VERMONT TRADITIONS COALITION

2012 LEGISLATIVE SCORE CARD

From Steve McLeod & Frank Stanley,
VTC Staff Advocates

127 Sports Club Drive 123, Bolton, Vt. 05477

802-434-3346/ sbmcvt@aol.com or 802-238-0364/ frankjstanley@wildblue.net

OVERVIEW:  Vermont Traditions Coalition and our member organizations from the sporting, snowmobile, farm, maple, forest product, outdoor guide, pet owner, and lake association sectors wound up with mixed results in the 2012 Legislative Session.  VTC worked very hard to pass a Working Landscape bill that the traditional land use community could feel good about.  The bill that passed is an annual economic incentive program for rural working landscape enterprises from the farm, forest products, and maple sectors.  This bill appears to meet the VTC goal of a pure economic incentive bill without restrictive strings attached. The proposed tax increase on open landowners in the current use tax program that VTC has opposed every year since 2009 did not pass again this year.  Instead, the Legislature passed an amendment by Republican Lamoille County Senator Richard Westman, a tireless tax increase opponent, that is designed to narrowly target open landowners who are using the current use tax program to hold land they plan to develop as house lots.  Time will tell how this amendment works, but the intent is to protect those who work the land to make a living.  On the negative side, the Senate Natural Resources Committee has appeared to take away part of the gains that the forest products industry made through the Working Lands bill.  The committee inserted language into an Electric Meter and Renewable Energy bill that requires the Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation to develop unwelcome new rules for all forest land owners in the current use tax program to address “long-term forest health and sustainability.”  This legislation also requires the establishment of new rules for state lands timber harvesting, and onerous sounding “procurement standards” for wood products used in state buildings and state wood energy projects.  This legislation was inserted to an unrelated bill without notice or an opportunity for testimony through last minute procedural machinations that made contesting it almost impossible.  VTC and the Vermont Forest Products will react quickly to the passage of this bill and do everything possible to ensure it does no meaningful harm.  A second victim of the legislative session ending gamesmanship that goes on every year was a Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association priority to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a voluntary certification process for maple producers, packers, and processors to meet changing market conditions.   The Senate refused to pass this bill and several other important agriculture measures, because the House of Representatives proposed review of a proposed ban on pig gestation crates by the Livestock Advisory Council rather than an outright ban of the crates.  Senate Leader John Campbell (D-Windsor County) and Senator Harold Giard (D-Addison County) led the Senate effort.  The Senate’s refusal had nothing to do with the merits of the maple and agricultural bills, but rather, was all about the pig crate ban.  On the sportsman’s side, VTC’s efforts to defeat restrictive gun control measures succeeded, and there were some gains on the fishing front.  Some progress was also made on snowmobile issues.  VTC worked all legislative session to prevent overly restrictive flood plain regulations, and largely succeeded, at least for the time being.  In summary, the legislative session was way more successful than if VTC and our statewide network had remained on the sidelines, and let the issues take their own course. 

WORKING LANDSCAPE BILL: The House and Senate finally reached agreement on this far reaching legislation at midnight three days before the end of the legislative session.  This bill has the potential to provide significant future benefits for traditional land uses by providing economic incentives to make businesses more viable for people who work the land in farm, maple, and forest product industries.  The legislation includes a $1.1 million initial appropriation for start up staff and grants to businesses that are key to forest and farm economy infrastructure and growth.  If the legislation receives robust annual appropriations, this bill could be the most important tool for preserving the privately owned, non-easement encumbered open spaces since the current use taxation program was passed in the late 1970s.  The bigger the private working landscape, the more potential for recreational opportunities.  Thus, both the occupational and recreational uses of land benefit.  When this bill was introduced at the beginning of the Legislative Session, it contained problematic environmental restrictions and increased bureaucracy.  These provisions were removed from the bill at the urging of the VTC network and like minded legislators.  VTC and our member groups worked hard on the bill in many different ways throughout the legislative session.  Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association Chairman Jacques Couture and Vermont Forest Products Association Treasurer John Meyer both served on the Vermont Working Landscape Council that was a catalyst for the bill.   The final bill became a very popular measure with most factions.  Economic incentives preserve much more open space for multiple uses than environmental protection.  Look no further than the current use taxation program for proof of this maxim.

