the status on the legislative website doesn’t suggest that all of these bills have been delivered to the Governor’s desk yet, so the status below is our take on the bills that were passed by the legislature and might have passed into the Governor’s signature by now given the time lapsed since passage. We will update this overview as needed - you can check the Governor’s Office’s website for action on bills here.

• S. 56 - An act relating to child care and early childhood education

• We anticipate it passing into law either without the Governor's signature, or by legislative override of a gubernatorial veto

• More info —> The House and the Senate passed S.56, a bill with a significant investment in Vermont’s childcare - parents, providers, workers - settling on a payroll tax requested by the Senate to substantially fund it, as opposed to a more progressive taxation plan proposed by the House.  The Governor has stated his concerns about this legislation, and whether or not he vetoes it - we anticipate the legislature having the votes to override the veto, and the legislation passing into law.

• H. 270 - Miscellaneous Cannabis Bill

• We anticipate it passing into law with or without the Governor’s signature

• More info —> H.270 includes numerous aspects of agricultural status to outdoor producers as its most significant and consequential achievements.  The legislation continues to fund its existing social equity program one year at a time, and though it makes no direct investments in community members harmed, or communities disproportionately harmed, we did get a study included which will work to develop data by which we can inform the development of a program like this. 

• H. 165 - Universal School Meals

• We anticipate it passing into law either without the Governor’s signature, or by legislative override of a gubernatorial veto

• S. 115 - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

• We anticipate this passing into law without the Governor's signature or veto

• H. 472 - An act relating to miscellaneous agricultural subjects

• We anticipate this passing into law without the Governor's signature or veto

• H. 494 - Highlights from the Budget as passed

• One time Working Lands Enterprise Grant program: 1M stayed unchanged

• New Ag Development Program (Meat/Maple/Produce): passed with 2.3M appropriation for grants for meat, maple processing and produce and grantees should not include hydroponic operations.

• Land Access and Opportunity Board: base funding of 1.2M included

• Organic Dairy Relief: One-time 6.9M 

• New! Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program: One-time VAAFM funding reduced from 350K to 150K

• The path of the budget is harder to discern.  If vetoed by the Governor, the legislature may not be able to override a veto unless it is willing to meet the demands of some lawmakers who are fighting for adequate funding to provide needed housing support to close to 3,000 people, including several hundred children, who will be without shelter once a federally funded motel voucher program ends.

Vetoed Bills

• S. 5 - An act relating to affordably meeting the mandated greenhouse gas reductions for the thermal sector through efficiency, weatherization measures, electrification, and decarbonization

• House and Senate did override the Governor’s veto so that S.5 became law

Outlook and Bills that Didn’t Pass

• H. 66 - Paid Family and Medical Leave Bill

• H. 81 - Right to Repair

• H. 368 - An act relating to supporting new farmers, veteran farmers, and farmers who are disadvantaged

• H. 274 - An act relating to agriculture and nutrition education

• H.128 - Reducing Act 250 barriers for farm and forestry businesses

End-of-Session Action Alerts

There is a strong push from the legislature to end the legislative session this week, and there are a number of bills which we are monitoring, testifying on, submitting language for, and mobilizing around as the session comes to a close.  This is a time when your voice can have a potentially significant influence on the outcomes of these bills, and issues such as childcare, funding for agricultural grants and programs in the budget (e.g. Working Lands Enterprise Fund, Land Access and Opportunity Board, Small Farm Diversification and Resilience, etc.), agricultural access and social equity in cannabis, and more. This is also a time when we are assessing the likelihood of vetoes from the Governor’s Office - and in the case of Universal School Meals, which has just passed the House and Senate and is moving to the Governor’s desk, this is a time to contact his office urging him to support this bill.  In the Vermont legislature, it remains true that the voices of a relatively small number of constituents reaching out are able to at times make a critical difference.

It takes just 3 steps to pass along your voice on any of these bills and issues!

1. Determine the appropriate policy maker to contact by going HERE:

• If it’s your Representatives and Senator(s), dial the Sergeant at Arms office at 802-828-2228, and / or find and directly contact your representative by email or phone (directory available here).

• If it’s the Governor, call his office at 802-828-3333.

2. Leave a message with your name, town, and a short and direct message about the bill and issue which you are speaking to.

3.  Provide information as prompted.

eg.  “I am a constituent of Representative(s) ____________ and Senator(s) ____________ and I would like to leave them the following message: Please pass a ____________ bill this year which (preserves, supports, encourages) _____________. Vermonters are counting on you to pass this bill NOW.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

S. 56 - An Act Relating to Child Care and Early Childhood Education

H. 270 - Miscellaneous Cannabis Bill

H. 165 - Universal School Meals

H. 66 - Paid Leave Bill

H. 205 - Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

H. 126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

H. 81 - Right to Repair

Budget Items

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S.56 - An Act Relating to Child Care and Early Childhood Education

Act now to ensure this important legislation passes!

Update: S.56 is a bill which will make substantial investments in VT's childcare system for providers, workers, and parents - but its passage is hung up in disagreements over how to fund it.  S. 56, was on the Notice Calendar of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, 5/10, (starting at page 3446, and 3499) with a proposed amendment from the House Committee on Human Services and the House Committee on Appropriations. The House will vote Thursday (May 11, 10am) on these proposed amendments and will then vote on whether or not to move the bill back to the Senate to concur to their final version of the bill. The disagreement is over how to fund the additional $120M annual costs of this bill, and the Senate continued their push for financing through an increased payroll tax by adding language to H. 217. The political pressure to adjourn on Friday without additional delay and expenditures is high, so efforts to get S. 56 through this year have been gearing up all week.

Action:  Your voice can literally make a difference on this bill right now.  Tell your representatives that we must pass this bill, and that we must protect the child tax credit of $1,000 per child in disputes over how to fund S.56. This credit is uniquely important to agricultural and rural families who meet their childcare needs in ways adapted to their livelihoods, and in ways which may not meet criteria for other means of financial support. 

H. 270 - Miscellaneous Cannabis Bill

Aspects of Ag Status for Outdoor Cultivators - act for Social Equity!

Update: H.270 has been voted out of the Senate Committee on Finance, after taking testimony from the Vermont Cannabis Equity Coalition (reps from Rural VT and the VT Growers’ Association), and it currently includes the aspects of agricultural status for outdoor cultivators which we have been advocating for. These inclusions will result in significant positive impacts for farmers and outdoor cultivators, and will provide needed clarity for towns and licensees in areas such as municipal regulation and the jurisdiction of Act 250.  In addition, it includes a one-time $500,000 appropriation to the Cannabis Business Development Fund (devoted to supporting Social Equity Licensees) - which falls far short of the base funding from the excise tax which the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition has been pushing for.  Our advocacy for the propagation license to include the sale of immature plants beyond only licensed cultivators and to the general public was not successful - direct sales outside of seed remain entirely centralized to the retail licensees.  A number of medical conditions which the CCB and our coalition requested be added to the registration of eligible conditions were also struck from the original bill.  

Status Update: In response to our coalition’s ask for a portion of the excise tax to fund reinvestment in communities disproportionately impacted by, and individuals impacted by, the criminalization of cannabis - we were asked for data and information clarifying who these communities and individuals are, and what types of impacts and reinvestment may be needed.  We are currently working with Sen. Vihovsky and other members of the Senate to have language included in the bill which would ask for research and a report from the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel which would deliver responses to these questions by January, 2024.

Action:  Contact your representatives now using the 3 steps outlined above and ask them to support H.270 and the proposed amendment calling for a report about how the criminalization of cannabis impacted communities and individuals in VT and how to address repairing these harms.

H. 165 - Universal School Meals

Senate added 29M in funds back into the bill, House concurred - let the Governor know you support this bill!

Update: The legislature approves indefinite Universal School Meals as worked out by the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resilience and Forestry that would provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at Vermont public schools that are meeting standards for assistance under the National School Lunch Act. Independent schools are encouraged to opt into the program as well. Without many changes along the way, the Senate proposed in its final stages to include the appropriation of 29M from the Education Fund for the program explicitly back into the bill directly (it was in the budget). The same amount had been approved in 2022 with Act 151 (JFO Report from Feb 1, 2023). The money from the Education Fund comes from a variety of sources, including from lottery, property tax, sales and use tax, meals and rooms tax, and medicaid reimbursement funds. A large percentage of the total funding will come from property tax payers in a rate that might be adjusted within the mechanisms of the Education fund. Representative Rice referenced a figure that approximately 3 percent property tax increase might be needed to fully fund Universal School Meals. It would pay for the significant increase in students that will become eligible for free and reduced price school meals. The Joint Fiscal Office stated during a hearing with the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resilience and Forestry earlier this week that there’s approximately surplus of 64M dollars currently not allocated already in the Education Fund so that it’s unclear exactly how much the property taxes might increase. In November 2022, 40% of students were eating breakfast and 60% were eating lunch at school - the highest rate of participation ever documented in Vermont - according to Hunger Free Vermont. In addition, federal funding of up to 6M dollars is likely going to expand free after school and summer meal programs. Hunger Free Vermont gave credit to the positive trajectory the development of the state's program is taking and called it “an opportunity to really eliminate child hunger in every county in Vermont.” 

Status: VTDigger reported that the Governor opposes the permanent installment of Universal School Meals and that Phil Scott “remains concerned that the bill would increase property tax pressure, and therefore potentially rents. [...] This approach could disproportionately impact lower income Vermonters in order to essentially provide affluent families support that they do not need.”  The buzz in the State House predicts that he will veto this bill so that the final say will likely be spoken at a veto session. 

More info: see the latest JFO Report on Possible Revenue Sources from February 1, 2023; VT Digger from May 5, 2023

Action: Contact the Governor!

1. Dial the Governor’s office at 802 828-3333

2. Leave a message for Governor Phil Scott urging him to allow the Universal School Meals bill to pass into law.

3.  Provide information as prompted.

eg.  “I am ____________ and I would like to leave Governor Scott  the following message: Please allow Universal School Meals to pass into law and end child hunger in every county in Vermont. Vermonters are counting on you to approve of this bill NOW.”

H. 66 Paid Leave Bill

Legislature aims to postpone the comprehensive paid leave bill

Update: The Vermont General Assembly has decided to postpone the work of passing H. 66, the Paid Leave bill, onto 2024. Senators had expressed concerns about passing a comprehensive paid family leave bill alongside the childcare reforms included in S. 56 in the same year. As you know, bills that have been introduced in the first year of a biennium are still able to be acted on in the second year of a biennium.That means the paid leave bill H. 66 will not need to be reintroduced or to have the whole process started from scratch. 

More info: bill website here; more political background on pending legislation at VTDigger most recently here and previously here; VPR here. VTDigger article about a voluntary paid family and medical leave plan created by the Scott administration here.

H. 205 - Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

Update: The bill that aims to support small producers to transition and diversify their operation got further reduced in its one-time funding for VAAFM to pilot a Small Farm Diversification program from 350K to 150K. 

Status: This bill is still in Senate Appropriations, it has not been voted out of committee and is not on the notice calendar to hit the Senate floor for second and third reading this week. With that, chances diminished to see this new program pass into law this year.

More info: bill website here

H. 126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

Status Update: The 30x30/ 50x50 conservation legislation passed in concurrence with Senate Proposal of Amendment. This bill is also likely going to be vetoed by the Governor like similar legislation did in the previous year. Stay tuned for our End-of-Session recap that’s coming out soon for more details on the latest changes in the final version of the bill.

Action: Contact the Governor!

1. Dial the Governor’s office at 802 828-3333

2. Leave a message for Governor Phil Scott urging him to allow the Universal School Meals bill to pass into law

3.  Provide information as prompted.

eg.  “I am ____________ and I would like to leave Governor Scott  the following message: Please allow the Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection bill to pass into law and advance important conservation goals in Vermont. Vermonters are counting on you to approve of this bill NOW.”

H. 81 - Right to Repair

Status Update: A positive signal is that H. 81 got passed by the House and was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules. This bill will not pass this year but has good chances to pass within the biennium. 

More info: legislative website here

Budget Items

Status Update: A Committee of Conference met since last week to mitigate House and Senate versions of the Big Bill, the FY 2024 Budget of H. 494. Today marks the last chance to voice your concerns before the legislature probably adjourns on Friday about any of the recent changes on relevant budget items (e.g. Working Lands Enterprise Fund, Land Access and Opportunity Board, Small Farm Diversification and Resilience, etc.). All budget items relevant to agriculture have been unchanged or reduced rather than increased as proposed by legislators, the administration or advocates earlier this session. Positive is that the Organic Dairy Relief had been included in the budget. Find instructions on how to send a message to your legislator in the intro at the top. 

The documentation of the Committee of Conference is hard to follow online and we had some issues piecing together all the pieces. Here’s an itemized summary of the latest of what we know (not final):

• One time Working Lands: 1M stayed unchanged

• New Ag Development Program (Meat/Maple/Produce): reduced by Senate to 2,3M vs 5M that passed the House and the 10M proposed by administration

• Land Access and Opportunity Board: Senate added Section E.811 (p. 241 here) that would charge a report to assess for the LAOB to be attached to the VHCB or another entity for administrative purposes in the future. We are unclear about the latest status of the LAOB funding request that previously had been included at base funding of $1.2M.

