Rep. Kate Logan

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes a "good cause" standard for employer terminations in Vermont, requiring employers to have a legitimate, reasonable business reason (such as poor job performance) to fire most employees. It explicitly excludes trivial, arbitrary, or unrelated reasons for termination and creates an exception for employees with less than 90 days of service. Employers must post a notice about this requirement in a conspicuous location at their workplace. The law takes effect on July 1, 2025, directly affecting Vermont employers and their workforce.

Maddy summaryThis bill establishes safety standards and oversight for developers and deployers of inherently dangerous artificial intelligence systems in Vermont. It requires these entities to submit safety and impact assessments to a new Division of Artificial Intelligence within the Agency of Digital Services. The Attorney General can enforce the law by taking legal action against noncompliant developers or deployers, including seeking court orders to stop violations. The bill specifically targets high-risk AI systems, dual-use foundational models, and generative AI systems that pose serious risks to public safety, economic security, or individual rights.

Maddy summaryH 328 would require regional planning commissions to comply with Vermont's environmental justice State policy. Currently, the policy applies to certain state agencies, but this bill adds regional planning commissions as mandated entities. These commissions coordinate regional planning for issues like land use, transportation, and economic development across multiple towns. The bill directly affects how these commissions conduct their planning work to ensure environmental justice considerations are integrated into their decisions.

Maddy summaryThis Vermont bill regulates developers and deployers of automated decision systems (ADS) used in consequential decisions - such as hiring, housing, loan approvals, or healthcare access - to prevent algorithmic discrimination. It requires businesses to clearly inform consumers before using ADS in such decisions, explaining what data is measured, how it is used, and how it influences outcomes. The bill prohibits the use of ADS that result in discriminatory treatment based on protected characteristics like race, gender, age, or disability. These requirements apply to businesses operating in Vermont that deploy or develop ADS for decisions materially affecting residents' rights, liberties, or welfare.

Maddy summaryH.336 allows employees, worker organizations, or whistleblowers to file lawsuits on behalf of Vermont’s Labor Commissioner to enforce workplace laws, such as minimum wage or misclassification rules. It directly affects workers who face violations (e.g., unpaid wages or improper contractor status) and provides a mechanism for them to seek penalties and remedies. Key provisions include sharing recovered fines (70% to the Labor Department, 30% to the filer if the Commissioner doesn’t intervene) and requiring 25% of those funds to support workforce education programs. The bill also prohibits contracts from blocking these lawsuits and sets clear court procedures for filing claims.

Maddy summaryH 327 requires corporations building new energy facilities (costing over $100,000) after January 1, 2025, to submit two items to Vermont's Public Utility Commission: a line-item budget from the contractor and an attestation confirming either union labor was used at prevailing wage plus 42.5% fringe benefits, or non-union labor paid the mean prevailing wage plus the same fringe benefits. Fringe benefits include health insurance, retirement contributions, and paid leave. The Commission must make these documents publicly available (with personal details removed) and the law takes effect July 1, 2025. This directly affects energy project contractors and developers regulated by the Public Utility Commission.

Maddy summaryH 313 creates a temporary Ranked-Choice Voting Study Committee to examine implementation challenges for all Vermont elections (state and federal) by 2028, focusing on voter education, election security, and ballot processing. The bill also requires Vermont's major political parties to use ranked-choice voting for U.S. presidential primary elections starting in 2028, where voters rank candidates in order of preference instead of selecting just one. This directly affects voters participating in Vermont's presidential primaries and election officials managing primary ballots. The committee must report findings by January 2026, with recommendations for potential statewide implementation. The bill does not change general election rules, only presidential primary voting procedures.

Maddy summaryH.347 would raise Vermont's minimum wage to $20.00 per hour starting January 1, 2026, with annual adjustments based on inflation. It eliminates the current exemption for agricultural workers from overtime pay, phasing in overtime requirements over time (from 60 hours/week to 40 hours/week by 2036), and removes the separate "tipped minimum wage," requiring all tipped workers to earn at least the full minimum wage. The bill also sets a new salary threshold of $1,128,000 annually (adjusted yearly) for workers to qualify as exempt from overtime and minimum wage rules, and removes the option for subminimum wages for people with disabilities. It maintains the Attorney General's authority to enforce employee misclassification complaints.

Maddy summaryH 335 requires employers and subcontractors working on Vermont state construction projects to maintain detailed payroll records for three years. These records must include each worker's name, address, hours worked, wages paid, pay rate, and job classification, and must be submitted weekly to the overseeing state agency. The records must be preserved for inspection by the Commissioner of Labor or Attorney General and become publicly accessible under Vermont's Public Records Act. This bill directly affects contractors on state projects (excluding Transportation and Parks projects) and takes effect July 1, 2025.

Maddy summaryThis bill changes Vermont's primary elections to a nonpartisan top-four system. It removes party labels from primary ballots and requires that the four candidates receiving the most votes in each race advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. This applies to all statewide and local offices, including governor, legislature, and county positions. The bill eliminates party-specific primaries and replaces them with a single ballot where voters select any candidate without party designation.