PROPOSED LANDOWNER TAX INCREASE (CURRENT USE TAX PROGRAM):  The stated reason that some Democrats and preservationist groups have used to increase the land use change tax by up to 700% is that wealthy landowners are wrongfully using the favorable farm and forest land tax rates that the current use program provides.  The accusation is that these landowners purchase land for development and enter the current use program for short term favorable tax rates rather than working the land for the long term.  Statistics show that a tiny minority of less than 1% of the program participants fit into this land speculator category.  VTC has been very active in joining with landowners in the fight to minimize current use program changes on the theory that exorbitant tax increases will drive those who work the land and make it available to recreation out of business and into the real estate market.  Our efforts are beginning to pay off.  The legislature seems much more inclined to move away from the exorbitant tax increase than previously.  This year, the Westman amendment provides an alternative solution for removing land speculators from the current use program. The Westman amendment terminates landowners who secure development permits from the current use program unless the landowner can show that the permits are for furthering the agricultural or forest products operation such as development of housing for farm laborers.  We’ll see how this works.  VTC testified twice before Sen. Westman and the Senate Finance Committee on this issue, once at mid-session and once during the last few days.  VTC also is continuing our membership in the Current Use Tax Coalition (CUTC) which has been meeting monthly since summer of 2010.  The CUTC brings together the various current use tax combatants to try and resolve the issues that divide us.  In order to be on top of the landowner tax issue, organizations pretty much have to belong to the CUTC.  The CUTC has met with some success in increasing harmony.  We’ll see what the next year brings.

POTENTIALLY POSITIVE OUTCOME FOR MAPLE:  The Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association’s (VMSMA’s) second top priority for the 2012 Legislative Session was switching from the present maple grading and labeling system to a newly developed international system.  This issue did not get caught up in the session ending legislative hostage taking.  Maple syrup production has grown by leaps and bounds in the last fifteen years.  VMSMA has stayed ahead of the marketing curve, and the increased volume of syrup is selling briskly in all fifty states and international markets.  The purpose of universal grading is to increase consumer understanding in far flung markets, and to continue VMSMA’s visionary success in selling the ever increasing volume of maple syrup.  This change ran into controversy despite the fact that the association had conducted thorough outreach, because the Governor and a faction of the maple industry were afraid of losing the Vermont mystique created by the current label.  In actuality, the new label allows continuation of the current Vermont label coupled with a standardized flavor description.  The House Agriculture Committee gave the Agency on Agriculture verbal approval to proceed with rule making.  Agency Secretary Chuck Ross states that he believes that the rule making can proceed once the industry has the opportunity to further coalesce on the issue.

WATER BILLS:  VTC knew after the 2011 Spring Floods and Hurricane Irene that potential restrictions on flood plain activities and potentially restrictive legislation for the cause of clean water would be major 2012 legislative issues.  The danger of bills with noble goals such as these is that the legislature can wind up using the desirable goal to accomplish undesirable results such as taking a natural disaster opportunity to pass extreme restrictions that would not pass in normal times.  As a result, whenever any bill involving water comes up, it raises the potential for restrictive excess.  Sure enough, several far reaching water bills were introduced at the outset of the legislature, and legislative committees intensively dove into these bills right off the bat. During the course of this legislative odyssey, the bills did indeed take overly restrictive forms.  However, the end result does not appear to have negative impacts for traditional uses as of yet.  As it turns out, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has notified Vermont that, in order for Vermont homeowners to continue to qualify for the National Flood Insurance Program, the Agency of Natural Resources must pass rules pertaining to agriculture and forestry within “flood hazard” areas.  Thus, the rubber doesn’t meet the road right now, but will when the rules come out.  VTC successfully argued for a robust public input process and consultation with stakeholders during the rule making process.  Along these lines, VTC successfully amended the legislation to add a “forest products industry” representative to the list of parties who must be consulted as the rules develop.  VTC also pushed for a General Permit which is a process similar to the Accepted Management Practices that govern agricultural and forest product practices now.

GUN CONTROL: For the last few years Rep. Linda-Waite Simpson has been the lead sponsor of the negligent storage of firearms bill.  In the wake of a teen suicide in the spring of 2009 an organization called Citizens for Safer Vermont Children (CSVC) was formed by the mother of the child who took his own life and the legislation was introduced.  This session CSVC recently hired a powerful lobbying firm to help push through the legislation and help them form a new 501c(3) non-profit organization called Child Safe Vermont.  This year’s version of H.580 was renamed safe storage of a firearm.  Although this year’s version was a little more watered down than previous versions, the bill would essentially require gun owners to lock their guns or face jail time if the guns were used to do human harm even if the gun was taken without the gun owner’s knowledge.  In concert with the Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and the National Rifle Association, VTC worked to stop the legislation from moving forward.  Following a meeting with Speaker of the House Shap Smith and all interested parties, Child Safe Vermont agreed to temporarily drop the legislation and work with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife and sporting organizations to take a closer look at how to heighten education and outreach on proper gun handling and storage.  VTC believes that this cooperative approach will produce much better results than unnecessary, highly restrictive and punitive regulations that will be nearly impossible to enforce.  There will be further meetings this summer and fall. 