• Conservation Districts: One-time 1M  got reduced to 250K and moved to be a base funding item

• Organic Dairy Relief: One-time 6.9M included in Senate version

Small Farm Diversification: One-time VAAFM funding reduced from 350K to 150K

This year's legislative session is nearing completion with the second week of May marking the current target to adjourn. In this week's update, we focus on bills that intersect with agriculture that we haven’t written about much before, namely the childcare and paid leave bill. We’re also including a head’s up about more new legislation that got some initial attention prior to the 2024 session. Most importantly, there’s a few updates that come with a last minute action alert. Stay tuned for the full end-of-session update with a comprehensive overview coming up soon!

Intersectional Highlights

S. 56 - Childcare bill

H. 66 - Paid family and medical leave bill - Action Alert!

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Consolidated Plan - Action Alert!

New Initiatives

H.128 - Reducing Act 250 barriers for farm and forestry businesses

Soil Health Restoration Act Rewrite

Updates

Cannabis

H.205 - Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

H.81 - Right to Repair - Action Alert!

H.126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

H.165 - Universal School Meals

Intersectional Highlights

Access to physical and mental health care and child care are directly connected to farm viability and quality of life. Rural Vermont recognizes that our advocacy to advance and the viability and diversity of and on farms intersects with the ability of those working on farms to meet their basic needs. That also includes all the issues around housing so that we use the opportunity here to share info about an open comment period to the Housing and Urban Development plan that guides relevant decision making in that realm. 

S. 56 - Childcare Bill

Update: This bill aims to increase access and quality of child care services. It creates a study committee to undertake a stakeholder engagement process and to make recommendations on how to expand prekindergarten education. It aims to increase funds and simplify applications to Child Care Financial Assistance Programs and also establishes noncitizen assistance as part of the program to provide subsidies for children otherwise not eligible due to citizenship status. Furthermore it would codify a parental leave benefit program for a maximum period of 12 weeks per family during the year following birth or adoption. The 12 weeks worth of benefits may be shared between two parents or used by one parent in full.  

S. 56 passed the Senate and just passed the House Committee on Education 4/26 with some amendments. Next station for this bill is the House Ways and Means Committee.

More info: House Committee on Education amendments draft 2.1 here; bill website here; contact representatives that now work on the bill in House Ways and Means here.

H. 66 - Paid family and Medical Leave Bill - Action Alert!

Update: This legislation promises support for tens of thousands of family caregivers that help their parents, spouses, and other loved ones at home by allowing them to continue to earn their pay as employees while taking time away from work to provide that care. While the final details are still being worked out in committee, the House’s proposal suggested funding through a payroll tax of .55% paid at least in half by employers. This would also affect anyone self-employed. The total benefit amount would depend on the length of the leave and the individual's pay rate. The bill capped the pay at the state weekly average wage of about $1,100. Please do reach out to caroline@ruralvermont.org with your thoughts and comments on this legislation.  

More info: Take Action here; bill website here

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Consolidated Plan - Action Alert!

Update: Not a piece of legislation but an important baseline for various decisions around spendings from the federal CARES Act to increase the supply and quality of affordable housing is the so-called Consolidated Plan. The 5-year strategic plan is being realized through Annual Action Plans that describe one-year goals and programmatic changes. We recognize that farms have various kinds of housing and land access issues and highlight that the plan mentions the need for greater availability of housing units affordable for farm workers as an underserved need and a priority housing goal (see p. 112 & 179 of the plan). Speak up and provide public comment in support of the farm housing repair grant program at UVM and Champlain Housing Trust and for funds to be leveraged to improve housing on farms.

More info: official website here. Take Action! The Annual HUD Action Plan is open for comments by Wednesday, May 3, 2023, email your comments to arthur.hamlin@vermont.gov  

New Initiatives

H.128 - Reducing Act 250 Barriers for Farm and Forestry Businesses

Update: An initiative representatives started to learn about in preview of the 2024 session is H.128, An act relating to removing regulatory barriers for working lands businesses. This bill seeks to amend Act 250 definitions around Accessory on Farm Businesses as well as relating to the development of forestry businesses. The purpose of this initiative from the rural caucus is to allow working lands businesses to grow vs costing them a lot of time and money with Act 250 permitting. This would benefit for example small sawmills that currently aren’t Act 250 exempt like logging businesses. Similarly, farming is Act 250 exempt but accessory on farm businesses are not - this bill seeks to change that. 

More info: bill website  

Soil Health Restoration Act Rewrite

Update: The Conservation Districts keep making strides in modernizing their institution with both, increasing their funding as well as planning to take a deep dive into their enabling legislation in the second half of this biennium. Conservation Districts work with landowners to implement conservation projects in various ways. Currently, the one-time funding of $1M included in the House FY24 Budget would cover core services, specialist training, outreach, compensation for boards of supervisors, equipment and facility upgrades as well as leadership and capacity development. 

Good to know! The current enabling statute allows conservation districts to adopt rules governing the use of lands within their district in the interest of conserving soil, controlling soil and stream bank erosion, and promoting conservation of natural resources and drainage. The antiquated provision hasn’t been acted upon in a long time (ever?) but it theoretically allows for hyper local soil health grassroots policy initiatives to petition their district's board of supervisors. 

More info: Recent letter to Senate Approps here; Read the Soil Conservation Act here; Find your Conservation Districts contact info here

Updates

Cannabis

Update:  We had some very positive amendments to H.270 drafted in the Senate Agriculture Committee over the past 2 weeks.  The Committee, with the support of our coalition and Legislative Council, did our best to craft language which would have outdoor cannabis cultivators and cultivation treated in the same manner as agriculture in VT, including: taxation status, value use appraisal qualification (“current use”), exemption from municipal governance, exemption from Act 250 oversight, and provision of the nuisance protections included in the “Right to Farm” statute.  

These amendments were considered in the Senate Economic Development Committee, and Rural VT and the Green Mtn. Patients’ Alliance were able to provide testimony on these amendments and additional changes we seek, on Wednesday, April 26th (our testimony begins at approximately 1:03 into the recording).  Additional proposed amendments were also heard from the Cannabis Control Board and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

Unfortunately, the Committee was largely unwilling to address our other concerns and proposed amendments, with a couple caveats.  

• Social Equity: They have not included language inclusive of long term funding from the excise tax, or otherwise, for the Cannabis Development Fund (serving Social Equity Licensees) - but have included a one-time appropriation to replenish the fund.  We heard from Brynn Hare (CCB) in her testimony that there was a greater need for funding in this first year than the program could afford to support.  More concerning, there continues to be no money or resources from the regulated cannabis economy going towards reinvestment and repair in communities which have been disproportionately harmed by the criminalization of cannabis.    The only potential silver lining here is that although Vice Chair Clarkson was unwilling to consider our proposal given her understanding of this as a “housekeeping bill”, she insisted that this was important and that it would be addressed next session, in the second half of the biennium.

• Propagation License: The Committee, after hearing opposition from the CCB, was unwilling to support our expansion of the allowance of direct sales of seed to the public, to include the direct sale of immature plants (“starts”) as well.  It was likewise unwilling to consider our recommendations that smaller scales of cultivators be provided this allowance without an additional license.  The CCB’s stance on this is disappointing and their continued efforts to further centralize access for the public to retail licensees under the name of control is in direct opposition to principles and outcomes of market equity and decentralization of power, genetics, and wealth generation.

• Medical: The Committee was not conclusive on its stance in relationship to our medical proposals. We expect to learn more soon - though we are not very hopeful given the significant bias this plant and people who seek to use it medically continue to receive from many policymakers.

• Equitable Consumption:  We were able to provide some education to committee members with respect to the extreme limitations on legal places for people to actually consume cannabis - and how this is largely dependent upon one’s social economic status and ability to own one’s own home or property.  However, the committee deferred taking action this year.

  H.270 will be in Sen. Economic Development throughout this week, and potentially voted out before the end of the week.  There have been some concerns expressed in relationship to the agricultural exemptions, and though it appears they will likely make it out of Senate Economic Development intact, they will face the threat of removal or compromise in the Senate Finance Committee (where the bill heads next) based on some of the concerns expressed by Sen. Ann Cummings, who Chairs Senate Finance, in the Economic Development Committee.  Rural Vermont will be providing testimony in the House Agriculture Committee on H.270 this Friday April 28th by invitation, and our coalition has also submitted our names for testimony once the bill reaches the Senate Finance Committee.  Depending on the level of disagreement in committee about the bill, it may or may not continue on to other committees - such as Sen. Government Operations.

• More Info: This continues to be an important time to reach out to the your representatives about this issue, and about this bill.  You can also direct your attention to members of the Senate Finance Committee, and the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.

H.205 - Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

Update: This bill aims to support small producers to transition and diversify their operation. The test-run for this new program was equipped with a lowered appropriation in one-time funds of $350K by the House which would allow approx. 22 farms to access the grants capped at 15K.  While the goal of the legislation is to offer aid to small farms with low bureaucratic entry barriers, competitiveness and oversubscription will remain issues in accessing these funds. 

The Senate Committee on Agriculture rewrote the bill that is currently waiting for consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The unanimous vote in favor of draft 5.1 from 4/13 suggests to couch the new program within the supervision of the Working Lands Enterprise Board instead of within the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. The Senate Committee on Agriculture also added more specific criteria to grant applications for advancing accessory on farm businesses, farm stands or farm stores - 50% of the annual sales from these business venues need to be from farm products. Presumably, such requirements add entry barriers to develop such venues though adding bureaucratic burdens that would need to be provided in some form of record for related applications. Furthermore the new draft simplifies the definition of “small farmer” to refer to any small farm that’s subject to the Required Agricultural Practices. 

More info: Draft 5.1 from 4/13; VT Digger Article 4/23

H.81 - Right to Repair - Action Alert!

Update: Right to Repair has moved from House Agriculture to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development where it is being discussed several times this week with a possible vote on the agenda for Friday before noon (right after the floor session of the morning). Would your farm benefit from easier access to the tools needed for equipment owners and repair shops to fix their agricultural equipment? Let the committee know that you are in favor of moving this bill forward!

More info: committee agenda and youtube link here; contact info of committee members here

H.126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

Update: The Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy favored an amendment to the bill that, among other things, would specify further what the House included in the bill in terms of reviewing the conservation categories and how they apply to agriculture. Specifically, types of agricultural lands that will qualify as supporting and restoring biodiversity should count towards the natural resource management area category. They also included an appropriation of $150K for the development of the related statewide conservation plan. The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

More info: SNR draft here

H.165 - Universal School Meals

Update: the bill has been moved to Senate Appropriations over a week ago where it's been stuck in the pipeline for consideration. Stay tuned on the committee website for next week's agenda when this should be up.

More info: committee website here

After crossover, the agency of agriculture (VAAFM) makes promising attempts to double budget appropriations of the House to the full $14M as proposed by the Governor. The House Ag committee moved the Right to Repair bill to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development with a chance to still pass this biennium - if not this session. The House also started to discuss new initiatives proposed by members of the ag committee, including H.274 related to ag and nutrition education and H. 368 related to supporting new, veteran and disadvantaged farmers. On the Senate side we’re excited to see potential progress on cannabis related to treating outdoor cultivation in the same manner as agriculture, and integrating Social Equity programs and funding. All the details and more below.

New Initiatives

Young farmers on the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry (HAG) are showing initiative and keep introducing bills that address issues in agriculture that they want to work on - education and more specific support for farmers that are disadvantaged, veterans or new. As we explained in our crossover update - the VT legislature meets in biennial sessions, meaning for sessions over two subsequent years so that bills introduced in year one can still move and pass in year two.

Table of Contents

H. 274 - An Act Relating to Agriculture and Nutrition Education

H. 368 - An Act Relating to Supporting New Farmers, Veteran Farmers, and Farmers who are Disadvantaged

Right to Farm

H.81 - Right to Repair

Cannabis

Organic Dairy Relief

H.205 - The Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

H.126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection, 30x30/ 50x50 bill

Miscellaneous Agriculture Bills

H.165 - Universal School Meals

PFAS and Composting Food Scraps on Farms News

Budget Updates

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H.274 - An Act Relating to Agriculture and Nutrition Education

Update: Introduced by lead sponsor Rep. Henry Pearl March 23rd to HAG. This bill aims to develop a statewide agriculture and nutrition education curriculum as well as to include the topics in education quality standards. Technically, H. 274 got introduced by being read for the first time on 2/16, but the HAG committee didn’t take this bill “off the wall” until the lead sponsor had a chance to introduce it 3/23 - which was after the crossover deadline on 3/17. After crossover, the committee picked up the bill and started to hear testimonials. Agency of Education staff questioned adding an additional layer of complexity to the system - especially without the appropriation needed. Similarly, the Vermont Curriculum Leaders Association (VCLA) was thanking the legislators for seeing this issue while also asking how it would be possible to add to the already overwhelmed system around curricula. Legislators asked for ways to include this type of education more in the system without adding stress or even disruption and VCLA staff suggested that real life experience through field trips, internships, partnerships, supplemental curricula, other opportunities for student engagement and more support for that would be an option. Interestingly, the committee learned that the bill would fall in line with Act 77 (2013) goals to personalize learning and could help to facilitate that.

