This commentary is by Chea Walter Evans, a Democrat representing the Chittenden-5 District in the Vermont House of Representatives.
The inspiration for many Vermont laws is simple: Look! Here’s a problem. How can we help?
If the helping begets a bill, and if it becomes a law, it’s tempting to say: great, problem solved. Look — we helped.
It’s time for Vermont’s state government, as a whole, to go one step further and say, Let’s take a look. Have we really helped?
Millions of dollars and millions of hours flow in and out of the Statehouse, and out of the wallets and lives of Vermonters, because of all the helping we do here in the building. As legislators, we’re conscious of the fact that follow-up is an important part of the legislative process, which is why we’re fans of sunset clauses, study committees, reports, reports, and more reports. These are frequently included in new legislation and are meant to force a future legislature to check back, circle back, check in, loop around, or whatever other expression we overuse at that moment.
We don’t always do that.
It’s clear from the first couple weeks of our president’s term that we are going to face budget challenges in the coming years. It’s also quite clear that summarily defunding anything that makes us remotely cranky isn’t the way to go. We can be accountable without being harmful.
One of our priorities as House Democrats this biennium is to put our ideas and principles about government accountability and transparency into practice. This means working on legislation that requires the General Assembly, as well as the rest of our colleagues in state government, to systematically and carefully assess whether or not we are actually helping.
So what does that look like? Helping Vermonters, in this context, means, first and foremost, not spending our money and time on programs and initiatives that aren’t working. If a commission, committee or working group isn’t reaching its set policy goals; if a program isn’t achieving the goals that were statutorily set for it; if a well meaning but disorganized commission isn’t moving forward with clear progress, then perhaps it’s time to make some changes.
H.67, an act relating to legislative operations and government accountability, is one step toward maximizing efficiency and reducing costs. Along with Reps. Lucy Boyden and Rey Garafano, I’m sponsoring this bill, based in part on the work of the 2023 Summer Government Accountability Committee, to urge the Legislature, the state auditor and other important stakeholders to hold us accountable and make sure we’re not throwing money out the window as we drive up and down 89 on our way to Montpelier every day.
The bill’s purpose is to “actuate the principle of government accountability by focusing on how evidence is used to inform policy, how our State laws are carried out, and how legislation can best be formed to achieve its intended outcomes.” This means, let’s make sure we’re doing what we intended to do. Let’s make sure that any future laws are created to actually achieve their goals. Let’s make sure that if we’re not doing those things, we have a good exit strategy.
If there’s a clear, objective, fact-based system that monitors government accountability efforts, rather than depending solely on individual legislators or legislative committees, then Vermonters can be sure that there are ongoing efforts to care for them and their money.
Our mandate as elected officials, who were elected by the people of Vermont, is to uphold our state’s constitution and by extension, care for the people who gave us the privilege of working here. We hear from Vermonters all the time that while, of course, they care about things like climate change and war, it’s difficult to care about anything other than their families when they struggle to pay for heat, cover their property taxes, pay their rent, or finance their kids’ educations or their aging parents’ healthcare.
With a clear, organized system in place to ensure that your government is operating the way it should, the theory is that we can save money and work in a more timely and efficient manner to serve Vermonters and be the best helpers we can be.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Rep. Chea Walter Evans: Have we really helped?.