Updated at 4:11 p.m.
Rep. Bill Lippert, D-Hinesburg, chair of the House Committee on Health Care, said Wednesday he won’t seek reelection this year.
Lippert cited his 28-year tenure as a state representative in his decision to retire.
“It is time,” he told VTDigger in a text message.
Lippert, 72, has led the health care committee since 2015. Before that, he led the House Judiciary Committee for nearly a decade.
“He’s gonna be sorely missed by many, many people. … One of our best is leaving,” said Rep. Lori Houghton, D-Essex, who served with Lippert for the past six years.
A civil rights activist since the 1970s, Lippert helped draft Vermont’s civil union legislation in 2000. Lippert, then the only openly gay House member, delivered an impassioned speech defending the bill.
He also co-founded the Samara Foundation of Vermont, which supports LGBTQ+ advocates and organizations through scholarships and grants.
A key player in Vermont’s Legislature, Lippert was an influential voice in Vermont’s pandemic response. His committee worked alongside the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare on legislation that gave health care providers flexibility early in the pandemic. The two committees also worked on expanding telehealth regulations and addressing the growing workforce crisis.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said her working relationship with Lippert was especially important in the early days of the pandemic, when legislators were wrestling with lawmaking on Zoom.Â
“Bill was always very forthcoming in our discussions about our priorities and how we were going to be working together,” she added. “At the same time, he was very careful to stick with the House and the House positions and, and proposals.”Â
In committee chambers and online meetings, Lippert is known to stop witnesses mid-testimony to clarify jargon, acronyms and complicated health care terminology for constituents.
Emily Hawes, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health, said in an email that Lippert worked tirelessly for his community.
“His voice, his impact, and the example he provided for both younger generations and the country at large will continue to shine a light on what it means to be a neighbor, an advocate, and a public servant,” she wrote.
Hawes and her deputies were frequent witnesses in front of the committee. Lippert often used their testimony to discuss longstanding issues, such as low reimbursements rates for mental health services, staffing issues and the lack of inpatient psychiatric beds in Vermont.
Lippert began his mental health advocacy well before his legislative career. A psychotherapist by training, he was executive director of Counseling Service of Addison County in the 1980s and ’90s. He led support groups for gay men in the ’70s and served on the boards of various mental health agencies through the years.
He used his role as a lawmaker to highlight challenges and to support the field by increasing funding for mental health providers and organizations.
“He works to the bitter end as an inside advocate to make sure that there’s adequate resources (for mental health),” said Julie Tessler, executive director of Vermont Care Partners, a mental health network that offers in-home and community-based services. “I feel so indebted to him because we can have all these wonderful principles, but if we don’t have the resources, we can’t do our work.”
Bob Bick, chief executive of the Howard Center, a Chittenden County agency that serves people with mental illness and substance use disorders, praised Lippert for remaining focused on people and their experiences.
“Bill made his bones on the front lines serving individuals with substance use, mental health and developmental disabilities challenges, and during his tenure as a legislator and leader, he never lost touch with keeping clients and families at the center of his thinking and his heart,” Bick wrote in an email on Wednesday.