A former representative and state senator returned to the State House Thursday to say the current Legislature  is hurting poor and young Vermonters and only helping developers and special interests. 

John Rodgers of Glover is a co-organizer of the ‘Tap Trees, Not Vermonters’ rally Thursday, May 9 at the Vermont State House. In this one-minute video (above), he sought to capture the frustration of working and young Vermonters seeking housing and affordable living in Vermont but feeling left out by the Legislature.

The Legislature this week passed H.687, a revised version of Act 250, the state’s landuse and development law. It enhances construction of small, multi-family housing buildings in urban areas, but makes building a home on a small lot in the country subject to severe restrictions. Rodgers:

“The Legislature wasted time on an Act 250 bill which makes it easier for wealthy developers to develop in downtowns that are dumping raw sewage into our waterways, while making it harder to develop and subdivide in rural communities, where most young Vermonters want to live.” 

The Legislature this week also passed H.289, the Renewable Energy Standards bill that would add $1 billion in rate hikes over the next decade to further the build-out of mostly instate renewable power and infrastructure. Gov. Scott’s far less expensive plan to get to zero power emissions statewide by accessing available out-of-state hydro and nuclear power was dismissed. Rodgers:

“The Legislature wasted time on an energy bill that was written by energy developers and will profit energy developers and utilities, at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars a year on working Vermonters. This energy bill does nothing to address climate change, it only rewards energy developers who contribute to the legislators who are forwarding the bill.

“This is a regressive bill. It will punish working class and poor Vermonters to make millionaires even richer.”

See full article on Vermont Daily Chronicle.