More info: follow the bill status here; view testimony from VT FEED 4/6 here; testimony Woodstock Union HS/MS here; mtg w. Legislative council 3/30 here; hearing with Agency of Education here; bill introduction here; 4/5 VT Curriculum Leaders Association here

H. 368 - An Act Relating to Supporting New Farmers, Veteran Farmers, and Farmers who are Disadvantaged

Update: This bill seeks to address the increasingly dramatic amount of farmland that is up for sale and transition as farmers get older. In order to promote continued agricultural use of that land, Heather Suprenant and the rest of the House Ag Committee are looking for ways to support and encourage new farmers, and especially those who face additional social and economic challenges. There is an early draft which would do so by adding to the duties of the the Working Lands Enterprise Board the charge to “increasing financial and technical assistance for new farmers, veteran farmers, and disadvantaged farmers in order to expand opportunities for more persons to enter farming in the State,” and to “encourage and assist new farmers, veteran farmers, and farmers who are disadvantaged in the ownership and operation of farms in the State.” In this draft, a “disadvantaged farmer” is defined as a farmer or prospective farmer who earns “not more than the State median income level for the relevant household size” (which includes a lot of farmers!).

This bill still seems to be in its early stages, with much debate and various opinions about the impact that expanding the duties of the Working Lands board might have. There seems to be a shared interest in tending to farmland transition and supporting new farmers amongst the reps on the House Ag Committee, but not yet a shared strategy. At this point it is unclear to Rural Vermont how this initiative correlates to the efforts and mandate of the Land Access Opportunity Board which was established in 2022 and has the objective to advocate for and manage public and private funding to “support access to land, housing, opportunity and enterprise for individuals, families, and cooperatives from historically marginalized and disadvantaged Communities” and to “structure its investments [...] to build a future of food and land sovereignty.” 

More info: Follow along with H.368 here & learn more about the objectives of the Land Access and Opportunity Board in the Budget update below and here.

-Surprises-

Legislators continue tinkering with the Right to Repair and the Right to Farm issue - both bills have seen some action after not making the crossover deadlines.

Right to Farm

Update: Each state has a “Right to Farm” law that offers some protection to farms doing regular farm things from nuisance lawsuits from neighbors – especially new neighbors – who may not like the smells or sounds of farming. Striking a balance can be tricky (Right to Farm laws have been used to both protect small farms from impractical lawsuits, and to provide immunity to CAFOs and other harmful mega-businesses) and the Senate Committee on Agriculture looked at making various adjustments to Vermont’s law before the crossover. After stalling due to a no vote from Senator Brian Campion, this bill has been stripped down to include just one of the many changes that its early drafts had proposed: the requirement of attempted mediation before suing farms. This latest draft 6.1 would require that any nuisance claim arising from agricultural activity be accompanied by a sworn statement that mediation was at least attempted, and mandates that the would-be plaintiff and defendant split mediation costs. Farmers and farm organizations who advocated for changes to Vermont’s law originally intended for a rewrite to better protect farms that go through farm succession, and other transitions that may uproot their previous nuisance protection. This interest was fired by concerns regarding the current provision that links the rebuttable presumption that an agricultural activity does not constitute a nuisance to meeting the condition that it is “established prior to surrounding nonagricultural activities.” This week, no meeting or vote on right to farm draft 6.1 was scheduled in the Senate Committee on Agriculture. 

More info: Follow along here; read the current law here.

H.81 - Right to Repair

Update: Vermont is one of fifteen states currently working on legislation that would require farm and forestry equipment manufacturers to make it easier for equipment owners and repair shops to fix their equipment. In particular, this wave of legislation is targeting John Deere and other manufacturers’ habit of locking owners and independent mechanics out of the software that increasingly runs and diagnoses machinery, sometimes charging hundreds of dollars simply to enter a five digit code to gain access to it.

The current draft mandates that manufactures provide mechanics and owners with what they need to unlock and relock software in order to diagnose and repair equipment without charging more than what is “reasonably necessary,” or that would be prohibitive. This bill would make this requirement enforceable by civil action, but also makes clear that divulging trade secrets would not be required by this change.

On 4/6 H.81 moved out of the House Ag Committee with a 7-2 vote (with Republican Reps. Graham and Wilson voting “no”) and has moved to the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development.

More info: Follow along here, and learn more about the wider efforts for the right to repair farm equipment here

Other Updates

Cannabis

Update:  Upon the introduction of H.270 - the “miscellaneous cannabis bill” - in the Senate Economic Development Committee, James Pepper (Cannabis Control Board, or CCB) made recommendations to the committee related to two of our coalition’s goals:  extending the agriculture related exemptions from Tier 1 cannabis cultivators to all tiers of outdoor cannabis production, and funding the Cannabis Business Development Fund (which pays for the current social equity programming).  This is a very positive shift from the CCB, and we are also seeing signs of interest and support in the Committee and from other lawmakers.  Based on committee conversation the bill will be between the Senate Agriculture Committee, the Senate Economic Development Committee, and the Senate Appropriations Committee before it progresses to the Senate floor.  

This week on Tuesday morning, the Senate Agriculture Committee took testimony on H.270 from the Cannabis Control Board, a tier 3 outdoor cannabis cultivator (former Senator John Rodgers), Vermont Growers’ Association (VGA), and Rural Vermont.  Rural VT, VGA, and Senator Rodgers all affirmed in testimony our alignment in treating all tiers and types of outdoor cultivation in the same manner as agriculture.  We also testified in relationship to the propagation license and conflicts with the federal hemp program.  The Committee seems receptive to some of our recommendations at least, and will likely be taking testimony on the bill again this Friday, April 12.

On Wednesday April 12, Sen. Tanya Vihovsky introduced S.127 - an act relating to the creation of new types of cannabis establishment licenses and the provision of cannabis excise tax revenue to the Cannabis Business Development Fund, communities that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition, and substance misuse treatment.  This is a bill which our coalition helped to inform, and in her testimony Sen. Vihovsky suggested that particular aspects of it - including our recommendations related to both the Cannabis Business Development Fund and community reinvestment - could be lifted from this bill and integrated into H.270.  

More info:  Contact representatives on key committees this week!  This is a unique opportunity for us to make progress - and the best opportunity we’ve had for your voice to make a difference on this issue this legislative session.  Our Action Alert makes it easy for you to contact the representatives of these committees and create a customized message supporting our coalition’s different asks for H.270.  Thank you for supporting this movement towards an equitable and accessible and agricultural cannabis economy!

Organic Dairy Relief

Update: In our crossover update we had shared that the Senate Committee on Agriculture had been working on a draft language to cover the corrected $6.9M in organic dairy relief urgently needed right now. Including such language will be part of the Senate Appropriation Committees discussion when they work on agriculture related budget items. Including the request in the budget is still what’s needed & the Senate Committee on Appropriations would benefit from hearing from your support for the organic dairy relief funding.

More info: contact info to Senators on Appropriations here; bill draft here (corrected link)

H.205 - The Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

Update: The bill relating to establishing the Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program moved over to the Senate Committee on Agriculture in time who started to hear and learn about it on multiple occasions. In the meantime, Rural Vermont got inquiries from members about how the bill defines “small farm” and to whom this grant opportunity of up to 15K grants will apply. The intent of this legislation is to make it easy for any small farmer to apply and be eligible for this support and offers three definitions that apply alternatively: (A) someone who earns at least one half of a person's income farming; (B) someone engaged in “farming as defined in Act 250; (C) a small farm subject to the RAPs {note: which does not need to be a certified small farm}. 

More info: follow along here; bill as introduced here; our 3/12 and 3/27 legislative updates.

H.126 - Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection, 30x30/ 50x50 bill

Update: This bill passed the House with an amendment of the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry last week with an amendment that included a review of the conservation plan that the bill mandates to be developed by the Secretary of Natural Resources (deadline December 31, 2024) and for the plan to inform a comprehensive strategy towards conserving agricultural land that would “increase access to protected and conserved lands and land-based enterprises as well as recommendations to increase funding in the working lands more broadly.” The bill is currently in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources where they spend the whole day on hearings about this bill on the day of this update .

More info: find the recordings from the 4/13 hearings on H.126 on the committees YouTube page here

Miscellaneous Agriculture Bills

The two miscellaneous agriculture bills, S.115 and H.472, have each crossed chambers and are being discussed in the other respective Committees on Agriculture. Below we want to highlight two sections of the bills that have changed – for a full summary of the many issues touched upon, please see our 3/12 and 3/27 legislative updates.

Municipal Stormwater Management in S.115

When this bill left committee, the section on stormwater management prohibited municipalities from assessing stormwater fees on farms on the basis that the state currently handles agricultural stormwater, so farms in some towns are not being double-penalized. This change passed the Senate but only after adopting changes recommended by the Committee on Finance that mandates that the agencies of Natural Resources and Agriculture compile a report assessing the impact of making such a change. In the meantime, this latest draft does put a temporary halt on municipal stormwater fees for farms between 7/1/23 and 7/1/24, effectively staying true to the earlier drafts but with a plan for reassessment before making the change permanent.

Bees and Apiaries - H.472 

April 5th testimony from the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets made clear that even the more substantive changes to the state’s bee and apiary legislation are only intended to bring the statute into alignment with existing agency practices and policy. For example, there is a change to require an inspection in the 45 days before selling bees instead of “at least once each summer season,” but the agency already requires an inspection within the 45 days prior to selling bees. Still, there is some ambiguity in the current law about whether import permits are needed when bees are brought into the state from within 75 miles away, and the proposed changes would close that loophole, adding the requirement (or, making clear the existing requirement…) that beekeepers register their bees when crossing state lines, even if they are not for sale and are not traveling more than 75 miles. 

H.165 - Universal School Meals

Update: Universal School Meals made the crossover deadline and is currently in the Senate Committee on Education. The bill is on a good trajectory as the committee already had a walk-through from the legal council, and got the overview from the new Rep. Esme Cole from Hartford and heard from some parents and students as well. A possible vote is scheduled for later this week.

More info: look into the Senate Committee of Education agenda on their website for the next scheduled hearings and listen in on Friday, 4/13 for the possible vote at 2:45pm (the livelink to YouTube for that is in the agenda)

PFAS and Composting Food Scraps on Farms News

After numerous farms in Maine have been confronted with loads of PFAS contamination and continue to deal with the dire consequences of their livelihoods being disrupted in consequence -  the Maine delegation is introducing a bill to support farmers affected by PFAS. The excess contamination levels originated in sludge that was spread as fertilizer. The bill would authorize grants to affected farmers, expand monitoring and testing, remediate PFAS, or even help farmers relocate. 

Rural Vermont is involved to address some issues around PFAS through our work on the management of food waste with a goal of keeping plastics, including PFAS, out of waste streams by holding agencies accountable to requiring source separation and advocating for a precautionary approach. We most recently submitted comments as part of the Protect Our Soil Coalition to the Agency of Natural Resources draft policy on the matter. Key aspect of our recommendations is to define appropriate uses of the organic output from depackaging facilities which cannot include the land application on agricultural fields or use as gardening soil. Due to the mechanical separation of packaging and organics through depackaging, we believe there’s a greater likelihood for outputs to contain high levels of contamination. Research is on the way and a study on microplastics and PFAS in food packaging and food waste is mandated to be reported on to the legislature January 2024. 

Attention: If you are a farmer or want your local farm to engage in community scale composting of food waste and want to work with the local community on getting clean loads and learning together about how to create valuable soil amendments, then VORS will interest you! The Vermont Organics and Recycling Summit (VORS) on May 2nd (1-2:30pm) will feature the first virtual presentation from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets with a status update on rulemaking endeavors about on-farm composting of food scraps. Register now and learn more about what rules and best practices in composting food scraps on farms will apply. 

Read the 4/11 press release of Maine Congresswoman Pingree here.

Read the ANR draft policy for Source Separation of Food Residuals & Heavily Packaged Food here

Read the Protect Our Soils Coalitions comments to the ANR draft policy here

Register for the Vermont Organics Recycling Summit here

Budget Updates

Advocates that support the Land Access and Opportunity Board can sign-on here and share their testimonials. This advocacy aims to appropriate one-time funds to more sustainably fund important positions for the Board and to more effectively sustain the efforts to “support access to land, housing, opportunity and enterprise for individuals, families, and cooperatives from historically marginalized and disadvantaged Communities” and to “structure its investments [...] to build a future of food and land sovereignty.” Before crossover, the LAOB had requested the House to include their request for $4.8M in the budget to more sustainably fund their important work but they got sent over to the Senate with their baseline funding of $1.2M for the next year only.  

