Roll Call: How your representative voted on rental housing registration requirement

Editor’s note: Roll Call is published by the Ethan Allen Institute.

S.79, an act relating to improving rental housing health and safety, passed in the state House of Representatives on May 21, 2021, by a vote of 93-54.

The purpose of the bill is to create a statewide registry of rental properties and establish a new program of regulations, subsidies, and penalties to incentivize landlords to improve their rental housing stock.

Analysis: S.79 creates the “Vermont Rental Housing Investment Program,” requiring owners of rental properties, including “short term” rentals such as AirBnBs, to register with the state ($35 per unit).

The bill would also increase state bureaucracy in order to maintain the registry, enforce an inspection regime, and coordinate grants, including a new 5-person, full-time task force charged with maintaining a registry of Vermont rental properties.

Grants and loans made under the program would have a “special focus on increasing the homeownership rates of households identifying as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Color, who are systematically disenfranchised from financing real estate through traditional banking and have therefore been generationally dispossessed of the ability to develop lasting wealth.”

Those voting YES believe the bill would encourage and help landlords who own blighted or vacant rental properties to bring them up to code, increasing the overall amount of rental housing available in the state.

Those voting NO believe this would cripple Vermont’s short-term rental industry, such as Airbnb’s, which could have unintended consequences impacting tourism (The Vermont Department of Taxes estimates that the state receives at least $15 million in taxes from short-term rentals), could harm homeowners who rely on income from a short term rental to afford their properties, and that the regulatory burdens associated with the bill would, for most landlords, outweigh any benefits of the program creating an overall disincentive to put rental properties on the market.

As Recorded in the House Journal, May 21, 2021: “…Shall the bill pass in concurrence with proposal of amendment?, was decided in the affirmative. Yeas, 93. Nays, 54.. (Read the Journal, p. 1494 – 1496)

Watch the floor debate on YouTube.

