Despite a likely veto from Gov. Phil Scott, House lawmakers on Friday advanced a bill that would create a statewide rental registry in Vermont.
The legislation, S.210, would also take inspecting rentals out of the hands of volunteer-run town health offices and instead charge the state’s Department of Public Safety with the task. Rental units in municipalities like Barre and Burlington, which already have professionally run rental inspection programs, would be exempt. Inspections would be complaint-driven, not routine.
“It is long past time to incorporate this kind of registration and enforcement program into what is an approximately $900 million industry in the state of Vermont,” Tom Stevens, D-Waterbury, chair of the House Committee on General, Housing, and Military Affairs, told colleagues on the House floor.
But while proponents say the bill is a bare-minimum consumer protection measure, they also say it could help landlords. A centralized registry would help the state get in touch with them when there’s help available.
“A recent example is their frustration on getting the word out to landlords on rental assistance,” Rep. Peter Anthony, D-Barre City, said on the floor. “I know from personal experience from talking to Barre landlords that there were some who are totally unaware of the program.”
The bill is a re-do of S.79, which was approved by Democratic majorities in the House and Senate last year, but which the Republican governor ultimately vetoed.
“I believe this will discourage everyday Vermonters from offering their homes, rooms or summer cabins for rent, not as a primary business but as a means to supplement their income so they can pay their mortgage as well as their property taxes,” Scott wrote to lawmakers in his veto letter at the time. He added that he would support such a registry for “only those buildings which exceed two dwelling units available for rental for more than 120 days per year.”
Democrats argue they’ve attempted to meet Scott more than halfway. The House’s version of S.210 exempts seasonal camps and owner-occupied properties with up to four units. (A Senate-passed version exempted owner-occupied properties with two rental units.) Landlords also wouldn’t have to register a unit if it’s rented out for fewer than 90 days a year.
And in an apparent negotiating tactic, lawmakers have also attached $20 million in one-time money for the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, a key priority in the governor’s plan to address Vermont’s housing crisis. Under the program, landlords would be able to receive grants of up to $50,000 to rehabilitate code-violating properties. To qualify, property owners would also have to promise to prioritize those exiting homelessness when renting out the units, and to charge at or below the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair market rents.
Democrats say it makes sense to pair the subsidy for landlords with the registry, a long-sought consumer protection measure for tenants. But Scott has referred to the move as a “poison pill” and insists the money be allocated separately from S.210. And he’s continued to argue the compromises made by lawmakers don’t go far enough.
“The bill in its current form does not mirror his compromise offer,” Jason Maulucci, Scott’s press secretary, wrote in an email to VTDigger. “Given there are many moving parts with other legislation and this bill, it’s too soon to say whether it will be signed if it reaches him.”
While the governor has yet to commit to vetoing the measure, his Republican counterparts in the Legislature have indicated they’re ready to back him up if he does. A vote to include the rental registry program in the bill on Friday passed 88 to 54, with GOP lawmakers unified in opposition. (Several Democrats also voted no.)
House Minority Leader Pattie McCoy, R-Poultney, on Friday read from Scott’s S.79 veto letter on the floor, quoting from a passage arguing that “truly fulfilling the bill’s mandate would require an even more costly expansion of the bureaucracy in the future.”
“I’ve had the privilege of serving in this body for almost eight years and have watched the slow creep of our bureaucratic government into the lives of our citizens,” McCoy said. “I likened it to the slow flow of lava creeping ever so slowly until you wake up one morning and your life has been overrun by government’s rules, regulations, fees and mandates.”
The House is expected to cast a final vote on S.210 next week, after which it would return to the Senate to resolve differences.
