Picture the scene: It’s a late afternoon in the House, pushing early evening, and debate over a bill is nearing its end. Now, it’s time to vote, but a few members pipe up to request a roll call. The agony! Cue the long parade around the chamber of 150 yeas or nays, one at a time.
In fact, the House spends the equivalent of two days every session conducting roll call votes, a 2018 University of Vermont report on the practice found. But these votes, despite the time they take, also bring accountability: unlike the far more common voice votes, during which members say their “yeas” or “nays” in unison, roll calls put each individual’s decision into the record.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, thanks to the wonders of technology, it needn’t be this way.
Nearly every other state Legislature has an electronic system to count votes in their respective House chambers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and many of those chambers have far fewer members, and thus votes to tally, than Vermont’s does.
Broadly speaking, the systems allow members to key in a vote from their desk, which then appears on a display, possibly next to each member’s name, at the front of the chamber.
Two Vermont House members — Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Chittenden, and Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney — want the state to join the trend. They’ve introduced a bill, H.49, that would have an electronic roll call voting system in place in the House ahead of the 2026 legislative session.
“I think it would help us be more efficient in our work. It would help us be more transparent in our work,” Harrison said, discussing the bill with the House Rules Committee Thursday morning.
“Some would say, ‘Well, we’ve done this this way for 200 years. It’s tradition,’” he added, referring to roll call votes conducted by voice, in alphabetical order. But Harrison’s response to that, he noted, would be, “It’s time to change. Let go. Move on. You know, join the technology.”
Harrison said early estimates peg the cost of installing the system at between $475,000 and $700,000. A similar system in New Hampshire, according to the UVM report, cost about $500,000 to install.
One consideration, Harrison said, is whether an electronic system would encourage members to request roll call votes more frequently. The bill itself wouldn’t change current practice, which requires roll calls only on veto override votes or when at least five members ask for one.
The legislation also focuses solely on the House. But Rep. Karen Dolan, D-Essex Junction, asked during Thursday’s committee hearing: might the Senate want in on the fun, too?
Senate Secretary John Bloomer, ever one for tradition, didn’t seem too keen on the idea in an interview Thursday. There is less time-saving potential in the 30-member Senate, he said, noting he’s able to tally a roll call vote in as little as a minute.
We’ve never timed him — but we’ll take his word for it.
— Shaun Robinson
In the know
The administration’s proposals for changing Vermont’s landmark climate law, the 2020 Global Warming Solutions Act, became more clear at the governor’s weekly press conference Thursday.
One change discussed by Gov. Phil Scott and Julie Moore, the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, would strike the law’s provision establishing a right to sue the state if it’s not on track to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by its deadlines in 2025, 2030 and 2050. Already one lawsuit has been filed.
“Ironically, in advancing specious arguments that we are not doing enough to address climate change, advocates are drawing taxpayer resources and staff time away from implementation and into the courtroom,” Moore told gathered reporters.
Another change would strip power from the Vermont Climate Council, which is charged with determining how the state should reduce emissions. Scott’s proposal would reduce the council’s scope of work and make the body advisory.
Lastly, the governor is planning to “prepare a companion implementation strategy to the climate action plan” currently being updated by the council, one that is “workable” and “drives implementation” of climate strategies, Moore said, by December 2026.
With few options to make big reductions in emissions ahead of the 2030 deadline, Democratic lawmakers have said they’re open to changing the climate law. Whether they’ll bite on Scott’s proposal is another question.
— Emma Cotton
Kids’ table
Members of the Senate Committee on Government Operations heard from a key constituency Thursday: the youth lobby.
The Vermont Youth Council, which is made up of 26 young Vermonters between the ages of 11 and 18, is tasked with tackling key issues — including mental health, education and equity and anti-racism — and making recommendations on policy to the Legislature and the governor.
Currently, the council is scheduled to sunset in February 2026. But Thursday afternoon, four council members urged lawmakers to allow them to push that date back.
“As children, when so much of our life is up to our parents and teachers, we have very little control,” Astrid Longstreth, a first-year student at Mt. Mansfield Union High School, told committee members. “And we often get the impression that we can’t change anything until we ourselves become adults. However, this is not true — and this is why the state youth council is so important.”
Delaying the sunset did not seem to be a controversial ask.
“Can we get that done, like, ASAP?” Sen. Larry Hart, R-Orange, said. “Because this group’s amazing.”
“I’m fairly certain there won’t be a negative vote in the room,” committee chair Sen. Brian Collamore, R-Rutland, said.
— Peter D’Auria
On the hill
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, made headlines this week for props he brought to confront Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., during a confirmation hearing.
He showed two large photos of baby onesies sold by Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit Kennedy co-founded in 2016, that say, “No Vax, No Problem” and “Unvaxxed, Unafraid.” The nonprofit has been criticized for spreading misinformation about vaccines.
“Are you supportive of these onesies?” Sanders asked.
Both Sanders and Welch posed tough questions in hearings this week to RFK Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Read the full story here.
— Klara Bauters
Read the story on VTDigger here: Final Reading: Some House members want roll call votes tallied electronically.