Updated 6:31 p.m.
After a decade at the helm of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Janet Ancel, D-Calais, is not running for reelection this year.
Ancel’s departure has been rumored for months, although the lawmaker has — until now — repeatedly said that she was still making up her mind. A nearly $50 million tax cut for families with young children, H.510, which she introduced this session, was widely viewed in the Statehouse as the capstone to her tenure in the building.
A final version of the bill passed the House and Senate on Thursday after negotiators from both chambers agreed on a final compromise late Wednesday evening. If enacted, the deal will send $1,000 to families making $125,000 or less for every child 5 or under.
“I had decided not to decide (about reelection) until we had come to an agreement on the child tax credit bill. And we came to that agreement last night and that was just something I really wanted to accomplish,” Ancel told VTDigger Thursday morning. “And I thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna go.’”
Ancel has been a fixture in Montpelier for decades. An attorney by training, she drafted legislation for lawmakers as a member of the Statehouse’s Legislative Council (now the Office of Legislative Counsel) and later served as then-Gov. Howard Dean’s legal counsel from 1993 to 2000. She was Dean’s tax commissioner from 2000 to 2002.
“Janet has been an incredible public servant and I regret her departure from the legislature,” Dean wrote in an email to VTDigger Thursday. “She was a great legal drafter, a great counselor, a great tax commissioner, and a terrific committee Committee chair. Vermont will miss her leadership greatly.”
Ancel has been a member of the Vermont House since 2005, and chair of the Ways and Means Committee since 2011.
“I’ve been here a long time. And it feels in terms of just this particular role — I really feel that there are good things to be gained by a different perspective and a different point of view. And I feel like I still have a whole lot to offer, but I don’t need to keep doing it forever,” she said.
She added that she was “very proud of the fact that Vermont is one of the top two or three most progressive tax systems in the country,” and hailed the “healthy revenue mix” that would help the state weather the economic downturns to come.
Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D/P-Brattleboro, vice-chair of the Ways and Means Committee, called Ancel “an absolute legend and a champion for progressive tax policy and common-sense legislation for decades.”
“I’m so honored to have had her as a mentor for these last years and she’ll be sorely missed. She’s funny, subtle and brilliant,” Kornheiser added.
Ancel’s one-seat district serves Calais, Marshfield and Plainfield.