Secretary Tebbetts and the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets shepherd a juicy $14M package of appropriations proposed by the Governor to support working lands investment needs, with a focus on getting from $5 to 10M for meat and poultry, maple and produce sectors and increasing the Working Lands Program to $4M from the total $2M that were included in the House (correction from 3/27 update - there were 1M in one-time funds in addition to 1M in baseline funding included in the budget as passed by the House). Check-out this great overview about the planned Future of Agriculture Economic Development Grant Program and the impacts of the Working Lands Program. Especially the Working Lands funding has traditionally been oversubscribed and in great demand, so that the Secretary addressed the issue in a letter to the chairs of the Senate Agriculture and Appropriation committees as follows: “Without the ability to invest the requested appropriation in Vermont businesses, fewer working lands entrepreneurs will be equipped to grow their food, farming, forestry, or wood manufacturing ventures, and our working lands and rural communities will bear the consequences.[...]. The Governor’s proposed investments are critical to preserving our heritage and maintaining and growing a strong local food system. I understand the challenge of managing competing priorities, but respectfully ask you to consider the relative importance of Vermont agriculture and our working lands businesses, and to please restore the requested appropriations so we may help these diligent Vermonters shape our shared future.”

What is Crossover? Crossover literally describes a deadline, this year it was March 17th, by which a bill needs to pass through one chamber of the legislature to “cross over” to the other to have a chance to make it through the entire legislative process in the same year. That means two things: 1. That bill will have gone through three readings! 2. There’s an effort made and likelihood to pass these bills the same year. 

Three readings start with the bill introduction and referral to the committee of jurisdiction - first reading. In committee the bill subject is being discussed in hearings with various stakeholders. After editing the bill, often in multiple drafts with the help of legislative council, the committee will vote on the bill. If the bill is moved in favor it may be referred to another committee. Especially when there’s money involved, the appropriations committee will make recommendations on appropriating money from the State Treasury and the Ways and Means committee will make recommendations on measures to secure the revenue of the State. During the “second reading“ it's often those committees who present their recommendations through amendments to the version of the committee of origin to the “floor,” meaning all members of a chamber. After another day to digest the possibly amended version of the bill, a third reading gives the final yay or nay by the respective chamber. A bill is called “dead” when it didn’t move in favor, didn’t make crossover or didn’t pass in a session. A bill is not really “dead” oftentimes, for example: since the legislature meets in biennial sessions, technically bills can pass within two years when they are introduced in the first year. Also, often bills are part of national campaigns and are being reintroduced session after session. As such, the ag committees have been working (again) this year on the right-to-farm bill and the right-to-repair bill. In our “crossover” legislative update we focus on those bills that have been moving and relate to agriculture. We’ve included a couple updates on stranded efforts as well which are not comprehensive. 

We celebrate the good chance for the passage of H.205, which would establish a new Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program. While this new funding will be important, it will ultimately only benefit about 25 farms - more systemic change in the programmatic landscape is needed to service thousands of farms that are bleeding in this economy.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cannabis

H.205 - An Act Relating to Establishing the Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

H.126 - An Act Relating to Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

H.472 - House Miscellaneous Agricultural Subjects

S.115 - Senate Miscellaneous Agricultural Subjects

H.81 - Right to Repair

Right to Farm

H.368 - An Act Relating to Supporting New Farmers, Veteran Farmers, and Farmers who are Disadvantaged

H. 165 - Universal School Meals

AG Relevant Budget Items

LAOB Funding Request

Organic Dairy Relief - New Draft

Working Lands Enterprise Fund

Conservation Districts

Cannabis

Summary: Rural Vermont continues to work with other member based organizations of the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition (NOFA VT, VT Racial Justice Alliance, Vermont Growers’ Association, and the Green Mtn. Patients’ Alliance) to advance our goals related to a racially just, economically equitable, and agriculturally accessible cannabis economy in Vermont. There are multiple bills related to the regulated adult-use and medical cannabis market in VT this legislative session, we are currently most focused on 3 bills: H.270, H.426, S.127.  

Latest Change: H.270, miscellaneous cannabis bill, was voted out of the House on 3/28 with minor revisions.  On March 15th (beginning minute 38) a farmer / cultivator and members of our coalition were provided a short window in House Government Operations to speak to things currently in the bill - in particular the medical components and the propagation license.  It will be taken up by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs on Thursday the 30th, this week. This bill is largely informed and led by the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), and is likely seen as “must pass” by the Board and some members of the legislature.  It is also a potential vehicle for our coalition’s proposals - our coalition and members have been told so by members of the CCB - despite pressure we face to limit our testimony which we reference here.  The most recent significant changes to the bill include:

• Replacing the $10k gross income cap on the Tier 1 manufacturing license with a $50k cap.  This is not as high a cap as we advocated for - but is an improvement and one of our priorities.

• A “Cannabis Propagation Cultivator” license ($550) of 3500 sq feet of canopy with sales of live plants limited to licensed cultivators.  A license which addresses the sale and growing of seed and live plants is one of our priorities - but this license does not allow sales to the general public which is of significant importance to the people we have talked to with interest in being a nursery.

• Particular regulations related to accessibility and confidentiality in disciplinary measures

Status: H.270 passed the House 3/28; H. 426 and S.127 did not make crossover.

TAKE ACTION!  Policymakers in the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs in particular will need to hear from community members and stakeholders pressing them to take action this session on our priorities by including them in H.270 and by inviting impacted community members and advocacy organizations into the committee to represent themselves.  Your voice makes a difference to policymakers!  Actively harming farms’ and small businesses’ viability and accessibility right now is the lack of inclusion in H.270 of an improvement and extension of the exemptions provided to Tier 1 Outdoor Cultivators in Act 158 to all Tiers and types of Outdoor Cultivation license. These exemptions allow this scale of cultivation to be treated in the same manner as farming when it comes to development, municipal regulation, taxation and current use status.  Contact Graham@ruralvermont.org for more information.

More Info: see the 2/28/23 Legislative Update for a more comprehensive list of what’s in H.270

H.205 - An Act Relating to Establishing the Small Farmer Diversification and Transition Program

Summary:  This bill would create the new “Small Farm Diversification and Transition Program” within the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets. Grants would be used for (1) farm diversification, (2) transitioning farm type, (3) on-farm processing, or (4) add on-farm accessory businesses. Grants would be capped at 15K. In early discussions in the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry, when former dairy farmer Rodney Graham first mentioned this idea, he named closing dairy farms as the motivation behind the bill that aims for easy access to grants that would help small farms specifically. Evaluation for grant applications will consider the potential to increase revenue for farmers. 

RV comment: This new funding will be important. Unfortunately, its scope will ultimately only benefit about 25 farms and more systemic change in the programmatic landscape is needed to service thousands of farms that are bleeding in this economy.

Latest Change: The House Committee on Appropriations is suggesting to increase the funding amount from $250K to $350K and for the Working Lands Enterprise Board to administer the program.

Status: House is coming back for third reading 3/29 at 1pm

More Info: on the bill website here; see also bill as considered by the House here (p. 27)

H.126 - An Act Relating to Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection

Summary: This bill aims to mandate conservation goals for Vermont in alignment with federal and international “30 by 30” initiatives: to conserve 30% of Vermont by 2030, and 50% by 2050. Get more background info about this bill in our Legislative Update from 2.28.23 here.

Latest Change: Passed the House with an amendment from the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry that seeks to pair land access and keeping the working lands open with conservation goals by:

1. Inclusion of the Vermont Forest Future Strategic Roadmap in the findings.

2. Inclusion of a review of the conservation categories in the conservation plan that will be mandated to be developed by the Secretary of Natural Resources by December 31, 2024; and 

3. for the conservation plan to inform a comprehensive strategy towards conserving agricultural land that would include recommendations to increase equitable access to protected and conserved lands and land-based enterprises as well as recommendations to increase funding in the working lands more broadly.

Status: Passed House 3/24 

More Info: on the bill website here. See the amendment of the House Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Markets in House Journal 03/23/23 p. 607 

H.472 - House Miscellaneous Agricultural Subjects

Summary: This bill makes many small technical changes to statutes related to agricultural fairs, meat processing, bees and apiaries, and agency regulation of nurseries and pests. Most of these changes are semantic or insignificant, but changes to apiary registration rules and the creation of a grant program for county fairs will be impactful. Below is a summary of the changes related to bees and apiaries – for a full summary of the bill, see the 3/13 Legislative Update.

Latest Change: No substantial changes have been made to the sections on bees and apiary regulations in the House miscellaneous ag bill since our 3/13 legislative update. Here’s a brief overview of those changes that stand out as being more impactful to beekeepers in the state: 

• The annual report required by VAAFM will no longer need to include prospective changes to whether the location of an apiary will change in two weeks of report submission. It will now require reporting for bees, colonies and equipment that are just passing through the state.

• Change to inspection of bees for sale: instead of requiring one summertime inspection, it would require inspection within 45 days prior to any sale. This will likely shift the inspection to a time just before the spring sales of bees, instead of in the annual cycle before the distribution of many hives. It also might require more inspections for those selling bees throughout the season.

• Beekeepers near borders will likely need more import permits for moving apiaries in and out of state, see Section 14. Shall the bill pass the Senate as well, bees that are transported out of Vermont for less than 75 miles away for 30 days or less would require an import permit. Currently, those conditions are exempt from needing a permit. There is still no import permit required for bees just traveling through Vermont to another destination (though that information is now required on the annual report).

Status: Passed the House 3/28

More Info: Bill draft as passed by the House 3/28; track bill info

S.115 - Senate Miscellaneous Agricultural Subjects

Summary: It is still a new occurrence that the Senate launches their own “miscellaneous” agricultural bill, parallel to the House. S. 115 would clarify that VAAFM has the authority to quarantine dairy cows that are suspected of producing unsafe milk or other product; modernize requirements for labeling, sale and marketing of eggs; significantly increase the amount of penalties VAAFM may charge in enforcement actions and deals with the authority of municipalities for a farm’s stormwater management. Below is an update of the changes related to stormwater management – for a full summary of the bill, see the 3/13 Legislative Update.

Latest Change: The changes regarding stormwater regulation and water quality related to a municipalities authority to penalize stormwater management infractions. The  Senate’s draft bill version as recommended the Committee on Agriculture suggested that towns can manage stormwater, but only if “the municipality does not exceed [ANR’s] authority, maintains the exemptions in 10 V.S.A. § 1264(d)(1), and does not charge an operating fee related to exempt practices.” Goal was to ensure that towns cannot regulate or penalize farms in particular, which are exempt from storm water regulation. 

Many towns currently penalize farms for their stormwater management (which is based on impervious surfaces, which can be large for farms) and this change would protect those farms, leading to a decrease in revenue for some towns. For this reason, this change is contentious and still being debated. The Senate Committee on Finance is recommending an amendment to mandate a report on stormwater regulation and the potential impact of prohibiting municipalities from collecting fees from farms in accordance with RAPs. The suggested report would leave more discretion to the Commissioner of Environmental Conservation in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture. The Senate Finance amendment suggests that municipalities would no longer be able to assess a fee, rate, or other assessment to farms for stormwater runoff until the mandated report was submitted and the legislature had a chance to review the subject again during the 2024 legislative session. 

Status: Voted out of Senate Committee on Finance, Second reading ordered 3/29 at 1pm 

More Info: 

• Bill as recommended by Senate Finance here (p. 92)

• Draft 2.2 as recommended out of Senate Agriculture here

• More info here 

H.81 - Right to Repair

Summary: Reintroduced and granted a couple hearings was the right-to-repair bill, presented by a nationwide coalition as a recurring effort across 27 states. This bill raises the issue of a dealership of agricultural equipment having the right to computer parts and service materials needed to repair equipment. While Memorandums of Understandings in place with Dealerships have made improvements to farmers' right to repair according to the Farm Bureau, the bill aimed to advance the ability to buy parts and service materials (diagnostic tools etc.) to fix equipment DIY or through independent neighborhood mechanics. Opponents raised safety concerns and the fear of losing more dealerships for agricultural equipment. 

Status: this bill did not make crossover 

More Info: Proponents hearing 3/15, 10.45am HAG; Opponents hearing 3/16, 10am HAG

Right to Farm

Summary: Right to Farm describes a farms’ protection from nuisance lawsuits when in compliance with existing regulations. 

Latest Change: See draft 4.1 here

Status: This bill had not been introduced yet, so the Committee on Agriculture considered this subject as a potential committee bill. A straw poll indicated opposition from Senator Campion; the committee did not take a vote on this bill in time for the crossover deadline. 

More Info: For a full summary of the bill, see the 3/13 Legislative Update.

H.368 - An Act Relating to Supporting New Farmers, Veteran Farmers, and Farmers who are Disadvantaged

Summary: The House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry members Heather Suprenant, Esme Cole and Josie Leavitt have been co-sponsoring this bill which charges the Vermont House and Conservation Board (VHCB) with supporting new, veteran, and disadvantaged farmers. The bill would expand VHCB’s formal duties to include “increasing financial and technical assistance” for those groups. There is no associated allocation or fund defined in the bill itself. The draft defines a disadvantaged farmer as someone “engaged in farming or proposing to engage in farming who is annually earning not more than the State median income level for the relevant household size.”

Latest Change: None

Status: The draft as introduced has not received updates or much discussion - this bill did not make the crossover deadline.

More Info: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.368 

H. 165 - Universal School Meals

Summary: This bill extends the current COVID-reactive universal school meal policies by requiring all public schools in Vermont to make available school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge in perpetuity. It also extends some support to public-tution students at some independent schools. The bill asks for $29M from the Education Fund to the Agency of Education for fiscal year 2024.

