Vermont S 238: An act relating to the use of green signal lamps on wreckers

Bill Text

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S.238 1
Introduced by Senators Clarkson, Hardy and Watson 2
Referred to Committee on 3
Date: 4
Subject: Housing; Housing Investments Special Fund; taxation; short-term 5
rental surcharge; rooms tax surcharge; sugar-sweetened beverage tax; 6
Education Fund 7
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to create the 8
Housing Investments Special Fund to help create, preserve, and improve 9
housing stock in Vermont. The bill proposes to use a new rooms tax surcharge 10
and the existing short-term rental surcharge to support the Fund. The bill 11
further proposes to create a sugar-sweetened beverage tax to generate revenue 12
for the Education Fund. 13
An act relating to revenue for education and housing development 14
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: 15
Sec. 1. FINDINGS 16
The General Assembly finds that: 17
(1) Vermont’s most recent Housing Needs Assessment estimates that the 18
pace of home building will need to increase to create between 24,000 and 19
36,000 additional year-round homes in 2025–2029 to meet demand, normalize 20

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vacancy rates, house the homeless, and replace homes lost from the stock 1
through flooding and other causes. 2
(2) Of these homes, the shortage is most marked for Vermonters with 3
low income, or households that earn less than 120 percent of the Area Median 4
Income as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 5
Development (HUD). Assuming a midpoint target of 30,000 homes and 6
apartments from the Housing Needs Assessment, half of them, or 15,000, 7
would need public subsidies to be affordable to households earning less than 8
80 percent HUD’s Area Median Income. 9
(3) Subsidies are also often needed to construct housing for households 10
earning between 80 percent and 120 percent of HUD’s Area Median Income. 11
Another 5,000 homes are needed to meet Vermonters’ housing needs. 12
(4) To meet Vermont’s stated goal of constructing new housing units, 13
two-thirds of the units will need targeted public subsidies to meet the housing 14
needs of Vermont, or an estimated 4,000 publicly subsidized housing units per 15
year out of 7,500 units per year that it is estimated that we need. 16
(5) Since 2020, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board has 17
supported the creation and preservation of housing and shelter for over 5,000 18
households across Vermont. 19

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(6) Continued financial support of the Vermont Housing Improvement 1
Program is needed. This program helps Vermont bring back housing that is 2
vacant, dilapidated, non-code compliant, or unweatherized. 3
(7) The need for service supported housing is growing and largely 4
unmet. Whether it’s housing for persons with intellectual developmental 5
disabilities, those in transition, those with mental health needs, or persons with 6
physical disabilities, we need more supportive housing. The 2025 Acts and 7
Resolves No. 69 State Housing and Residential Services Planning Committee 8
has determined an urgent need of 600-plus service supported housing units for 9
persons with developmental disabilities alone. 10
(8) At current budget levels and with no new revenue, Vermont is 11
projected to create between 150 and 200 housing units affordable to 12
households earning less than 80 percent of HUD’s Area Median Income per 13
year. 14
Sec. 2. 32 V.S.A. chapter 225, subchapter 5 is added to read: 15
Subchapter 5. Rooms Tax Housing Surcharge 16
§ 9311. IMPOSITION; ROOMS TAX HOUSING SURCHARGE 17
(a) An operator shall collect a surcharge of two percent of the rent of each 18
occupancy subject to tax under subsection 9241(a) of this title. 19
(b) The surcharge shall be in addition to any tax assessed under section 20
9241 of this chapter. The surcharge assessed under this section shall be paid, 21

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collected, remitted, and enforced under this chapter in the same manner as the 1
rooms tax assessed under section 9241 of this title. 2
(c) The surcharge shall be itemized on the invoice or bill and include a 3
statement that the surcharge is “for support of Vermont’s Housing Investments 4
Special Fund.” 5
Sec. 3. 32 V.S.A. chapter 227 is added to read: 6
CHAPTER 227. SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGE TAX 7
§ 9401. DEFINITIONS 8
As used in this chapter: 9
(1) “Beverage for medical use” means a beverage suitable for human 10
consumption and manufactured for use as an oral nutritional therapy for 11
persons who cannot absorb or metabolize dietary nutrients from food or 12
beverages or for use as an oral rehydration electrolyte solution for infants and 13
children formulated to prevent or treat dehydration due to illness. “Beverage 14
for medical use” also means a “medical food” as defined in subdivision 15
(5)(b)(3) of the Orphan Drug Act, 21 U.S.C. §