Dear Chairman Collamore and Members of the Senate Government Operations Committee,

I am writing today regarding S.298 and the ongoing discussion about candidate financial disclosure forms and the role of the Vermont State Ethics Commission. Our message is straightforward: Vermont's ethics framework can only succeed if it is given the resources to match its responsibilities.

Campaign for Vermont fought hard to get ethics legislation passed in 2017 (Act 79). Not even a decade later it is feeling like the legislature is dismantling the ethics and transparency framework in the state... and it's coming from all sides.

In 2024, the legislature passed Act 171, which was intended to build on Act 79 by giving the Ethics Commission more oversight and (finally) enforcement powers. Unfortunately, Act 44 last year paused the enforcement powers (the House version of that bill would have scrapped them completely if we hadn't stepped in on the Senate side). More importantly, the Commission, overwhelmed with requests from the public, stressed the need for additional staff. State budget-writers denied that request last year — leaving the Commission under-resourced.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/27/2026
Contact: Ben Kinsley
[email protected] | (802) 210-1271 

Fix Ethics System Capacity, Don’t Scapegoat Staff

Montpelier, VT – Campaign for Vermont Prosperity today responded to partisan calls for the Executive Director of the Vermont State Ethics Commission to step down over confusion around candidate financial disclosure forms.

After initially looking like it would be a tame week in the Legislature, it certainly didn't turn out that way... A real lamb to lion situation.

This week the Legislature turned its attention to two questions that will shape Vermont's fiscal future for years to come: who pays, and how much? House Ways & Means spent the better part of three days dissecting proposals to restructure Vermont's income tax brackets and create a new investment income surtax, while simultaneously wrestling with what to do with the revenue: cut middle-class taxes or stand up a state-run health care premium assistance program to replace expired federal subsidies. Meanwhile, a sobering demographic briefing from the Joint Fiscal Office reminded the Committee that the population trends underlying all of these revenue assumptions are heading in the wrong direction.

Also this week... a key House Committee endorsed repealing significant sections of Act 181, the Senate put forward a significantly different approach to this year's property tax bill, and the Ethics Commission's budget request gets gutted right as they are being asked to do more.

Let's dig in.

This week the Legislature turned its attention to the nuts and bolts... the practical, on-the-ground realities of implementing the big-ticket reforms that have been debated all session. Senate Education heard directly from superintendents who have actually led district mergers about what it takes (and what it costs) to make consolidation work. Senate Health & Welfare moved a prescription drug discount card closer to reality. And Senate Government Operations wrestled with how to modernize lobbying transparency without chilling free speech.

Of course the big happening this week was the passage of the House's education reform package, which the Governor promptly promised to veto. Why? Not because it doesn't save money (which it may or may not do) but because it doesn't force school district consolidation and the removal of local school boards.

Buckle up, here we go...

H.686, seeks to expand and modernize the scope of disclosure and identification requirements for lobbying-related advertisements in Vermont by broadening the definitions of "advertisement" and "lobbying," removing session-based timing limitations on disclosure, and updating statutory language to be technology-neutral, affecting lobbying regulation, campaign transparency, and public communications policy.

The bill amends the state's Open Meeting Law to enhance transparency, accessibility, and accountability in public meetings; requiring hybrid meetings and clarifying policies and procedures for various meeting functions.

Email Blast Sent to Supporters on January 12, 2018. Subscribe!

“It’s a first step. Vermont was one of the last states to enact a state ethics commission, so it’s an important first step to establish it and give it some essential functions.”

-Brian Leven, Executive Director, VT State Ethics Commission

Email Blast Sent to Supporters on December 22, 2017. Subscribe!

Friends --

Since 2011, Campaign for Vermont has been advocating for public policies that set our state along a path to prosperity - from ethics, transparency, and accountability to general fund budgeting and taxation!