Latest Change:  After approval from Committees on Way and Means and Appropriations, a strike all amendment from the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forests included definitions of universal meal supplements for breakfast and lunch, now ordering funds for the program through the Education fund - without spelling out the exact appropriation in the bill itself. The new version also includes small language tweaks to the existing local foods incentive grant.

Status: Passed by House

More Info: https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2024/H.165 

AG Relevant Budget Items

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LAOB Funding Request

Summary: The Land Access and Opportunity Board is proposing in its sunrise report a funding request for the FY2024 of 1.2M to continue its work, and it is also advocating for the use of one-time funding to appropriate 3.8M to fund their work in a more sustainable way over the next three years (for a total of $4.8 million).

Latest Change: Members of the Land Access and Opportunity Board and allies continue to provide additional testimonials in support of the appropriations request. Last week, LAOB members spoke to both agricultural committees during Small Farm Action Day 

Status: as of 3/27 the 1.2M funding request was included in the FY24 budget as a one-time appropriation from the General Fund

More Info: Watch Jess Laporte (LAOB, Rights and Democracy) testify to HAG here & Kirsten Murphy (LAOB) testify to SAG during Small Farm Action Day here

Organic Dairy Relief - New Draft

Summary: Organic dairy farms are in a crisis -  to help carry Vermont’s organic dairies through the year, NOFA-VT has asked the state to provide funding to farmers who were shipping organic milk in 2022 to compensate for nightmarish economic circumstances. Asking that farmers be paid $5 for every hundred pounds of milk they shipped, NOFA-VT originally estimated this would cost about $9.2 million dollars. This request was met with enthusiasm but the House Ag Committee, and now the Senate Ag Committee is working to move quickly but thoroughly with it. 

Latest Change: After working with the Agency of Ag and NOFA-VT, better data on quantities of organic milk shipped in 2022 (the basis for the payments) determined that paying $5 per hundredweight shipped in 2022 would actually cost about $6.9M dollars. 

Status: A new bill draft was released last week by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, that would make those funds available to farms that were shipping organic milk in 2022 (and that are still dairy farms). 

This bill is likely to move quickly!

More Info: new bill draft here; follow the bill in SAG here

Working Lands Enterprise Fund

Summary: Earlier this year, the Working Lands Enterprise Fund (WLEF) celebrated 10 years of supporting Vermont’s Farm and Forestry Businesses. In the past decade, over $13.6 million in funding have been awarded in grants through WLEF and leveraged $22.5 million in matching funds. Money invested in a total of 418 projects that generated over $55M in sales one year after completing their grant project. While forestry projects make up a third of all projects, dairy and meat processing projects were most prominent among agricultural ones, followed by grant awards in produce farms and value-added products. 

Latest Change: The FY24 budget suggests an annual base funding from $594,000 to $1,000,000. Notably, this increase is still a display of an underfunded program given that Governor Scott, who is conservative in spending, proposed an increase to $4 million in funding for the program in fiscal year 2024 (see press release here). 

Status: As of 3/24, budget FY24 includes 1M in one-time funds from the General Fund (see here)

More Info: Check out the full Impact Report or two-page summary report detailing the past 10 years of WLEF!

Conservation Districts

Summary: The Conservation District desired to increase their baseline funding to 3M this year and the past year and testified early on to both agricultural committees. Conservation Districts function as an important local liaison between local stakeholders and government programs available to them. They are historically underfunded and last year the legislature increased their baseline funding from over an additional $250,000 for a total base appropriation of to total $362,000. This year's funding request would support the 14 District Managers and their Boards of Supervisors, training, community outreach and education, equipment and facility upgrades and additional capacity development. 

Status: The FY24 Budget includes a one-time appropriation from the general fund over 1M for the Conservation Districts

More Info: 3M Baseline funding request here

Note that this update is not a comprehensive list of all of the bills or work we are tracking.  This reflects movement on issues and bills since our last legislative update (02.28.23) which you can see here.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LAOB Sunrise Report & Legislative Asks

S.56 - Childcare

H.368 - An act relating to supporting new farmers, veteran farmers, and farmers who are disadvantaged

23-0138 - “Right to Farm” Update

Cannabis Update

Universal School Meals Update

23-0761 - House Miscellaneous Ag Bill

S.115 Senate Miscellaneous Ag Bill

---

LAOB Sunrise Report & Legislative Asks

In the last couple weeks of February, the Land Access and Opportunity Board (LAOB) released its Sunrise Report.  You can see a presentation about the report and board to the House Committee on General and Housing from February 28th, here.  As summarized on its website, “the Land Access and Opportunity Board was created under Section 22 of Act 182 of 2022 to engage with Vermont organizations working on housing equity and land access "to recommend new opportunities and improve access to woodlands, farmland, and land and home ownership for Vermonters from historically marginalized or disadvantaged communities who continue to face barriers to land and home ownership."”  It is an independent Board made up of BIPOC community leaders and is currently housed within the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB).  

Rural Vermont supports the recommendations of the report - as well as the organizing effort led by Seeding Power Vermont (the organization leading the original effort which led to the creation of the Board) to increase the requested appropriation of $1.2 million to fund the Board to continue its work for one year, to $4.8 million to fund the work of the Board for 4 years.

S.56 - Childcare

S.56 - Childcare: We recently co-facilitated a workshop / listening session about childcare in the agricultural community at the NOFA VT winter conference.  We did this alongside national childcare and ag researcher Florence Becot, and Suzanne Graham of Let’s Grow Kids (LGK) - and heard from approximately 20 people in the room about their experiences, challenges, and what they’d like to see change related to childcare in Vermont..

At the moment there is a piece of legislation, S.56, which proposes investing significantly more money into VT’s childcare sector.  We rely on local and national advocates and researchers, as well as our community members, to help inform us on the needs of our communities - Let’s Grow Kids! is one of those local resources.  Here’s a link to more information about the bill from Let’s Grow Kids - as well as a recent update from VT Digger.  This is also a list of improvements that Let’s Grow Kids is advocating for in relationship to the bill.  LGK anticipates S.56 will pass out of Senate Health & Welfare by the end of this week, and will go next to Senate Finance & Appropriations Committees for further deliberation; then to the Senate floor and on to the House by the end of March.

Please be in touch with Graham@ruralvermont.org if you would like to share your thoughts on this legislation, your interest in providing testimony on childcare, or simply to talk about your experiences with childcare in VT as a member of the agricultural community.

H.368 - An act relating to supporting new farmers, veteran farmers, and farmers who are disadvantaged

H.368: House Ag Committee members Heather Suprenaut, Esme Cole and Josie Leavitt are co-sponsoring this bill which charges the Vermont House and Conservation Board (VHCB) with supporting new, veteran, and disadvantaged farmers. The bill would expand VHCB’s formal duties to include “increasing financial and technical assistance” for those groups. There is no associated allocation or fund defined in the bill itself. 

The draft defines a disadvantaged farmer as someone “engaged in farming or proposing to engage in farming who is annually earning not more than the State median income level for the relevant household size.”

The draft was just introduced to committee on 2/24, so check back for updates or follow along on the statehouse website as conversation and testimony begin.

23-0138 - “Right to Farm” Update

23 - 0138: Each state’s “right to farm” law is a protection for farms against nuisance lawsuits. The idea is that farming can be smelly and loud, but that doesn’t mean anyone who moves near a town should be able to sue a farm that’s not harming anybody. Different state’s right to farm laws have different amounts of strictness, or protection for farmers.  Last year, Vermont’s right to farm  law had been worked on as well, which resulted in the successful expansion of the lists of activities that are now encompassed under the nuisance protection. This year, the Farm Bureau, the Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance and supporting farms have requested changes that expand protection for farms, including new, expanding, and transitioning farms.

It is indeed important to protect farms from unreasonable nuisance complaints and Rural Vermont believes the existing law is adequate, and that the suggested changes are potentially harmful.  Rural Vermont has received clear feedback from our national allies in the National Family Farm Coalition that many expanded “Right to Farm” laws have been used to effectively displace and disadvantage small farms, and to prevent communities from defending themselves and their lands and waters in states such as Missouri, North Carolina, and more.  

Importantly, the bill would remove an exemption which states that farms are not protected from lawsuit if “the activity has a substantial adverse effect on health, safety, or welfare, or has a noxious and significant interference with the use and enjoyment of the neighboring property.” (12 V.S.A. § 5753). The draft also removes language stating that the legal protection shall not “be construed to limit the authority of State or local boards of health to abate nuisances affecting the public health” (12 V.S.A. § 5753). This change also removes a requirement that the practice has been in place for at least a year, and potentially expands protections to practices like biogas digestion. By removing these clauses the new Right to Farm bill would make pressing charges against a farm much harder. 

This change requires an attempt at mediation between plaintiffs and farms before a legal action can be pursued, though this mediation would not extend the 1 year deadline for the plaintiff to file suit. And farms are, importantly, still required to be compliant with the state’s Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) and Rule of Control of Pesticides, but the latest changes place the burden of proof of non compliance on the plaintiff themselves.

There are even more changes and details in this bill. For more info and up-to-date drafts and testimonies of the bill, you can follow it here.

Cannabis Update

S.71 and H.270:  An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to the adult-use and medical cannabis programs.

H.426:  An act relating to the creation of new types of cannabis establishment licenses and the provision of cannabis excise tax revenue to the Cannabis Business Development Fund, communities that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition, and substance misuse treatment

One of the bills we worked to inform prior to the session - H.426 - is now numbered and on the wall in House Government Operations; and we anticipate its companion bill to emerge in Senate Government Operations soon.  We do not support all provisions of H.426 (such as the “social equity delivery license”), some ideas we have brought to the table are not reflected in the bill as we suggested they be authored (such as the direct sales allowances), and some ideas and language we brought were simply not included in the bill (such as scaled direct sales allowances for sales of immature plants and seeds by cultivators to the general public).

Our coalition colleague Geoffrey Pizzutillo of the Vermont Growers’ Association testified to the House Gov. Operations committee on H.270 on February 28th - during which he brought the committee through our coalition’s top 10 priorities and presenced H.426 on the committee’s wall (meaning it is waiting to be addressed by the committee). We have since been told by the Chair of the committee that he does not want to include new subjects in H.270 at this point so close to crossover - but he has also told us that he is committed to having more and broader testimony after crossover when other cannabis related bills come to this committee. For this reason, on Wednesday March 15th, our coalition will also have 2 medical advocates and stakeholders representing the Green Mtn Patients’ Alliance as well as two licensed cultivators providing testimony to the committee on H.270 focusing on the medical provisions as well as the “propagation license” (which currently only allows a propagator to sell immature plants to cultivators - and not to the general public or other licensees).

At this time and going forward, we will need support from the broader community in contacting your representatives, and members of the House and Senate Government Operations Committees, voicing your support for our coalition and its policy priorities.  We may be able to improve H.270 to some extent this week (in particular the medical and propagation aspects), and then in the Senate - but we are hoping that the other bill we worked on prior to the session will be numbered and taken up for discussion soon, such that we can have the opportunity to address more fundamental barriers and inequities in this newly regulated economy.

Universal School Meals Update

H.165 - An act relating to school food programs and universal school meals

Referred to Ways and Means

Rep. Erin Brady w/ Rep. Jana Brown, Rep. Esme Cole & Rep. Josie Leavitt

This bill extends the current COVID-reactive universal school meal policies by requiring all public schools in Vermont to make available school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge in perpetuity. It also extends some support to public-tution students at some independent schools. The bill asks for $29M from the Education Fund to the Agency of Education for fiscal year 2024.

23-0761 - House Miscellaneous Ag Bill

23-0761

Fair and Field Days Support

The first part of the House’s miscellaneous ag bill states support for Vermont’s various fairs and field days events, and seeks to support them with grant funding. It establishes a new grant program in the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) to fund the associations that host fairs and field days. The size of this fund is as yet unknown.

Meat Processing License Fees

There is a semantic change from “meat cutting operations” to “meat processing operations” in existing statutes that determine things like vendor fees collected by VAAFM.

Livestock Brands

There is a set of laws in the current statute that determines the rules and regulations around branding livestock - it determines the rules for registering unique brands, etc. This change repeals and removes that chapter of the law because the practice is extinct.

Bees & Apiaries 

There are many existing laws that require the registration, reporting and potential inspection of beehives in the state in order to decrease harm done by pests and diseases. There are many proposed changes to that statute (6 V.S.A. § 3023), most of which are small and semantical, but some of which will impact anyone in the state with bees, be they a small backyard colony or a large honey business.

The annual report required by VAAFM will no longer need to include whether the location of an apiary will change into two weeks of report submission. But it now requires reporting for bees that are just passing through the state as well (colonies and equipment that started outside of Vermont and are designed for another place outside of Vermont).

There is also a change in the cadence of inspections for those selling bees: instead of requiring one summertime inspection, it would require inspection within 45 days prior to any sale. This likely shifts the inspection time to just before the springtime sale of bees, instead of in the annual cycle before the distribution of many hives. It also might require more inspections for those selling bees throughout the season.

