New Vt. laws became official over the weekend

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Several new Vermont laws have gone into effect starting on July 1st.

Here are just a few of those laws, ranging from gun control, to ranked choice voting, to worker’s compensation.

Act 45 creates a 72-hour waiting period for purchasing firearms, expands the procedure for obtaining an extreme risk protection order and requires the safe storage of firearms.

According to data from the Vermont Department of Health, 44% of households in the state store at least one firearm and half don’t store them locked and unloaded.

The term firearm includes any weapon that can cause an explosion, including a starter gun. The law also applies to the purchase of any firearm muffler.

The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs plans to sue the state in federal court in the coming weeks over this law.

Act 29 requires all school districts and independent schools to hold an options-based response drill twice a year and have an all-hazards emergency plan. That means not just doing traditional lockdowns drills during an active threat.

Another component of the act requires the Secretary of Education to create a model for behavioral threat assessment for schools to adopt.

The Vermont School Safety Center reports sharing drill practices and recommendations every year, but some schools may not do it all. There also wasn’t a reporting process for when schools do complete drills, the results, or what went wrong.

Act 8 raises the minimum age to marry in the state to 18.

Previously, Vermonters who were 16 or 17 could get married with parental consent. Between 2000 and 2022, 298 Vermont teens married before they were legal adults.

Supporters of the measure say it will reduce domestic violence and unwanted pregnancies, and improve the education and lives of teenagers.

Act M-9 changes the voting system for for mayor, school commissioner, and ward election officers in Burlington to a ranked choice voting system.

Ranked choice voting involves ordering the candidates by preference and candidates must get more than 50% of the vote to win.

Act 26 strengthens workers compensation coverage for all firefighters by expanding the types of cancer presumed to be a result of on-duty exposures.

The International Association of Firefighters reports 66 percent of career firefighter deaths from 2002 to 20-19 were caused by cancer.

The Compensation Act helps Vermonters who are forced to leave work because of a work-related injury.

Families who rely on the injured worker for income will get a benefit increase of $20 per dependent per week. That’s up from $10.

Low-income Vermonters receiving temporary partial disability will see their benefits increase.

Injured workers who need medical equipment like a wheelchair can get preauthorization from their employer’s insurance to buy it.

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