Act No. 148 Page 1 of 7
2024
This act summary is provided for the convenience of the public and members of the General Assembly. It
is intended to provide a general summary of the act and may not be exhaustive. It has been prepared by the
staff of the Office of Legislative Counsel without input from members of the General Assembly. It is not
intended to aid in the interpretation of legislation or to serve as a source of legislative intent.
Act No. 148 (H.868). An act relating to the fiscal year 2025 Transportation Program and
miscellaneous changes to laws related to transportation
Subjects: Transportation; annual Transportation Program; emissions; town
highway aid; electric distribution utilities; public transit; Mobility and
Transportation Innovation (MTI) Grant Program; electric vehicle supply
equipment (EVSE); EV infrastructure fees; complete streets; Amtrak;
transportation planning; vehicle incentive programs; Central Garage Fund;
beneficial electrification; appropriations calculations; right-of-way permit fees;
mobility services; Vermont Rail Plan; complete streets principles; MileageSmart;
Vermont State Design Standards
This act:
• Transportation Program. Adopts the Agency of Transportation’s (Agency or
AOT) Proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation Program (Revised February 15,
2024) except as amended in the act (Transportation Program) and defines terms
used throughout the act.
• Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation Investments Intended to Reduce Transportation-
Related Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Reduce Fossil Fuel Use, and Save Vermont
Households Money. Summarizes certain transportation investments.
• Heating Systems in Agency of Transportation Buildings. Reiterates that
renewable energy goals in State Comprehensive Energy Plan requires Agency of
Transportation to meet at least 35 percent of its thermal energy needs from non-
fossil fuel sources by 2025 and 45 percent by 2035. Directs AOT to prioritize
switching to high-efficiency, advanced wood heating when building new State
facilities or replacing heating equipment. Requires AOT to report to the
Department of Buildings and General Services by October 1 every other year on
the percentage of its thermal energy usage during previous two years that came
from fossil and non-fossil fuels.
• Public Transit; Carbon Reduction Program; Environmental Policy and
Sustainability Program; Central Garage; Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment
(EVSE). Reduces Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation Program spending for the
Carbon Reduction Funding in the Public Transit Program by $1,100,000 and uses
those funds for electrification of the Central Garage Fleet in the Environmental
Policy and Sustainability Program. Reduces Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation
Program spending for the Central Garage by $1,100,000 and distributes
$1,700,000 in one-time Transportation Fund monies to the Agency of Commerce
and Community Development for grants to increase Vermonters’ access to level 1
and 2 EVSE charging ports at workplaces and multiunit dwellings.
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• Highway Maintenance; Spending Reduction; Central Garage; Restoration of
Appropriations. Reduces Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation Fund spending for
highway maintenance by $2,160,000 and uses those funds for other purposes.
Specifies that restoring the Fiscal Year 2025 Maintenance Program and Central
Garage appropriations and authorizations to the levels included in AOT’s
Proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Transportation Program are to be AOT’s top fiscal
priorities. Provides a mechanism to allow AOT to restore the appropriations using
unencumbered Fiscal Year 2024 Transportation Fund monies that would otherwise
be authorized to carry forward.
• Town Highway Aid; Spending Increase. Increases authorized Town Highway Aid
spending by $860,000.
• Town Highway Structures; Spending Increase. Increases authorized Town
Highway Structure spending by $600,000.
• One-Time Public Transit Monies; Green Mountain Transit; Fare Collection,
Evaluation, and Reorganization; Report. Authorizes one-time spending of
$630,000 for a grant to Green Mountain Transit (GMT) as bridge funding for
Fiscal Year 2025 while GMT stabilizes its finances, adjusts its service levels, and
transitions to a sustainable funding model; imposes conditions on grant funding,
including restarting fare collection for urban and commuter transit, evaluating
alternative service options, and reporting to Transportation Committees in
November 2024 and February 2025.
• One-Time eBike Incentive Program Monies. Authorizes AOT to spend up to
$70,000 in one-time Transportation Fund monies to provide incentives under the
eBike Incentive Program.
• AOT Duties; Bonding. Allows AOT Secretary to waive the requirement of a
surety bond if a contract for construction of a transportation improvement is for
$100,000 or less.
• Delays; Increased Estimated Costs. Amends requirements for when existing
projects must be included in the updates found in the Agency’s annual proposed
Transportation Program because of increased project costs. Requires AOT to
report to the Transportation Committees on or before December 15, 2024 with a
plan for providing sufficient notice when approved Transportation Program
projects will be delayed.
• Appropriations Calculations; Central Garage Fund and Town Highway Aid.
Clarifies the methodology for performing inflationary calculations for transfers to
the Central Garage Fund and appropriations for town highway aid.
• Right-of-Way Permits; Fees; Waiver. Allows the AOT Secretary to waive
collection of the right-of-way permit fee for minor commercial development if the
Governor has declared a state of emergency and the Secretary has determined that
the applicant is facing hardship; the applicant must apply for the waiver during, or
within six months after the end of, the state of emergency.
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• Replace Your Ride Program. Amends the Replace Your Ride Program to increase
the period of time within which an “older low efficiency vehicle” removed from
operation must have passed its annual inspection from within the prior year to
within the prior 18 months. It also allows AOT to waive or modify some of the
eligibility requirements for the Replace Your Ride Program under certain
circumstances.