GOOD FISHING NEWS:  The 2012 legislature re-directed $18 million from previously approved appropriations for various projects to Hurricane Irene damage repairs.  The Legislature left the 2012 appropriation to the Lake Champlain Walleye Association’s nationally acclaimed walleye restoration partnership with the Department of Fish & Wildlife intact, however.  The Legislature also left badly needed fish hatchery funds intact.  The Roxbury Fish Hatchery was mostly destroyed by Hurricane Irene, so the news was not all good.  The brook trout and walleye were named as the Official Vermont State Cold Water and Warm Water Fish respectively.  Since the Lake Champlain Walleye Association has received steady walleye restoration funding since 2003, the naming of the walleye as the state warm water fish has more than symbolic significance.  The House of Representatives passed a Resolution sponsored by Rep. Ken Atkins (D-Winooski) and Rep. Michel Consejo (D-Sheldon) recommending that the Fish & Wildlife Board allow bait transport for one spot on a lake to another spot on the same lake and further recommending that the Board consider opening up more year round fishing waters.  VTC and the Walleye Association support carefully targeted expanded year round fishing opportunities and careful analysis of the bait transport rule by the experts due to the ongoing danger of VHS disease that the bait rule is designed to prevent. 

DEER DOING DAMAGE: In 2011, the Deer Doing Damage legislation, H.13, was proposed in response to complaints from Southern Vermont woodland owners that an over population of deer was destroying their young trees.  The legislation resulted in the Department of Fish & Wildlife appointing a Working Group to study the problem over the summer of 2011. In addition, Rep. Deen, Chair of the House Fish & Wildlife Committee, obtained a letter from Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife, Patrick Berry, stating that the department would interpret current law that allows a farmer to take deer damaging crops to include commercially grown forest products.  The right to take deer damaging crops or forest land is only allowed after the Fish & Wildlife Department assesses the situation, and verifies the damage.  The department limits the number of deer taken depending on the situation.  The final Working Group report and recommendations on deer doing damage was released in January.  The summary of the recommendations  were to adopt a standardized and objective method of monitoring deer browsing pressure. Consider incorporating the monitoring of a deer browse index into the Current Use Program and conduct outreach within the forestry community. Develop an on-line program to link forest landowners experiencing deer damage to forest regeneration with sportsmen.  Continue to prohibit the posting of land as a condition of taking deer doing damage to land.  Assess the level of posting on Use Value Appraisal Program properties.  Consider modifying the posting statute to legalize hunting by permission only.  The full report can be found on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s website.

SNOWMOBILE TICKET AGENTS:  Senate Bill 251 shortened the time frame for private VAST registration agents (general stores, snowmobile dealers, etc.) to transfer the registrations from primarily out-of-state weekend visitors to the Department of Motor Vehicles.  At about the mid-point of the Legislative Session, it appeared as if VAST would lose a crippling number of registration agents, because the contemplated new transfer requirements did not provide sufficient time to the agents.  VTC worked with VAST and the Department of Motor Vehicles to reach a mutually acceptable accommodation.  It now appears that a workable system will be instituted.

ANIMAL RIGHTS AND PET LEGISLATION: Once again this session, the Humane Society of the United Sates (not to be confused with your local humane society), a powerful, national anti-animal agriculture and anti-hunting organization with a $130 million annual budget, attempted to slam through parts of their national agenda.  HSUS has waged this campaign with little success since as far back as 2003.  However, their efforts must be taken very seriously, because of their resources and support they’ve found in the Senate.  In 2011, the House Committee on Agriculture refused to succumb to HSUS, and directed interested parties to find a way to work out differences.  HSUS chose to ignore the request and introduced a legislation similar to their 2011 legislation in the 2012 session.  Senate support for the HSUS effort was led by Senator Pro Tem Campbell, Senators Giard and Ayer of Addison County, and Senator Pollina of Washington County.  HSUS with the help of the Vermont Veterinary Medical Association (VVMA) and the vets’ lobbying firm, managed to pass legislation in the Senate despite over eight hours of testimony that mainly opposed the legislation.  Had HSUS gotten their way, it would have classified any person who offers for sale a litter or two of puppies as a pet dealer and opened them up to unconstitutional inspections.  VTC and our member organization, the Vermont Federation of Dog Clubs and other sporting organizations led the charge to reveal HSUS’s true colors to the House Committee on Agriculture.  As a result, the Committee asked both sides to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).  The MOU formalizes an agreement to collaborate as a unified group and come back next session with some proposals to improve on animal welfare, if necessary.  The first question the Committee asked of HSUS and the veterinary organization as part of the MOU was, “What is the actual problem you are trying to solve”?  We will see what next session brings us on the animal rights front.

