The House Government Operations Committee took up four proposed changes to Burlington’s city charter on Wednesday. Approved by Burlington voters in March 2021, the measures would expand the city’s authority to pass ordinances on housing, elections and energy regulation.
One of the charter changes before the Legislature would restrict landlords to only evicting tenants when there is just cause, such as failing to pay rent. Another would enact ranked-choice voting in City Council elections, allowing voters to list multiple candidates in order of preference and using an instant-runoff system to ensure that the winner has the support of a majority of voters.
A third proposed charter change would pave the way for city councilors to institute carbon pricing on new, commercial construction projects in the city, while a fourth would add one Burlington resident and one Winooski resident to the city’s Airport Commission.
The proposed amendments to the city’s charter must be approved by the House, Senate and — absent a veto override — the governor to become law.
The committee did not vote on any of the proposed changes Wednesday, but they did hear testimony on the just cause eviction and carbon pricing amendments. The body plans to take action on the items once they finish their once-a-decade legislative redistricting process.
Before the committee convened in a hybrid format Wednesday morning, proponents of the just cause eviction charter change gathered outside the Statehouse to voice their support for the measure.
“The Burlington voters overwhelmingly supported this reasonable, needed and just policy, so we are here today to ask the Legislature to follow the will of the people,” said Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, who wrote the resolution sparking the charter change vote.
In her remarks, Hightower addressed the opposition the charter change might face from some landlords.
“They will try to present a more neutral or a more reasonable stance,” she said, putting an emphasis on her words to suggest that she did not find their proposals neutral and reasonable. “But just cause eviction is a neutral and just policy.”
“Any property owner or manager who actually respects and cares for their tenants won’t even be affected by this,” Hightower said.
Under the proposed change, landlords whose tenants don’t pay rent, violate their lease or break one of the state’s tenant laws can still seek an eviction.
The city’s consideration of ranked-choice voting extends back to 2005, when it was established for mayoral elections. But residents soured on the system after former Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss beat out Republican Kurt Wright in a 2009 race despite Wright receiving more first-place votes. Voters repealed it in 2010.
In 2021, 64% of voters approved the use of ranked-choice voting, though only for City Council races.
Another proposed charter amendment would expand the City Council’s authority to disincentivize fossil fuels, a step voters certified as necessary to meet Burlington’s goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
With the clock ticking on its carbon countdown, Burlington officials are looking at myriad proposals to cut the use of fossil fuels in the city. One option would be carbon pricing, a policy that adds a cost to non-renewable fuels meant to reflect the long-term damage they do to the environment.
But right now, city councilors do not have the authority to approve an ordinance introducing carbon pricing in the city. While they could prohibit the use of fossil fuels, officials have pushed for the authority to enact disincentives, such as carbon pricing, instead of bans.
“In some ways we have some, what I would think of as, blunt instrument policy tools,” said Darren Springer, general manager of Burlington Electric Department, the city’s municipal electric utility. “But we don’t have as comprehensive and as nuanced a set of policy tools as you might want to make the best, most flexible, most cost-effective policy decisions.”
But Burlington Electric was not the only utility to testify about the proposed amendment. Dylan Giambatista, a lobbyist for Vermont Gas Systems, said it would be hard for his company to handle “a tapestry of municipal policies” such as the one Burlington proposed, and asked lawmakers to consider a statewide policy instead.
If the charter change passes, Springer said the city would start by looking at carbon pricing for new buildings. The charter amendment’s language would allow the city to enforce carbon pricing on almost all buildings, though, a possibility that Springer said the city has not yet studied in depth.
If the charter amendment passes and Burlington does seek to start pricing carbon emissions, voters would still have to approve that measure for it to take effect.
The final charter change proposal would partially pacify voices in a long-simmering debate about the governance of Burlington International Airport.
While the airport is owned and operated by Burlington, it is located in South Burlington and has noise ramifications for surrounding towns such as Winooski, Essex and Williston. Because of those considerations, some of Burlington’s neighbors want a seat on the Airport Commission, the body that oversees the airport.
The charter change before legislators would give a seat to one Winooski resident and add another Burlington resident to preserve an odd number of voting members. South Burlington already has a spot on the Airport Commission.