Gov. Scott vetoes clean heat standard bill H.715

Montpelier, Vt. — On May 6, Governor Phil Scott returned without signature and vetoed H.715 and sent the following letter to the General Assembly:

May 6, 2022

The Honorable BetsyAnn Wrask
Clerk of the Vermont House of Representatives
115 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633

Dear Ms. Wrask:

Pursuant to Chapter II, Section 11 of the Vermont Constitution, I am returning H.715, An act relating to the Clean Heat Standard, without my signature because of my objections described herein:

As Governor and as elected officials, we have an obligation to ensure Vermonters know the financial costs and impacts of this policy on their lives and the State’s economy. Signing this bill would go against this obligation because the costs and impacts are unknown. The Legislature’s own Joint Fiscal Office acknowledges this fact, saying:

“It is too soon to estimate the impact on Vermont’s economy, households, and businesses. The way in which the Clean Heat Standard is implemented, including the way in which clean heat credits are priced and how incentives or subsidies are offered to households and businesses, must be established before meaningful analysis is possible. At the same time, those incentives or subsidies could be costly for the State, suggesting larger fiscal impacts in future years.”

I understand the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is why I proposed a $216 million dollar climate package and why my administration has engaged in this policy conversation since January. However, over the last several months it became very clear to me that no one had a good handle on what this program was going to look like, with some even describing it as a carbon tax on the floor.

I have clearly, repeatedly, and respectfully asked the Legislature to include language that would require the policy and costs to come back to the General Assembly in bill form so it could be transparently debated with all the details before any potential burden is imposed. This is how lawmaking and governing is supposed to work and what Vermonters expect, deserve and have a right to receive.

What the Legislature has passed is a bill that includes some policy, with absolutely no details on costs and impacts, and a lot of authority and policy making delegated to the Public Utility Commission (PUC), an unelected board. And regardless of the latest talking points, the bill does not guarantee a full legislative deliberation on the policy, plan and fiscal implications prior to implementation. By design, this bill and the inadequate “check back” allows legislators to sign off on a policy concept – absent important details – and not own the decision to raise costs on Vermonters.

For these reasons I cannot allow this bill to go into law and strongly urge the Legislature to sustain this veto.

Sincerely,

/s/

Philip B. Scott
Governor

Image courtesy of Phil Scott for Vermont

12 thoughts on “Gov. Scott vetoes clean heat standard bill H.715

  1. Governor Scott, who has vetoed more bills than any other governor in the history of Vermont, has once again done the right thing. What is needed is enough like-minded practical legislators to sustain these vetoes.

    Time to recruit now and elect them in November.

  2. “I understand the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions” – Are you sure of that? Predictions by the AGW cabal have reliably been incorrect. Their star propagandists travel in private jets, buy oceanfront property, power large mansions, own ship sized yachts, obviously don’t feel threatened. Some are getting richer with the fear they propagandize. There have always been doomsday cults – AGW is one of them. Remember the impending ice age of the seventies that didn’t happen? I just watched a video of a battery powered bus self immolate on a Paris street. The Felicity Ace well may have been a battery victim. In less than two hundred years we’ve gone from horse and carriage, burning wood to cook to supersonic jets, Mars rover, microwave oven – and may be on the verge of hydrogen fusion power. And we have more than a two hundred year supply of petroleum.

  3. I ask the question that no one else is asking. Who in your respective districts asked any of you to do this? How much money did you get from anyone over this, but who, I ask again, told you to pursue this batch of garbage bills. We want representatives not pseudo-leaders with not our best interest at heart or even in their minds. We are a representative republic not a dictatorship. Too many of the gubment thinks otherwise. That is why they pass bills to “protect” themselves or to shut up descent. Nothing has been done in this state except make these same people richer and we the citizenry, especially the poor are the cannon fodder of these people.

  4. Finally! Glad to see this veto pan at work.

    What is going on in the heads of the legislative democratic leadership passing a bills like this that cleanly hurts every single working Vermonter, especially the working person, plus the irresponsibility of the leadership not knowing the true financial effects on households and businesses! This is not governorance, it dictatorship and the House and Senate leadership is out of touch with common-sense.

    Gregory Thayer
    Candidate for Vermont Lieutenant Governor
    Rutland, Vermont

  5. Scotty did good but should have added What will the numbers be on the accomplishment end of the spectrum? If we are only gaining a .0001% change in a
    0.03% problem it’s not worth stealing more out of the taxpayers wallets…just to make
    the leftist commies feel better..

  6. Hey Governor, a good first step, now let’s see a breakdown of all the spending and how
    much we are wasting on liberal nonesense, how about getting to a balanced budget.

    Maybe you’ll keep people from leaving the state !!

  7. Oil is $6 a gallon!!!! How am I going to heat my house??? Might as well shut it down for the winter and go to Florida. That’s great on another front too since the housing is in such short supply. I couldn’t even rent it cause the tenants couldn’t afford the oil bill either. I might as well Air B&B it. I’m sure my neighbors will hate me but what am I going to do?

  8. He is the Uniparty Jedi master.

    Feed them some crumbs, let them think you are on their side, that you are not a uniparty player.

  9. Good on you, Governor!
    And let’s go Brandon and the progressive liberals in the Vermont legislature…

    • Homer,

      It will be $9/gallon, when the PUC gets done with you.

      The three bucks will be paid by the dealers into a black hole.

      Distributions from the black hole will be made, by bureaucrats, to favored friends and families and associates, who run a government program, or a subsidized business, or a pseudo “think tank”, that produce customized reports for clients

      After “overhead” of about 50%, the rest will be spent on dubious, feel-good programs, because EVERYONE knows all this is just one big BS charade, regarding CLIMATE FIGHTING

  10. Kudos to you, governor Scott! Foresight and Responsibility of governmental officials are needed to thwart the action of those who move aimlessly about potentially causing harm to Vermonters.

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