There are currently rules requiring a permit to import bees. Three of the exceptions to this rule are proposed to be removed, which would require more import permits. Those exceptions which would no longer be considered exceptions to having to file an import permit are for bees that are  transported out of Vermont for less than 75 miles away for 30 days or less. With this bill, an import permit would be required even if those conditions are met. There is still no import permit required for bees just traveling through Vermont to another destination (though that information is now required on the annual report).

Soil Amendments

The definition of “soil amendments” is being expanded to include additives to hydroponic (soil-less) systems, which will expand VAAFM authority for that type of growing.

Nurseries & Pest Survey and Detection 

The state and VAAFM’s definition of “nursery dealer” is proposed to be expanded to those who install (plant) nursery stock for commercial gain (in addition to those who sell or distribute for commercial gain). This supposedly would expand authority of nursery regulations (6 V.S.A. § Chapter 206) to folks like gardeners and landscapers who are paid to plant trees, shrubs or almost anything plant-y other than seeds.

This also tweaks the procedure for when VAAFM orders for plants to be destroyed in a way that will apparently have little impact.

Lastly, there is a proposed chance to remove a clause about compensation for destruction, removing the agency's responsibility to reimburse for trees or plants that are ordered to be destroyed due to infestation.

S.115 Senate Miscellaneous Ag Bill

S.115

Dairy Quarantine

The change expands the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets’ (VAAFM) ability to quarantine livestock  to include dairy cows suspected of producing contaminated or unsafe milk. This was written with potential contamination from drugs and antibiotics in mind.

Eggs Law Update

Most of the the state’s egg laws haven’t been updated since 1973, and these changes would “modernize” them, bringing egg laws on par with many other food regulation statutes. This includes disallowing the sale or donation of adulterated eggs. “Modernization” also includes updating language about how penalties are handled by VAAFM with farmers, but that language change should have little impact on farmers or hen raisers. 

The proposed changes also raise the maximum penalties that VAAFM might assess for violations. It has been over 30 years since the original maximums were changed, and these changes largely restate the maximums given the decades of inflation since.

VAAFM Enforcement

This bill would increase the maximum penalty that VAAFM can assess for a violation from $1k to $5k, and increases the total maximum fees for recurring and multiple violations from $25k to $50k.

Water Quality

These changes slightly curtail municipal authority to penalize stormwater management infractions. It adds that towns can manage stormwater, but only if “the municipality does not exceed [ANR’s] authority, maintains the exemptions in 10 V.S.A. § 1264(d)(1), and does not charge an operating fee related to exempt practices.” This makes sure that towns cannot regulate or penalize farms in particular, which are exempt from storm water regulation. Many towns currently penalize farms for their stormwater management (which is based on impervious surfaces, which can be large for farms) and this change would protect those farms, leading to a decrease in revenue for some towns.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Action Alert! Champion the Federal Amendment for On-Farm Slaughter 

• NFFC’s Milk from Family Dairies Act

• Cannabis

• Streamlining “Ecosystem Service” Incentive Programs 

• Food Residuals - Call to Regulate Depackaging Technology

• Right To Farm 

• H. 145 Organic Dairy Relief

• H.165 - An act relating to school food programs and universal school meals

• H.205 - An act relating to establishing the Small Farm Diversification and Transition Program 

• H.126 - An act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection

• Current Use: agency asks to change how penalties for withdrawing are calculated

• H.156 - Take Action on Healthcare!

Action Alert! Champion the Federal Amendment for On-Farm Slaughter 

Early February, the wonderful Mary Lake, Rural Vermont staff and farmers from across the country had a chance to fly to D.C. to present our Petition To Clarify The Personal Use Exemption in the FMIA to lawmakers - looking for champions for the initiative (more info)! We need Sen. Welch to take leadership in his Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry - reach out to your Senator Welch, Subject Line: Clarify On-Farm Slaughter is legal! And share with his staff why clarifying that on-farm slaughter is legal matters to you.

Take Action!

1. Keep the petition growing! Continue to sign-on & share our petition with your networks, especially with out of state supporters (individual and organizational): Sign-on here

2. Need more info? Policy Guide On-Farm Slaughter here

3. Find supporters, stats and testimonials in the appendix to our petition here

4. Reach out to Senator Welch’s office and urge them to champion this campaign. Contact Jeff_VanOot@welch.senate.gov & customize this template message:
   “Dear Jeff, thank you for meeting with a group from NFFC to learn about our Petition to Clarify the Personal-Use Exemption. I am reaching out as a ____________(farmer, on-farm slaughter customer, meat processor, supporter) to urge the Senator to take leadership on clarifying that on-farm slaughter has a place in federal law. A resilient food system depends on small, direct-to-consumer farms outside of commodity agriculture, and those farms need a level playing field that can only be served by the protection and preservation of exempt market niches like the personal use exemption for on farm slaughter. Respectfully, _____________”

NFFC’s Milk from Family Dairies Act

Rural Vermont board member, Stephen Leslie, joined the NFFC fly-in to D.C. in February to promote NFFC’s Milk from Family Dairies Act. Here’s some of what Stephen had to say about the bill and his experience of the trip: “Leading up to the trip I was feeling some angst about supporting a proposal that might extend the life of a consolidating (& polluting) conventional dairy industry in VT. Even though I had studied the NFFC proposal, it wasn't until I heard Siena explain it, that I understood how it could radically reform the dairy sector through a non-monetized national quota system---incentivizing small & mid-size farms and de-consolidating the CAFO-style operations. 

For my part, I spoke to the trend of massive consolidation in our state: 2500 dairies in 1975 to less than 500 in 2023---all the while producing approximately the same volume of milk. I spoke up for the migrant workers often forced to live and work in sub-par conditions on the large farms. I talked about my own small diversified & value-added dairy farm, and how in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) we have seen huge improvements in soil health and yields through stacking soil health practices, such as: intensive management grazing, silvopasture, riparian buffers, pollinator hedgerow, compost application, & cover cropping. I emphasized the need for USDA to funnel more conservation dollars to fully fund the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and to ensure that Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQUIP) dollars are not spent to prop up large farm operations.”

Learn more about the Milk from Family Dairies Act here
& about other priorities of the NFFC farm bill platform here

Cannabis

Rural Vermont continues to work with other member based organizations of the Cannabis Equity Coalition (NOFA VT, VT Racial Justice Alliance, Vermont Growers’ Association, and the Green Mtn. Patients’ Alliance) to advance our goals related to a racially just, economically equitable, and agriculturally accessible cannabis economy in Vermont.  We anticipate 2 bills - 1 in the House Gov. Operations Committee, and 1 in the Senate Gov. Operations Committee - coming forth soon which hope will include some of our recommendations, at least in some form.  

At this time, there are 4 bills related to VT’s cannabis policy: 

S.71 and H.270:  An act relating to miscellaneous amendments to the adult-use and medical cannabis programs.

These are bills which are largely informed by the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), these bills are likely seen as “must pass” by the Board and some members of the legislature - they are potential vehicles for our Coalitions’ goals as well.  Some of what these bills currently include:

• Repeals the sunset of the CCB

• New “propagation license”

• Eliminates fingerprinting for caregivers

• Eliminates the requirement for active therapy (for example related to particular medical conditions like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to qualify for the medical registry.

• Allows for cultivators to possess cannabis products.  This is also a goal of our coalition - currently cultivators can not make and sell “value added” products (other than “pre-rolls”) because they are not allowed to take back into their possession for resale any product made from the plant they grew made by a licensed manufacturer.

• Establish a State Testing lab and 3 positions, an appropriation for $850,000.  This is a critical need for producers, consumers, and the regulatory community.  However it alone will not meet all of the challenges at the CCB which affect producers - such as positions devoted to product registration where there is a significant backlog.

S.72:  An act relating to lifting the potency limits on concentrated cannabis products

This is a standalone bill coming from the Cannabis Control Board and Sen. Sears geared at shifting the “THC” cap of value added products. 

H.300:  An act relating to establishing the afterschool and summer care grant program

There is currently 30% of the VT cannabis excise tax committed to “youth prevention”, and Act 164 (the original Act enabling recreational sales) also includes dedicated funding for the expansion of afterschool and summer learning programs from the retail sales tax.  It is not immediately clear how this proposal interacts with these existing funds and directives in law or if it is creating an entirely new program and asking for a new source of funding.

Now is a good time to contact your representatives, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Pro-Tem, and members of the House and Senate Government Operations Committees who will be hearing these bills.  You can let them know about your experiences, concerns and needs, and your support for Rural VT and the VT Cannabis Equity Coalitions’ legislative goals.  You can advocate that these goals be integrated into S.71 or H.270, and express your support for bills coming to the Government Operations Committee which will already include aspects of some of these recommendations.  S.71 and H.270 are potential vehicles for addressing our goals as they are seen as bills including “miscellaneous” (or unrelated) aspects of legislative change, and are likely perceived as “must pass” bills by the Cannabis Control Board and some members of the legislature.

Streamlining “Ecosystem Service” Incentive Programs 

Small Farm Action Day is a collaboration of NOFA-VT and Rural Vermont. This years first event on February 21st focussed on: Vermont and “Payments for Ecosystem Services” - What Structural Reforms are Needed to Advance Functional Ecosystems and Farm Viability? Farmers, service providers, activists, and researchers, were sharing their desires and recommendations for programmatic solutions with lawmakers to better support and incentivize farm and forestry practices to address the climate challenges of our time.

The Small Farmer Cohort around Cat Buxton (that RV is part of) got the opportunity to speak to the past three years working alongside the PES and Soil Health Working Group. Two major successes for the Small Farmer Cohort are a) the final consensus decision towards a pilot program to enhance the Conservation Stewardship Program - similar to what the group recommended in 2021; and b) the final report making clear statements against any efforts to monetize nature. 

The Vermont Agency for Agriculture, Food, and Markets announced that a legislative proposal to codify the Vermont enhancement to CSP is currently being developed as a pilot program with an existing appropriation (Act 185, Sec. B.1100(a)(7)(A)) and will not be proposed to the legislature for codification until 2025. 

In consequence, Small Farm Action Day stressed to legislators not to wait until 2025 but to act on WHAT CAN BE DONE NOW to:

1. Hear from the PES & Soil Health WG directly, especially from the farmers on the group, about their experiences and takeaways from the WG process.

2. Address the complex issue of how to improve agricultural programs. Hear more from farmers about their policy recommendations!

3. Endorse the Conservation Districts request to increase their baseline funding to 3M. 

Each of the presentations was tremendously rich and meaningful, reaching from how current programs already aim to incentivise Ecosystem Services, to revealing “PES” as false solutions that benefit first and foremost Natural Asset Companies (NAC’s), to sharing efforts on farmer led decision making, to sharing farmer perspectives on pre-existing shortfalls and recommendations for improvements, and more! Beyond that, the national and international narrative of what “PES” means was eloquently dismantled by Julie Davenson, Board President NOFA-NH:

“Natural Asset Companies (“NACs”) claim that by valuating these ecosystem services we are able to protect them from further degradation. In reality, they are justifying their attempts to create new markets by commodifying nature in pursuit of endless growth. For over a millennia, indigenous peoples have valued, honored and respected nature without assigning a monetary value to it. Today’s financial systems are built on an endless growth continuum and PES, NACs and Carbon Credits are designed to extract as much wealth as possible from nature.”

Rural Vermont and the Small Farmer Cohort are working towards legislation that would make the various existing “Payment for Ecosystem Programs” work better, especially for small farmers. That includes further exploring the idea to develop a web portal to aggregate various programs, making discovery and application easier for farmers. Improved interface interoperability would also eliminate pre-existing redundancies. 

We hope you feel encouraged to learn more & watch one of the recordings of the event. 

Please do reach out to us & share your thoughts on shortfalls of existing programs; your ideas for addressing them & any thoughts on what you’ve learned about PES, Nature Asset Companies and how farmers would be disadvantaged through market solutions that aim to monetize nature. Share your testimonial with Rural Vermont here. 

Watch the recordings:

• Testimonials to the Senate Committee on Agriculture: Full Recording here, including Dan Brooks from Wayward Goose Farm about how Beavers are forgotten in Conservation Planning. 

• Testimonials to the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry: Full Recording here

• Panel Food and Climate: Carbon Market Pitfalls & Better Strategies for Regenerative Organic Practices: Full Recording available here

Written testimonials & handouts: 

• Mario Machado, Postdoctoral Researcher, Gund Institute, UVM (handout, report)

• Julie Davenson, President, Board of Directors NOFA-NH (handout)

• Jennifer Bryne, District Manager, White River Natural Resources Conservation District (report Vermont Farmer Perspectives on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Programs: A Summary Report)

• Cat Buxton, Soil Health Working Group representative, Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition (handout)

• Stephen Leslie, Owner, Cedar Mountain Farm (handout)

• Daniel Brooks, Wayward Goose Farm (handout)

• Abe Collins, Co-Founder, Land Care Cooperative (presentation)

Food Residuals - Call to Regulate Depackaging Technology

The Protect Our Soils Coalition (POS) is working to protect the Universal Recycling Law (URL), the law that banned food scraps from the landfill, with a goal to close-the-nutrient loop by diverting organics to their best and highest use in accordance with a management hierarchy. POS argues that depackaging technology is currently illegal, because it does not require “source separation” - generators to separate their food scraps from non compostable trash and recycling at the point of generation. Instead, it allows service providers like Casella, to offer “zero sort” type systems where they pick up mixed loads and separate them mechanically through depackaging technology at their facility in Williston, Vermont. POS argues: “This practice creates new resource concerns that the Universal Recycling Law was intended to solve and hinders market development for small scale composters.” Resource concerns include a presumed greater likelihood for contamination of organics and water with microplastics (including PFAS) through depackaging technology (zero sort) vs. separation of the different resources at the point of generation (source separation). Last year, POS advocated successfully for the creation of a stakeholder group that recommended policy changes. That stakeholder group expressed a shared desire for more clarity through better public outreach and education from the Agency of Natural Resources and clear definitions and parameters for the use of depackaging technology. 

