Rep. Terri Williams

Maddy summaryThis bill would allow all Vermont students from prekindergarten through 12th grade to attend any public or approved independent school of their choice, regardless of where they live. It creates a School Choice Grant funded by the student's home school district that would be transferred to the school the family selects, with the state Agency of Education managing the process. Schools must accept all applicants unless they lack capacity, in which case they would use a lottery system, and independent schools cannot discriminate based on protected characteristics. The bill also requires the Joint Fiscal Office to submit a report by January 2024 with recommendations on how to integrate this program into Vermont's existing education funding system.

Maddy summaryThis bill would add immunization status to the list of protected characteristics in Vermont's anti-discrimination laws, prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on whether a person has been vaccinated. The legislation defines immunization status as an individual's vaccination history against infectious diseases and makes it unlawful for employers, landlords, and public accommodation operators to refuse services, housing, or employment opportunities because of this status. Key provisions amend existing state statutes to explicitly include immunization status alongside other protected categories such as race, sex, and disability, preventing discriminatory practices in hiring, renting, selling property, and accessing public facilities. The bill applies to employers, employment agencies, housing providers, and operators of public places, ensuring that decisions about jobs, housing, and services cannot be influenced by a person's vaccination history.

Maddy summaryThis bill expands workers' compensation benefits for Vermont firefighters who develop specific types of cancer. It creates a legal presumption that these cancers resulted from job-related exposures if the firefighter had clean cancer screening results before or within two years of starting their career, has at least five years of firefighting service in Vermont, is under 65 years old, and does not have a history of tobacco use within 10 years of diagnosis. The law covers leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and cancers of the bladder, brain, colon, gastrointestinal tract, kidney, liver, pancreas, skin, or testicles, and applies to firefighters diagnosed within 10 years of their last active duty. The bill also recommends that fire departments keep incident reports for at least 10 years to support these claims.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program to provide grants and forgivable loans to private landlords for rehabilitating rental housing units, with a focus on non-code-compliant or newly created units. The program is administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development through statewide or regional nonprofit housing organizations, which distribute funds to eligible landlords who must contribute at least 20 percent in matching funds or in-kind services. Recipients cannot use assisted units for short-term rentals and must prioritize leasing to households exiting homelessness or refugee resettlement programs for five years, with alternative income-based tenant requirements if qualifying households are unavailable. The bill also establishes transparency requirements, mandating that recipient identities and award amounts be published quarterly online, and limits individual grants or loans to a maximum of $50,000 per unit.

Maddy summaryThis bill declares Lake Memphremagog a "lake in crisis" and removes the requirement that a municipality must show declining real property values to qualify for this designation. The legislation directly affects Lake Memphremagog, which spans Vermont and Quebec, by mandating that its crisis response plan include controls on effluent discharges to the lake's tributaries. By eliminating the property value decline criterion, the bill makes it easier to trigger emergency measures aimed at addressing phosphorus runoff and algal blooms that threaten public health and water quality. The changes take effect immediately for the Lake Memphremagog declaration, while updated criteria for future lake designations will apply starting July 1, 2023.

Maddy summaryThis bill creates a new income tax deduction in Vermont for parents who pay for home study programs for their dependents. It allows taxpayers to deduct up to $1,000 of qualified expenses per dependent, covering costs for educational instruction, materials, equipment, software, and computer hardware used during normal school hours. The deduction applies to expenses incurred for students who are claimed as dependents on the taxpayer's return and are not dependents of another taxpayer. The bill would take effect retroactively starting January 1, 2023, and applies to taxable years beginning on or after that date.

Maddy summaryThis bill requires Vermont's Medicaid program to provide coverage for one breast pump per child born to Medicaid beneficiaries. It allows pregnant Medicaid recipients to order and receive a breast pump before the baby is born, but only after reaching 27 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation directs the Agency of Human Services to seek necessary federal approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to implement this coverage change. If federal approval is not needed, the coverage provisions would take effect on July 1, 2023.

Maddy summaryThis bill expands eligibility for Vermont's Child Care Financial Assistance Program by adjusting income thresholds and co-payment rules to help more families access subsidized child care. Under the new provisions, families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level would qualify for subsidies, while those earning 150 percent or less would pay no co-payment regardless of family size. The bill also changes how child care providers are paid by decoupling reimbursement rates from the Step Ahead Recognition System (STARS) and instead tying them to market rates from the Vermont Child Care Market Rate Survey with tiered caps based on provider ratings. These changes would take effect on July 1, 2023, and directly impact families seeking employment or training and the child care providers serving them.

Maddy summaryThis bill allows unified towns and gores in Essex County, Vermont to hire a professional assessor to handle property valuation duties. It amends state statutes to give the Board of Governors authority to appoint an outside assessor and an assessor clerk, similar to how other municipal boards select their officials. The changes grant these unified towns the power to incur debt and issue bonds to fund these positions, aligning their operational structure with other municipalities in the state. The legislation takes effect on July 1, 2023, and applies specifically to the unified towns and gores within Essex County.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates "National Emblem" as the official State March of Vermont. The legislation directly affects state ceremonies and events where the State March is traditionally played. It adds a new section to Vermont's statutes specifying that "National Emblem" shall be the State March, effective July 1, 2023. The bill notes that this march was composed in 1902 by Edwin Eugene Bagley and incorporates elements of the Star-Spangled Banner.