RESTRICTIVE EASEMENT AMENDMENTS:  The Vermont Land Trust proposed legislation to formally designate how restrictive easements that ban some traditional uses can be amended.  Currently, the easement amendment process involves an informal request by a party seeking an amendment to the easement holder. The preservationist group or Vermont Housing and Conservation Board that controls these easements then decides whether to grant the proposed amendment. The newly proposed standards would make easement amendments increasing permitted uses an extremely difficult process involving the administrative courts.  Several parties including VTC raised concerns and unanswered questions about the proposed standards.  The Legislature decided to appoint a Summer Study Committee to take an in depth look at the problem.  VTC advocated for traditional use and landowner representation on the Summer Study Committee.  VAST wound up with one of the traditional use spots on the Committee.  VAST has since designated VTC’s Frank Stanley to represent snowmobile interests on the Summer Study Committee.

OTHER LEGISLATION: H.53.  An act relating to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact has been enacted into law.  Vermont is now part of the multi-state compact that keeps someone who looses their license in one state from legally hunting in another compact state.  Unlike many states, Vermont included language concerning Due Process that will allow Vermont hunters who have lost their license in another state to appeal the loss of their Vermont hunting license.  For instance, if a hunter made an honest mistake or violated a law in one state that is not a violation in Vermont, a hunter may be given some leniency

H.761. This session, the legislature increased just about all state fees including hunting and fishing license fees for 2013 and 2014.  Next year a resident fishing license will be $25.00, a turkey license will be $23.00 and a combination will be $38.00.  In 2014 a hunting license will increase to $25.00, a combination license will increase to $40.00 and the archery and muzzleloader license fees will jump to $23.00.

H.528. An act relating to the sale of big game and the feeding of bear was introduced by Rep. Webb of Shelburne at the request of a national anti-hunting organization called BornFree USA. The legislation would have banned the sale of bear gall bladders, but did not go anywhere.   The mandatory hunter orange legislation, H.574, and a bill that would have banned the use of telemetry and GPS devices on bear hounds were never taken up.  H.462, an act relating to authorizing hunting licenses for persons with visual limitations, was quietly put to rest.  H.393, which would have repealed fishing slot limits and closed seasons on the Winooski River,  H.212, which would legalize the use of lead sinkers on rivers and streams, H.611 which would create fees on non-biodegradable bait containers, and H.655, which would put aside five moose permits for Veterans, were all put aside this session. 

CONCLUSION:  VTC and our member organizations did not get everything we wanted.  However, we did make advances on many important items.  Probably the most important message that this overall report conveys is that traditional use advocates need to continue to maintain and build as much paid and volunteer manpower as we possibly can muster in order to protect our interests.   The State House and the year round bureaucracy present a very challenging and difficult environment for the protection and advancement of traditional uses.  If traditional use organizations decide against making the sacrifices necessary to compete on the public policy scene, we will experience the negative results very quickly.  In 2012, VTC and our member organizations stayed on top of not only what happened, but why it happened and what needed to be done about it.  The only thing that makes good things happen and prevents bad things from happening is activism by a wide network and money to support year round representation.  The forces that intentionally or unintentionally work to undermine traditional use are growing and improving constantly.  We must do the same.  VTC issued three ALERTS this year where individuals were asked to make a simple phone call or write a short note to weigh in on an issue.  Organizational leaders are expected to distribute these ALERTS to their membership.  The coalition concept requires everyone to support everyone’s issues if at all possible so as to give us the “power in numbers” that the coalition concept provides.  It is important that everyone take the few minutes to make the phone call or write the note when these ALERTS are issued.  If folks sit back and let others do it, VTC’s effort will be weak and reflect badly on all of us.  The issues that appear to be on the horizon for the coming year will require increased activism from VTC’s statewide volunteers.  We are almost certain to need Letters to the Editor, public hearing appearances, etc.  We cannot let VTC’s success over the years lull us into complacency.  That being said, we have been able to observe first hand the many, many contributions from a far flung network of statewide volunteers during the last year.  Many of you are really stepping up. Thanks to everyone who helped in the 2011 and 2012 efforts to date.

Northwoods Sporting Journal