The HOME bill would effectively ban single-family zoning, allowing duplexes anywhere that currently only permits single-family homes. In areas served by water and sewer, tri- and four-plexes would also be allowed, and municipalities would also need to allow at least five units to be built per acre.
S.32 comes after a different, more robust ranked choice voting bill melted away last year. Lawmakers came back this year with the idea to limit implementation of the system to presidential primaries as a trial run.
A provision in this year’s miscellaneous motor vehicle bill allows the agency to “make reasonable changes” to its policies with only the approval of the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee which meets when the full Legislature is not in session.
“Our laws should protect people, not push them further toward the margins of our society,” Sen. Becca White said at a press conference calling on Vermont to decriminalize sex work.
An analyst with the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office told lawmakers on Friday that preliminary estimates pegged the combined annual cost of paid leave and child care subsidies at about $190 million in 2025, which would be the first full year of operation.