House bill protects ‘academic freedom’ to teach about gender identity, racism

Also: Climate disaster fund, gun control, getting paid before payday

By Guy Page

A bill introduced this week into the Vermont House would “protect the academic freedom of public educators and their right to teach on matters of gender identity and systemic and structural racism.”

H106 is a ‘short form’ bill that does not explain how it would fulfill that goal. Educators across Vermont are under fire for teaching Critical Race Theory-based teaching on racism. In Milton, more than 1000 voter petitioners have asked the school board to eliminate CRT-based academics and not impose a proposed diversity/equity/inclusion program. 

“An act relating to the academic freedom of public educators” was sponsored by Rep. Troy Headrick, a Burlington lawmaker who works at UVM as the Assistant Director at the Center for Student Conduct. The other 24 sponsors are liberal Democrats or Progressives. 

The bill was referred to the House Education Committee.

Below are all House Bills introduced as of 4 pm Wednesday, January 25.

Bill #	Introduced	Title	Lead Sponsor	Sponsor’s party	Committee
H.108	1/25/2023	Update Vermont School Bus Manual and the CDL tests	LaBounty	Democrat	Transportation
H.107	1/25/2023	Hartford infrastructure financing	Christie	Democrat	Ways and Means
H.106	1/25/2023	Protect teaching gender-identity and racism	Headrick	Prog./ Democrat	Education
H.105	1/25/2023	Create $3 mil disaster fund	Sims	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.104	1/25/2023	Defining membership in worker cooperatives	Andriano	Democrat	Commerce and Economic Development
H.103	1/25/2023	Required state reporting on staff-to-patient ratios	Page	Republican	Health Care
H.102	1/25/2023	Amending the Art in State Buildings Program	Coffey	Dem./ Rep.	Corrections and Institutions
H.101	1/25/2023	Reducing transportation carbon emissions	Burke/ Stebbins	Democrat	Transportation
H.100	1/25/2023	Seasonal signs at pedestrian crossings	Dolan/ McGill	Democrat	Transportation
H.99	1/25/2023	Amending National Guard Tuition Benefit Program	Hango/ Birong/ Sibilia	Democrat	Education
H.98	1/24/2023	Firearms storage restrictions, 10-day waiting period	Mulvaney-Stanak	Prog./ Democrat	Judiciary
H.97	1/24/2023	Write-in candidates, primary elections	Scheu	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.96	1/24/2023	Clean Heat Standard	Stebbins/ Sibilia	Democrat/ Ind.	Environment and Energy
H.95	1/24/2023	Municipal Energy Grants	Willams	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.94	1/24/2023	Reach Up	Garofano/ Gregoire/ Brumsted/ Small	Dem./ Rep.	Human Services
H.93	1/24/2023	Reach Up benefits	Garofano/ Gregoire/ Brumsted/ Small	Dem./ Rep.	Human Services
H.92	1/24/2023	Uneemployment insurance after voluntary separation	Mulvaney-Stanak	Prog./ Democrat	Commerce and Economic Development
H.91	1/24/2023	Paid family leave for serious injury	Stevens	Democrat	General and Housing
H.90	1/24/2023	defunct Congregational churches	Stevens	Democrat	Judiciary
H.89	1/24/2023	Legal protections for abortion, transgender service providers	Donally/ LaLonde/ Small	Democrat/ Prog.	Judiciary
H.88	1/24/2023	Cash bail restrictions, prohibitions	Bos-Lun	Democrat	Judiciary
H.87	1/24/2023	Access to wages before payday	Marcotte	Republican	Commerce and Economic Development
H.86	1/24/2023	Audiology, Speech Pathology Interstate Compact	McCarthy	Democrat	Health Care
H.85	1/24/2023	Public trails accessibility	Burroughs	Democrat/ Prog.	Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry
H.84	1/24/2023	Wastewater discharge permits	Sims	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.83	1/20/2023	Tax credits for living organ donations	Noyes	Democrat	Ways and Means
H.82	1/20/2023	Sell two state buildings to Town of Waterbury	Wood	Democrat	Corrections and Institutions
H.81	1/20/2023	Ensure fair repair of agricultural equipment	Donahue/ Sims	Rep./ Dem.	Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry
H.80	1/20/2023	License freestanding birth centers	Cordes	Democrat	Health Care
H.79	1/20/2023	Ensure rights to independent auto repair	Donahue/ Sims	Rep./ Dem.	Commerce and Economic Development
H.78	1/20/2023	Takeout of alcoholic beverages	Birong	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.77	1/20/2023	Adopting the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact	Ode	Democrat	Health Care
H.76	1/20/2023	Regulating captive insurance companies	Marcotte	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.75	1/20/2023	Notify planned outages of 911 services	Sibilia	Independent	Environment and Energy
H.74	1/20/2023	Repeal Global Warming Solutions Act	Higley	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.73	1/20/2023	Revoking VT use of California’s Clean Air Act waiver	Higley	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.72	1/19/2023	Safe injection sites	Small	Prog./ Democrat	Judiciary
H.71	1/19/2023	Expanding DMV veteran designations	Peterson	Republican	Transportation
H.70	1/19/2023	Restrictions on telecommunications sitings	Dolan/ Patt	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.69	1/19/2023	Ban smoking outdoors near entrances	Dolan	Democrat	Human Services
H.68	1/19/2023	Urban zoning, housing development	Bongartz	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.67	1/19/2023	Manufacturers pay for household hazardous products collection	Dolan	Democrat	Human Services
H.66	1/19/2023	Mandated family and medical leave insurance	Kornheiser/ Scheu/ Stevens	Democrat	General and Housing
H.65	1/18/2023	Raise Small claims from $5,000 to $10,000	Patt	Democrat	Judiciary
H.64	1/18/2023	Ban on wake boats	Sims	Democrat	Transportation
H.63	1/18/2023	Marriage/family therapists licensed clinical social workers	Coffey	Democrat	Health Care
H.62	1/18/2023	Interstate Counseling Compact	Houghton/ Durfee	Democrat	Health Care
H.61	1/18/2023	Elective income tax and credit	Harrison	Republican	Ways and Means
H.60	1/18/2023	More 4th classes licenses for alcohol manufacturers	Birong	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.59	1/18/2023	Amending veterans‘ death certificates	Coffey	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.58	1/18/2023	Unbiased appointment of zoning administrators	Peterson	Republican	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.57	1/18/2023	Dog trainers, client consent	Coffey	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.56	1/18/2023	Ban natural gas line extension	Cordes/ Elder	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.55	1/18/2023	Unemployment insurance amendments	Marcotte	Republican	Commerce and Economic Development
H.54	1/17/2023	Municipal services support	Anthony	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.53	1/17/2023	Eliminate driver’s license suspension for some nonpayment	Dolan/ LaLonde	Dem./ Rep.	Transportation
H.52	1/13/2023	Retirement benefits for temporary state employees	Casey	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.51	1/13/2023	Boaters pay $20 for aquatic nuisance passes	Dolan	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.50	1/13/2023	Ban on sale of PFA products	Dolan/ Whitman	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.49	1/13/2023	Retirement plan for volunteer firefighters	Nicoll	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.48	1/12/2023	Find new landfill site	Sims/ Page	Dem./ Rep.	Environment and Energy
H.47	1/12/2023	Disposal of solar panels	Harrison	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.46	1/12/2023	Dissolution of Colchester Fire District No. 3	Taylor	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.45	1/12/2023	Restrict litigation against abuse survivors	Donnally	Democrat	Judiciary
H.44	1/12/2023	Small town local option tax	Dolan	Democrat	Ways and Means
H.43	1/12/2023	Military protection orders	Ode	Democrat	Judiciary
H.42	1/11/2023	Public meetings alternatives	Gov. Ops.	referral	Ways and Means
H.41	1/11/2023	domestic/sex assault cases to community justice centers	Dolan	Democrat	Judiciary