How They Voted

Sally Achey (R – Middletown Springs) – NO
Janet Ancel (D – Calais) – YES
Peter Anthony (D – Barre) – YES
Norman Arrison (D – Weathersfield) – YES
Sarita Austin (D – Colchester) – YES
John Bartholomew (D – Hartland) – YES
Lynn Batchelor (R – Derby) – NO
Scott Beck (R – St. Johnsbury) – NO
Matthew Birong (D – Vergennes) – YES
Alyssa Black (D – Essex) – YES
Tiffany Bluemle (D – Burlington) – YES
Thomas Bock (D – Chester) – YES
Seth Bongartz (D – Manchester) – YES
Michelle Bos-Lun (D – Westminster) – YES
Erin Brady (D – Williston) – YES
Patrick Brennan (R – Colchester) – NO
Timothy Briglin (D – Thetford) – YES
Jana Brown (D – Richmond) – YES
Nelson Brownell (D – Pownal) – NO
Jessica Brumsted (D – Shelburne) – YES
Thomas Burditt (R – West Rutland) – NO
Mollie Burke (P/D – Brattleboro) – YES
Elizabeth Burrows (P/D – West Windsor) – YES
Scott Campbell (D – St. Johnsbury) – YES
Bill Canfield (R – Fair Haven) – NO
Seth Chase (D – Colchester) – YES
Kevin “Coach” Christie (D – Hartford) – YES
Brian Cina (P/D – Burlington) – YES
Sara Coffey (D – Guilford) – YES
Selene Colburn (P/D – Burlington) – YES
Hal Colston (D – Winooski) – YES
Peter Conlon (D – Cornwall) – YES
Sarah Copeland-Hanzas (D – Bradford) – YES
Timothy Corcoran (D – Bennington) – NO
Mari Cordes (D/P – Lincoln) – YES
Lawrence Cupoli (R – Rutland) – NO
Lynn Dickinson (R – St. Albans) – NO
Karen Dolan (D – Essex) – YES
Kari Dolan (D – Waitsfield) – YES
Anne Donahue (R – Northfield) – YES
Kate Donnally (D – Hyde Park) – ABSENT
David Durfee (D – Shaftsbury) – YES
Caleb Elder (D – Starksboro) – YES
Alice Emmons (D – Springfield) – YES
Peter Fagan (R – Rutland) – YES
Martha Feltus (R – Lyndon) – NO
John Gannon (D – Wilmington) – NO
Leslie Goldman (D – Bellows Falls) – YES
Kenneth Goslant (R – Northfield) – NO
Maxine Grad (D – Moretown) – YES
Rodney Graham (R – Williamstown) – NO
James Gregoire (R – Fairfield) – NO
Lisa Hango (R – Berkshire) – NO
James Harrison (R – Chittenden) – NO
Robert Helm (R – Fair Haven) – NO
Mark Higley (R – Lowell) – NO
Robert Hooper (D – Burlington) – YES
Mary Hooper (D – Montpelier) – YES
Philip Hooper (D – Randolph) – YES
Lori Houghton (D – Essex) – YES
Mary Howard (D – Rutland) – YES
Kathleen James (D – Manchester) – YES
Stephanie Jerome (D – Brandon) – YES
Kimberly Jessup (D – Middlesex) – YES
John Killacky (D – S. Burlington) – YES
Charles Kimbell (D – Woodstock) – YES
Warren Kitzmiller (D – Montpelier) – YES
Emilie Kornheiser (D – Brattleboro) – YES
Jill Krowinski (D – Burlington) – PRESIDING
Robert LaClair (R – Barre) – NO
Martin LaLonde (D – S. Burlington) – YES
Diane Lanpher (D – Vergennes) – YES
Paul Lefebvre (R – Newark) – NO
Samantha Lefebvre (R – Orange) – NO
Felisha Leffler (R – Enosburgh) – NO
William Lippert (D – Hinesburg) – YES
Emily Long (D – Newfane) – YES
Michael Marcotte (R – Coventry) – NO
Marcia Martel (R – Waterford) – NO
Paul Martin (R – Franklin) – NO
James Masland (D – Thetford) – YES
Christopher Mattos (R – Milton) – NO
Michael McCarthy (D – St. Albans) – YES
Curtis McCormack (D – Burlington) – ABSENT
Patricia McCoy (R – Poultney) – NO
James McCullough (D – Williston) – YES
Francis McFaun (R – Barre) – NO
Leland Morgan (R – Milton) – NO
Michael Morgan (R – Milton) – NO
Kristi Morris (D – Springfield) – YES
Mary Morrissey (R – Bennington) – NO
Michael Mrowicki (D – Putney) – YES
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak (D – Burlington) – YES
Barbara Murphy (I – Fairfax) – YES
Logan Nicoll (D – Ludlow) – YES
Michael Nigro (D – Bennington) – YES
Robert Norris (R – Sheldon) – NO
Terry Norris (I – Shoreham) – NO
William Notte (D – Rutland) – YES
Daniel Noyes (D – Wolcott) – NO
John O’Brien (D – Tunbridge) – YES
Carol Ode (D – Burlington) – YES
“Woody” Page (R – Newport) – NO
Kelly Pajala (I – Londonderry) – YES
John Palasik (R – Milton) – NO
Joseph Parsons (R – Newbury) – NO
Carolyn Partridge (D – Windham) – YES
Avram Patt (D – Worcester) – YES
Henry Pearl (D – Danville) – YES
Arthur Peterson (R – Clarendon) – NO
Ann Pugh (D – S. Burlington) – YES
Barbara Rachelson (D/P – Burlington) – YES
Marybeth Redmond (D – Essex) – YES
Lucy Rogers (D – Waterville) – NO
Carl Rosenquist (R – Georgia) – NO
Larry Satcowitz (D – Randolph) – YES
Brian Savage (R – Swanton) – NO
Robin Scheu (D – Middlebury) – YES
Heidi Scheuermann (R – Stowe) – NO
Patrick Seymour (R – Sutton) – NO
Charles “Butch” Shaw (R – Pittsford) – NO
Amy Sheldon (D – Middlebury) – YES
Laura Sibilia (I – Dover) – NO
Katherine Sims (D – Craftsbury) – YES
Taylor Small (P/D – Winooski) – YES
Brian Smith (R – Derby) – NO
Harvey Smith (R – New Haven) – NO
Trevor Squirrell (D – Underhill) – YES
Gabrielle Stebbins (D – Burlington) – YES
Thomas Stevens (D – Waterbury) – YES
Vicki Strong (R – Albany) – NO
Linda Joy Sullivan (D – Dorset) – NO
Heather Suprenant (D – Barnard) – YES
Curt Taylor (D – Colchester) – YES
Thomas Terenzini (R – Rutland) – NO
George Till (D – Jericho) – YES
Tristan Toleno (D – Brattleboro) – YES
Casey Toof (R – St. Albans) – NO
Maida Townsend (D – South) – YES
Joseph “Chip” Troiano (D – Stannard) – YES
Tanya Vyhovsky (P/D – Essex) – YES
Tommy Walz (D – Barre) – YES
Kathryn Webb (D – Shelburne) – YES
Kirk White (P/D – Bethel) – NO
Rebecca White (D – Hartford) – YES
Dane Whitman (D – Bennington) – YES
Terri Lynn Williams (R – Granby) – NO
Theresa Wood (D – Waterbury) – YES
David Yacovone (D – Morristown) – YES
Michael Yantachka (D – Charlotte) – YES

Image courtesy of Public domain

6 thoughts on “Roll Call: How your representative voted on rental housing registration requirement

  1. These are the same dingbats always bemoaning then lack of affordable housing in Vermont and now they have devised a way to amplify the problem.

  2. We sold our Burlington apartment building four years ago as the tea leaves were easy to read and we haven’t regretted the decision one iota. Forget the canard of systemic racism in the state, the only thing that truly is systemic in the state of Vermont is the communistic lunacy running rampant in our legislature! We’ve had enough, our kids have had enough, and soon we will be ex-residents.

    Dave, I couldn’t agree with you more on your post. You are spot on!

  3. Everyone should read Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. Let the market place determine the value of apartments. When rent control is implemented every one looses. This bill is a giant boondoggle and it will result in fewer and fewer rental apartments being built in VT.

  4. God, can these people find any more ways to get their big noses into the business of private individuals? Is there any tiny thing that they don’t feel compelled to regulate, control and tax? If they want to expand the amount of rentals available then they might consider revamping eviction laws and give landlords some protection from deadbeat tenants.
    Don’t you just love these crazy attempts at punishing white Vermonter’s for some perceived injustice that they had nothing to do with. If blacks have difficulty purchasing real estate it is more than likely due to the fact that they have horrible work and financial histories.
    So disappointed in Kristi Morris from Springfield. Springfield is one of the most depressed areas of all New England. It’s problems can be traced to 1. the prison they wished upon themselves. 2. the expansion of the welfare state and 3. stupid and regressive taxes that send their citizens across the border into New Hampshire to shop and work. Kristi wants to solve this problem with more bureaucracy. How sad and pathetic!!

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