Next steps:

1. ANR has presented their draft to rewrite their 2019 policy - read more here. Share your written comments on the draft policy with Ben Gauthier by email on or before March 16, 2023 (Benjamin.Gauthier@vermont.gov)

2. The POS coalition is advocating to a) set parameters for the continued use of depackaging technology as a niche in law, e.g. for managing homogenous loads of food manufacturing businesses and b) to prohibit the application of end products from depack on agricultural lands. Stay tuned for action alerts & join POS here.

3. Call your legislator today (find your legislator here) & say that you want:

1. food scraps to be diverted to their highest and best use

2. that “zero sort” management systems disadvantage small farmers and composters in the marketplace

3. depackaging technology needs to be regulated as a niche, en large for homogeneous loads from food manufacturing businesses &

4. A ban on the land application of end products from depackaging technology to mitigate PFAS & microplastic contamination now!

Right to Farm

This request from the Farm Bureau, the Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance and supporting farms is being considered by the Senate Committee on Agriculture as a committee bill, Draft 2.3. Last year, the “Right to Farm” law had been worked on as well, which resulted in the successful expansion of the lists of activities that are now encompassed under the nuisance protection. Important to note is that this expansion included the change or expansion of farming practices so that transitioning farms are better protected. Read more about the most recent changes in Section 10 of Act 162, 2022.  

It is indeed important to protect farms from unreasonable nuisance complaints and Rural Vermont believes the existing law is adequate, and the suggested changes are potentially harmful.  These laws are ideally guided by the need to protect small farms from nuisance lawsuits having to do with the inherent nature of farms as non-farm development has increased, yet these laws have spread and been adapted by organizations such as ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) to protect ever larger farms, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and agribusiness. Different states have different Right to Farm laws of various strengths: some provide iron clad protection to farms, while others provide less, allowing neighbors to pursue civil action against disruptive farms in certain cases.  Rural Vermont has received clear feedback from our national allies in the National Family Farm Coalition that many expanded “Right to Farm” laws have been used to effectively displace and disadvantage small farms, and to prevent communities from defending themselves and their lands and waters in States such as Missouri, North Carolina, and more.  

This year, the most current bill draft would suggest that an agricultural activity:

1. shall not be a nuisance or trespass when the activity has been in operation for more than one year and the activity was not a nuisance at the time the activity was initiated, or 

2. complies with generally accepted agricultural practices. 

3. is not protected whenever a nuisance or trespass violation results from the negligent operation of an agricultural activity or from a violation of the State agricultural water quality requirements. 

4. shall not lose nuisance or trespass protection due to a change of ownership or a cessation of operation of not more than five years; a change of crops produced; or 

5. a change of a farming method or conversion of a farming practice or agricultural activity to another farming method, practice, or agricultural activity on a farm. 

6. The act would also provide that the conflicting parties, at least once, attempt to resolve through mediation (though this mediation would not extend the 1 year deadline for the plaintiff to file suit).

Furthermore, the bill would remove an exemption which states that farms are not protected from lawsuit if “the activity has a substantial adverse effect on health, safety, or welfare, or has a noxious and significant interference with the use and enjoyment of the neighboring property.” (12 V.S.A. § 5753). The draft also removes language stating that the legal protection shall not “be construed to limit the authority of State or local boards of health to abate nuisances affecting the public health” (12 V.S.A. § 5753). By removing these clauses the new Right to Farm bill would make pressing charges against a farm much harder. The draft conserves some important aspects of the current Right to Farm bill, including that farms are only protected if they comply with the state’s Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) and Rule of Control of Pesticides.  One Large Farm Operation providing testimony stated that this bill was written to extend the definition of farming to include biogas digesters on farms, limiting neighbors’ and towns’ abilities to have oversight of, and influence on, such a form of development.  

Opposition to the bill was well articulated by by Scott Sanderson from the Conservation Law 

Foundation, watch testimonials from 2/23 here. Scott wrote to the committee (emphasis added): “CLF opposes Draft 2.3 because the bill does not solve a problem: nuisance and trespass lawsuits against farms are rare and do not threaten Vermont’s farm economy. Moreover, Draft 2.3, [...], curtails property rights; limits Vermonters’ recourse to the courts when they have no other option to protect their property, health, and welfare; and upsets the careful balance established by Vermont’s existing right-to-farm law. Last, Draft 2.3 introduces new concerns: it applies a “generally accepted agricultural practices” standard that further erodes property rights; it establishes a mediation requirement that is unlikely to resolve disputes between farmers and neighboring landowners; and it creates factual issues that are likely to complicate court proceedings. For these reasons, CLF opposes Draft 2.3. We urge the Committee to preserve Vermont’s existing right-to-farm law.”

For more info and up-to-date drafts and testimonies of the bill, you can follow it here.

H.145 - Organic Dairy Relief

We are in support of NOFA-VT’s ACTION ALERT: Call your rep to save organic dairies click here. 

Update:The request is for $9.2 million in relief funding to help keep Organic dairies from going out of business, which the House passed on 2/2/23 in H.145, the FY 2023 Budget Adjustment Act. The Senate took the provision out of their version of the BAA, being technical about it and suggesting to place it in the FY24 budget or in a stand-alone legislation.

Earlier, organic dairy farmers testified in a joint hearing organized by NOFA-VT on 1/26/23 to the Senate Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry (or, “House Ag”). Legislators heard firsthand the extent to which the free-falling Organic milk prices are impacting farmers. NOFA-VT released a concise, powerful edit of testimony highlights here.

This one time request is not the structural change we need but can help prevent many of Vermont’s Organic dairies from disappearing. With many of these farms on the brink of bankruptcy, their loss would be a tragedy for Vermont’s grasslands, climate strategy, dairy industry, milk drinkers, and more. For more info see NOFA-VT’s action alert and infographics.

H.165 - An act relating to school food programs and universal school meals

The Vermont Legislature is seeking to extend the school meal coverage plan it implemented initially as a COVID relief strategy. H.165 would fund breakfast and lunch for Vermont students at public schools, and publicly-tuitioned private school students by appropriating $29M from the Education Fund to the Agency of Education for fiscal year 2024. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Erin Brady of Chittenden and the House Education Committee but is currently on the way to the House floor after a 9-2-0 favorable vote in the new House Agriculture, Food Resilience and Forestry committee. The new language includes students attending an approved independent school on public tuition, including prekindergarten children, if their school offers a school lunch program.

H.205 - An act relating to establishing the Small Farm Diversification and Transition Program

Lead by former dairy farmer Rep. Rodney Graham and diversified small farmer Rep. Heather Suprenant, H.205 is sponsored by the entire House Ag Committee and more, and introduces the “Small Farm Diversification and Transition Program” within VAAFM, a new grant program with $250K appropriated from the general fund. Grants are to be used for small farms for (1) diversifying commodities, (2) transitioning farm type, (3) on-farm processing, or (4) add on-farm accessory businesses. 

This bill seems to be in the early stages as the House Ag Committee is still exploring expected uses for the funds and grant limits and processes. 

H.126 - An act relating to community resilience and biodiversity protection (conservation mandate)

H.126, which is still in committee in the House Committee on Environment and Energy, mandates conservation goals for Vermont in alignment with federal and global “30 by 30” initiatives: to conserve 30% of Vermont by 2030, and 50% by 2050. This includes private, municipal, state, and federal land, and “conservation” just means more than half of the parcel is protected from development or in a wildlife production initiative. Without making additional funding available, the bill encourages research and reporting and generally charges the Agency of Natural Resources with the task of meeting those conservation deadlines!

Did you know? During Small Farm Action Day, Farmer and Rural Vermont Board Member Stephen Leslie testified, that: 

“Beginning in 2010, and for the first time in over one-hundred years, Vermont is again losing forest to the tune of 1150 acres a year. Unchecked development, clear cutting and fragmentation all threaten the health and connectivity of woodlands.

50% of the carbon stored in a forest is held by the top 1% of the biggest trees. New findings show that, young trees are net emitters of carbon until they reach about twenty years and that although it is not as rapid as in young trees, sequestration is greatest from the growth period of 50 years to 150 years of age and is continuous after that. In terms of immediate impact in the midst of the climate crisis & loss of biodiversity, the most consequential action we can can take in the northeast is to protect our mature forests.

In the last biennium law makers passed a far-reaching conservation measure---now known as the “Biodiversity Bill”. The original bill was vetoed by the governor but it is being reintroduced as H.126 in this biennium. The bill is on a par with President Joe Biden's “30 x30 & 50 x50” executive order, which sets a goal to conserve 30% of all land and waters nationwide by 2030 and 50% by 2050. A 30x30---50x50 initiative was also adopted this past December 2022 by international delegates at the COP 15 gathering on Biodiversity held in Montreal. Vermont already has 24% of it’s land protected under three tiers of conservation. We can easily meet

the 30 x30 goal by permanently protecting all forests on public land (including state and national forests which comprise about 10% of all VT woodlands).”

Current Use: Land Use Change Tax Streamline

The Vermont Department of Taxes, with support from the department of Forest Parks and Recreation and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture Food and Markets, is requesting to reshape how the “Land Use Change Tax” is calculated. The “Land Use Change Tax” is the fee or penalty that landowners pay when they withdraw land from the Current Use program, so its calculation has big implications for how much land gets enrolled and stays enrolled. The current schema makes it impossible to know how big the penalty will be when land is withdrawn from Current Use, and results in surprising and hugely ranging fees. This makes enrolling in Current Use less attractive. And, according to testimony from the Dept of Taxes, the way the penalty is currently calculated is “difficult if not impossible to administer” because it puts a huge burden on town administrators, as well as state tax people.

According to the Dept. of Taxes, the changes will not increases fees on average, but will redistribute the cost of the penalty to be more equitable, and easy to calculate and administer. 

Good idea! Dan Brooks from Wayward Goose farm was advocating during Small Farm Action Day on 2/21 for a policy recommendation of Sarah Flack that suggests a New Wetlands Current Use Category with No Tax to incentivize farmers and foresters to allow for more beaver habitat and wetlands. “Given the growing likelihood of year round hot/dry weather due to climate change, I am alarmed by the lack of any mention of beavers and the critical roles they play in mitigating drought as well as flooding and all of the other ecosystem services they provide…” Read more from Dan about this here.

Take action in support and email these officials together Subject Line: Beavers: New Wetlands Current Use Category with no tax

Jill.remick@vermont.gov - Director of Property Valuation and Review, Department of Taxes 

laura.lapierre@vermont.gov - Wetlands Program Manager, Agency of Natural Resources

hannah.smith@vermont.gov - Associate General Counsel, Agency of Natural Resources

Take Action on Healthcare!

59 House members have introduced H156! It creates a clear roadmap for publicly financed health care for all Vermonters! (A companion bill S74 has also been introduced in the Senate). Legislators need pressure to take up these bills. Contact the House Health Care Committee and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee. Tell these committees we need these bills considered and passed. These bills deserve a hearing! They would phase in a universal health care system, starting with Universal Primary Care, including outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment. They also propose adding preventive dental and vision care in the second year, and incorporating additional health care services in later years until we have universal access for all sectors of care. (More information on the bills here).

Rural Vermont is a member organization of the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), an alliance of grassroots farmer- and advocate-led groups from across the country representing the rights and interests of independent family farmers, ranchers, and fishermen in Washington, DC. NFFC organized a two day fly-in event to DC earlier this week, where farmers and fishermen from across the nation came together to speak to over 20+ legislative offices in four groups - land access, dairy, capital and on-farm slaughter. Our Vermont delegation included board member Stephen Leslie from Cedar Mountain Farm who supported the dairy group, RV staffer Caroline and the wonderful shepherd, shearer and itinerant slaughterer, Mary Lake. This was the first time we presented our Petition to Clarify the Personal Use Exemption and it was tremendously valuable to pair leadership from Vermont for on-farm slaughter with experiences from other states. Much appreciation to Kenya Abraham, who farms in Kentucky and shared how difficult it is to practice halal slaughter in a state where OFS is not supported; to Betsy Garrold who farms in Maine, where they were also facing threats from the USDA to revoke Maine’s equal-to status when they passed a food sovereignty law that included on-farm slaughter; and to our friends from Dakota Rural Action for their support in stepping up for this issue. It was fascinating to have Leonardo Wassilie in our team, a fisherman from Alaska, who explained how difficult it is to get into regenerative farming without any infrastructure - now that permafrost melting reveals fertile soils - it is a matter of food security. “

“ ‘What is not being taken care of will break over time…’ that was what really sat with me when I listened to two strong women, Mary and Kenya, during our meetings. The structural barriers for learning and engaging in meat processing are a huge part of their shared experience. I find their passion to re-cultivate the skill to ethically care for our livestock by slaughtering them where they were raised inspiring.”