H.40	1/11/2023	Make contraceptive tampering a crime	Rachelson	Democrat	Judiciary
H.39	1/11/2023	new plan for State distributing revenues to municipalities	Anthony	Democrat	Ways and Means
H.38	1/11/2023	Device-distracted driving	Shaw	Republican	Transportation
H.37	1/11/2023	Require winter tires on rental cars	Patt	Democrat	Transportation
H.36	1/11/2023	Exempt forests from small town planning	Parsons	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.35	1/10/2023	Responsibility for Victims Assistance Program	Rachelson	Democrat	Judiciary
H.34	1/10/2023	State-owned public restroom near Capitol	Casey	Democrat	Corrections and Institutions
H.33	1/10/2023	Legislator expenses: reimbursement or allowance	Harrison	Republican	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.32	1/10/2023	Social Security benefits exemption	Harrison	Republican	Ways and Means
H.31	1/10/2023	Aquatic nuisance control moratorium	Bongartz	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.30	1/10/2023	Increase acreage of wetlands	Sheldon	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.29	1/10/2023	Restrict all mapped river corridor development	Sheldon	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.28	1/10/2023	Expand expungement of court diversion cases	LaLonde	Democrat	Judiciary
H.27	1/10/2023	Coercive controlling behavior basis for abuse order	Donnally	Democrat	Judiciary
H.26	1/10/2023	National Guard income tax exemption	Birong	Democrat	Ways and Means
H.25	1/6/2023	Feasibility study for child care facility in a State building	Anthony	Democrat	Corrections and Institutions
H.24	1/6/2023	State Auditor examining State contractor records	Page	Republican	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.23	1/6/2023	Mail-in ballots upon request only for general elections	Labor	Republican	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.22	1/6/2023	Sexual exploitation by police	Small	Prog./ Democrat	Judiciary
H.21	1/6/2023	Require utility to notify landlord of disconnections	Page	Republican	General and Housing
H.20	1/5/2023	One person, one vote’ reapportionment study	Sims	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.19	1/5/2023	Municipal boards of abatement	Arrison	Democrat	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.18	1/5/2023	Ban sale of single-use-filter cannabis and tobacco products	Page	Republican	Human Services
H.17	1/5/2023	More time, money for towing abandoned vehicles	Page	Republican	Transportation
H.16	1/5/2023	Study to expand passenger, freight rail service	Page	Republican	Transportation
H.15	1/5/2023	Protecting golf courses from development	Page	Republican	Environment and Energy
H.14	1/5/2023	More pay for jurors	Coffey	Democrat	Judiciary
H.13	1/5/2023	Legalizing switchblade knives	Brennan	Republican	Judiciary
H.12	1/5/2023	Dismiss nonviolent misdemeanors to reduce court backlog	LaLonde/ Burditt/ Christie	Rep./ Dem.	Judiciary
H.11	1/5/2023	Insurance for epinephrine auto-injectors	Hango	Republican	Health Care
H.10	1/5/2023	Create VEGI oversight board	Kornheiser/ Marcotte	Dem./ Rep.	Commerce and Economic Development
H.9	1/5/2023	Exempt EVs from inspection for 40 months	Anthony	Democrat	Transportation
H.8	1/5/2023	Repeal statute of limitations for childhood emotional abuse	Austin	Democrat	Judiciary
H.7	1/5/2023	Replacing term “cider” with “hard cider“	Donahue	Republican	Government Operations and Military Affairs
H.6	1/5/2023	Expand development ban down to 1,500 ft.	Anthony	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.5	1/5/2023	Regional plan reform	Bongartz	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.4	1/5/2023	Removal of pilings causing ice jams at Barre bridge	Anthony	Democrat	Transportation
H.3	1/5/2023	$800K for mental health providers working with police	Anthony	Democrat	Health Care
H.2	1/5/2023	Exempt aircraft hangars from Act 250 review	Corcoran	Democrat	Environment and Energy
H.1	1/5/2023	Payment, case management for developmental disability services	McFaun/ Wood	Rep./ Dem.	Human Services