RV Legislative Director, Caroline Gordon 

While these were initial conversations in DC, and many staffers were entirely new to the issue of on-farm slaughter, we hope to deepen and broaden conversations and to see leadership from Senator Welch’s office on this issue. 

Stay tuned for action alerts and for now, continue to share and sign-on the petition! Big shout out to the wonderful NFFC staff who made this advocacy effort possible!

A new House Bill was introduced by Brian Cina, the act relating to incremental implementation of Green Mountain Care: This bill proposes to:

• implement Green Mountain Care, a publicly financed health care program for all Vermont residents, over time, starting with primary care in the first year, adding preventive dental and vision care in the second year, and incorporating additional health care services in later years,

• establish the Universal Health Care Advisory Group at the Green Mountain Care Board to provide recommendations to the General Assembly regarding the sequencing of and financing for the health care services to be added in the third through tenth years of Green Mountain Care’s implementation,

• express legislative intent regarding funding sources for Green Mountain Care,

• prohibit health insurance plans and rates from reflecting duplication of the coverage provided by Green Mountain Care.

Rural Vermont supports this bill, and the full implementation of Act 48. Stay tuned for a bill number, and link to the language when it's available. For more info contact mollie@ruralvermont.org

This biennium the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition (Rural VT, NOFA VT, VT Racial Justice Alliance, Vermont Growers’ Association, and recently joined Green Mtn Patients’ Alliance) is looking forward to seeing legislation emerge in both the Senate and the House which we anticipate will directly address many of our coalition's priorities:

1.  20% of Tax Revenue to Reinvestment in Communities Disproportionately harmed in a Community reinvestment fund administered by members of these communities

2.  10% Revenue to the Cannabis Business Development Fund 

3.  Direct Markets and value added for smaller tiers of cultivators and manufacturers

• On-farm and off-farm direct sales allowances for Cultivation Tiers 1,2 Indoor; 1,2,3 Mixed; 1,2,3 Outdoor

• Includes allowances for all cultivators to sell products manufactured from their plants wholesale; and the “direct market” tiers to also directly market particular manufactured products 

4.  Agricultural Use and Exemptions

• All outdoor cannabis cultivation shall be treated as agriculture at the municipal level, including the outdoor cultivation aspects of “mixed tier” licenses.

• Extend Tier 1 current use and other ag related privileges to all tiers of outdoor cultivation

5.  Increasing Homegrow Allowances to 10 plants or to the new medical allowances

6.  Complete Expungement of any and all Cannabis Related Charges and Not Re-criminalizing 

• Public consumption anywhere tobacco is allowed

• Burden on the renter to get permission currently - model this after NY where one is allowed to consume unless specifically prohibited, and can’t limit all forms of consumption (ie edibles, etc.)

7.  The Tier 1 manufacturing license is not economically feasible - increase the income limit

• Currently costs too much to afford with the limit of income allowed to qualify for it.

8. Breeding License

• Separate license

• Some precedent in other States; in some cases can’t sell flower at all from this license type

• Both breeding and cultivators licenses can sell live immature plants

9. Licensure / regulation of live Plant Sales:  

• Allow cultivators to sell seeds and living plants they grow directly to customers.

10.  Support for Green Mountain Patients’ Alliance’s proposed medical cannabis policies

A new biennium has begun! To help our constituents understand what has changed in the State House and support them in engaging with agricultural issues and the legislative process, we've created a simple reference guide. Read on!

Biennium. Since 2023 marks an odd-numbered year, the legislative procedure prescribes the beginning of a new biennium. Any bill introduced has the next two years to be passed into law by the General Assembly. Since the COVID shut down in March 2020, it’s been three years that lawmakers have been meeting remotely (mostly). Vaccination and testing policies were dropped by the Joint Rules Committee in fall 2022 for the State House (VT Digger article) and lawmakers of the House are expected to be back in-person “unless sick or otherwise necessarily detained” (House Rules). In contrast, Senators will continue to abide by the 2021 rule that “A Senator participating remotely shall be considered present and in attendance at the meeting of the Senate, including for purposes of determining if a quorum is present” (Senate Rules). Both chambers will continue to use the ability to livestream committee hearings and floor sessions on YouTube. 

Find out what’s important to you within:

• Floor Sessions - Check the House or Senate Calendar on the startpage of the website

• Committee Hearings - Check the committee agenda that includes the YouTube Link as well (House Ag; Senate Ag)

Legislators. There has been remarkable and record turnover in lawmakers; about one third of the elected body are new to the legislature. Democrats and Progressives won 10 seats and now hold the two-thirds majority needed to override vetoes from Governor Scott. The new spirit brings hope for transformative change as young legislators organize in the new Vermont Future Caucus. Aside from the partisan caucuses, there are many others that meet independently to discuss strategy like the Social Equity Caucus, Climate Solutions Caucus and the Rural Caucus for example.

Committees. The House Ag committee got renamed to House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry (H.R. 4) overseeing matters related to: “Agriculture, food resiliency, climate change mitigation and adaptation, forestry and forest products, and State parks and lands, and other similar policies.” While food resiliency is not defined in the House Rules, we understand that it’s inclusive of food security. 

You can find bios and contact info of committee members on the committee’s website: Reach out to any of these legislators to express your needs and concerns regarding agriculture, food and climate policy and regulation (House Ag; Senate Ag).

Leadership. Long time chairperson of the former House Agriculture and Forestry Committee, Carolyn Partridge, retired after the 2022 session and over 24 years in service. The new leadership of HAG includes young farmer Rep. Heather Suprenant from Barnard as Vice Chair and we are excited to see the farmer leadership - congratulations Heather! Re-elected farmer Lieutenant Governor David Zuckerman has been a long time supporter of the Rural Vermont membership and will welcome us back to in-person Small Farm Action Days at the State House with NOFA-VT (Stay tuned - dates TBD)!

Bills. Follow along as legislation is starting to be introduced here or tune in to House and Senate Floor Sessions. Did you know? Rural Vermont and the Cannabis Equity Coalition are working with legislators to introduce a bill that enables direct sales of cannabis for growers (recent VTDigger article).

Testimonials. If you want to testify in committee because you are affected by pending legislation - reach out about that to the committee assistant, not the chair or another committee member. Great soul and long time committee assistant Linda Leehman ((802) 828-2258 lleehman@leg.state.vt.us) is still with the Senate but there’s a new point person to assist the new respective House committee (Alaura Rich (802) 828-2267, arich@leg.state.vt.us); see also witness information. Additionally, reach out to Legislative Director Caroline Gordon for support and guidance.

Reports and Rules. Many legislative reports - including those on revitalizing the Dairy Industry, the rollout of on-farm composting of food residuals; and from the depack stakeholder group, and the Payment for Ecosystem Services and Soil Health Working group - are being released in January. You can find reports here. The legislative committee appointed to adopt new rules, LCAR, decided last week to postpone their vote on a new pesticides rule after the Department of Health announced concerns. The new rule is mostly concerned about how commercial applicators notify about when and how pesticides are being used as well as requiring some new municipal permits for their application in public spaces (recent VTDigger article).  

Reach out and Connect! Let us know what your interest in any of the upcoming new legislation is and help to inform our shared work and goals:

Our 2023 priorities for organizing, education, advocacy and action are shaped at the intersection of many influences: our relationships with our membership, our Board, our Staff, our allied organizations, coalitions, and allied movements locally and globally. During the legislative session, we actively track legislation throughout the Statehouse and keep our members updated on a diversity of bills and conversations, providing opportunities to engage. This is an overview of some of the many issue areas we work on and support. For more info and to keep up with Rural Vermont, follow us on Facebook and/or Instagram, sign up for our mailing list or e-newsletter, or become a member and attend our Quarterly Member Forums.

Launch of the La Via Campesina supported Agroecology and Movement Building School: After co-hosting the 2022 Agroecology Encounter in Marshfield, we have been working as part of a collective effort to build an agroecology and movement building school in Vermont in a collaboration with local, regional and national partners. The school will highlight farmer to farmer training models and popular and political education, and seeks to increase access to and uplift those already doing this work.

Federal On-Farm Slaughter Amendment: With partner organizations, including the National Family Farm Coalition, Food and Ranch Freedom Alliance, and the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, we aim to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to clarify  outdated language from the personal-use exemption to more closely align with standing Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) guidance and state laws which explicitly allow livestock owners to slaughter their animals on the farm where they were raised or to hire an itinerant slaughterer. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets is in support of amending the federal law to provide more clarity on this issue.

Payments for Ecosystem Services: The three-year working group process to assess whether new financial incentives are needed to promote a number of ecosystem services ends with a consensus to enhance the federal Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) with additional rewards for farms in Vermont. The Small Farmer Group coordinated by Cat Buxton, that Rural Vermont is part of, has advocated since 2020 for the so-called CSP+ proposal. We continue to inform the working group and the legislature with our farmer-led recommendations.

Cannabis:  Rural Vermont will continue to work with other members of the VT Cannabis Equity Coalition (VT Racial Justice Alliance, NOFA VT, Vermont Growers’ Association, Justice for All) to achieve a market which is economically equitable, racially just, and agriculturally accessible. Some of our goals include: reducing the significant barriers to accessing licensure and agricultural services for cultivators and farmers, to create ongoing funding for the Cannabis Development Fund and for reinvestment in communities disproportionately harmed by criminalization, to ensure direct market access for producers and the public, and to create scale appropriate licensing for breeding, manufacturing of products, and live plant sales.

Healthcare: In collaboration with grassroots and other healthcare advocates, we continue to offer farm(work)er specific training opportunities around healthcare access, amplify agrarian voices in healthcare, and work in coalition with experienced healthcare advocates towards our goal of publicly funded universal access to healthcare for all.

Market development and rules for composting food residuals on farms: With the Protect Our Soils Coalition, we work to secure markets for on-farm and community scale composting of food residuals by advocating for regulating depackaging technology, strengthening the source separation requirement and the hierarchy for organics management. Next year, the rules for farms that compost food scraps will be released and we aim to offer new on-farm workshops, with a focus on utilizing poultry forage.

Land, Capital, and Housing:  Long term secure access to land, capital, and appropriate housing are some of the most pressing issues faced in the agricultural community, locally and globally. There are a number of efforts ongoing to collaboratively listen to stakeholders and address these issues: the Milk with Dignity Program and Migrant Justice, Just Construction, the Farmworker Housing Repair Program, Every Town, the Land Access and Opportunity Board, the Farm to Plate Network, the Land Grab Working Group at the National Family Farm Coalition, and many more coalitions, organizations, and efforts. We will continue to participate and monitor different programs and conversations, consider particular leverage points we may be best suited to work on, and bring the experiences and concerns of our members to the conversation.

Workshop Series: Our popular series of food sovereignty workshops continue, partnering with farmers and other members of the agricultural community to teach participants how to process raw dairy at home, slaughter and process poultry and livestock, and we’ll offer a new community food scrap composting workshops for farms.

Farm To Plate:  We continue to have a seat on the Farm to Plate Steering Committee and to participate as we are able in a number of groups within its new organizational structure, including: the Policy Priority Strategy Team (working towards and influencing a “policy roadmap”), the Agroforestry Priority Strategy Team, the Meat Slaughter and Processing Priority Strategy Team, the Food Cycle Coalition, Food Security Priority Strategy Team (co-creating a food security plan for the State), and more. These relationships allow us to be in conversation with diverse groups of organizational stakeholders working towards particular goals and outcomes.

Quarterly Member Forums and Ongoing Grassroots Engagement:  We are now hosting quarterly member forums. These are opportunities for our members to join our Director of Grassroots Organizing, our Legislative Director, and our Policy Director in a virtual forum to discuss particular issues which may be affecting your farm and / or community, and/ or that we are currently working on. We seek additional feedback from members and allies on an ongoing basis through 1:1 meetings, kitchen table conversations, and other community organizing initiatives.

Small Farm Action Days & Statehouse to Farmhouse 2023: In partnership with NOFA-VT and other organizations, we will continue to host Small Farm Action Days at the Statehouse at least 3 times throughout the legislative session. These are opportunities for you to become familiar with the Statehouse itself, with the policy making process and some active issues, and to meet with your representative or provide testimony on a particular issue you’re affected by. Statehouse to Farmhouse is an annual event in which we work together with a number of organizations to bring farmers and policy makers together on farms across VT.

Accessory On-Farm Business and Act 250:We look forward to participating in a larger collaborative effort to amend the law governing Accessory On-Farm Businesses (AOFBs) in order to ensure consistent definitions across laws which define agriculture, to address how Act 250 intersects with accessory on-farm businesses, and ideally to ensure that there is adequate outreach and education done to municipal governance and the agricultural community so that the law is more adequately understood and enforced across Vermont. We are also supporting farmers with AOFBs in court by expressing the significant need to uphold existing carve outs from Act 250 for farms.