• Electrify Your Fleet Program. Revises certain purchase and lease incentives in the
Electrify Your Fleet Program.
• eBike Incentives; Eligibility. Annualizes AOT’s report requirement on eBike
incentives and requires the report to include a description of AOT’s post-voucher
sampling audits and audit findings, plus any recommendations to improve the
program design and effectiveness in directing funding to recipients most in need.
• Vehicle Incentive Programs; Annual Reporting. Amends AOT’s annual report
requirement on the effectiveness of the State’s vehicle incentive programs to
include addressing the effectiveness of the State’s marketing and outreach efforts
making recommendations for improvements to those efforts.
• Vehicle Incentive Programs; Authority to Transfer Money. In Fiscal Year 2025,
allows AOT Secretary to transfer up to 50 percent of any remaining monies for the
New Plug-In Electrical Vehicle Program, the Mileage Smart Program, or the
Replace Your Ride Program to any one of those three programs if the program has
less than $500,000 available for incentive distribution; AOT must report the
transfer to Joint Transportation Oversight Committee and Joint Fiscal Office
within 30 days after transfer.
• Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE). Modifies and codifies EVSE goals of
having publicly available level 3 EVSE charging ports within three driving miles
of every exit of Interstate Highways 89, 91, and 93; within 25 driving miles of
another level 3 EVSE charging port; and co-located with, or within safe and
walkable and rollable distance of, publicly accessible amenities. Also modifies
and codifies requirements that AOT file an annual report, with a map, regarding
the State’s effort to meet its federally required Electric Vehicle Infrastructure
Deployment Plan, and an annual report regarding the current operability of
publicly available EVSE that was deployed with assistance of AOT funding.
Requires AOT to submit a written plan by January 15, 2025, for how to fund and
maintain the EVSE necessary for Vermont to meet relevant goals in the
Comprehensive Energy Plan and the Vermont Climate Action Plan. Also requires
AOT to provide testimony by March 1, 2025, regarding regulation of EVSE that is
available to the public and how to ensure accuracy and transparency in EVSE costs
and charges.
• Electric Distribution Utilities; EVSE-Related Service Upgrades; Report. Requires
the Public Utility Commission to include information regarding service upgrade
practices related to EVSE installation across all electric distribution utilities in a
report due by January 15, 2025, pursuant to an existing reporting requirement.
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• Mobility Services Guide; Oral Update. Requires AOT, in consultation with others,
to develop a web-based guide outlining the different mobility service models that
the State could consider for deployment and directs AOT to give an oral update
and presentation of the web-based guide by February 15, 2025.
• Mobility and Transportation Innovations (MTI) Grant Program. Establishes and
codifies the MTI Grant Program, which will support innovative transportation
demand management programs and transit initiatives that improve mobility and
access to services for transit-dependent Vermonters, reduce use of single-
occupancy vehicles, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and complement existing
mobility investments. Allows for grant awards of up to $250,000 per recipient for
capital and/or operational costs for matching funds for other grants, for program
delivery costs, or to extend existing programs, but not to supplant existing State
funding for the same project or program.
• Vermont Rail Plan; Amtrak. Requires AOT, as part of its new Vermont Rail Plan,
to consider and address adding additional daily service on the Vermonter and
expanding service on the Valley Flyer. Also requires AOT to consult with others
regarding bicycle storage on the trains serving these routes, with an oral update
due by February 15, 2025.
• Replacement for the Vermont State Design Standards. Requires AOT to release a
draft of the replacement for the VT State Design Standards by January 1, 2026;
conduct at least 4 public hearings across the State; provide a publicly available
summary of public engagement activities and public responses to the final draft of
the replacement; consult key stakeholders; and provide oral updates by February
15, 2025 and 2026.
• Complete Streets; Traffic Calming Measures, Designated Centers. Expands the
“complete streets principles” for State- and municipally managed transportation
projects to include, when desired by a municipality or specifically identified in the
regional plan, designing streets to calm and slow traffic in State-designated
centers. Also requires a project manager who chooses not to incorporate
“complete streets principles” in a project because the cost would be
disproportionate to the need or probable use to address in the manager’s required
written determination any design elements desired by the municipality or
specifically identified in the regional plan but not incorporated.
• Analysis & Report on Sustainability Options; Transportation Emissions
Reductions. Requires AOT and Agency of Natural Resources, in consultation with
others, to prepare a written analysis of policy and investment scenarios to reduce
transportation-related emissions and meet State greenhouse gas reduction
standards. The analysis must address, at a minimum, the pros, cons, costs, and
benefits of the State participating in a regional cap-and-invest program, adopting a
clean transportation fuel standard, and implementing other potential revenue-
raising, carbon-pollution reduction strategies, and include an estimate of the
amount of emissions reduction from a minimum of four scenarios and a summary
of how each analyzed proposal would be administered. Requires the State
Treasurer to review the written analysis and make written recommendations to the
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2024
General Assembly and requires maintenance of a publicly accessible website
regarding development of the written analysis and the filing of a status update with
key legislative committees by November 15, 2024. Both the Agencies’ written
analysis and the Treasurer’s recommendations must be filed with the legislative
committees by February 15, 2025. Requires the Agencies to hire a consultant who
is an expert in comprehensive transportation policy with a focus on emissions
reductions and economic modeling.
• Better Connections Grant Program. Codifies the Better Connections Grant
Program, an existing program that provides planning grants to municipalities to
coordinate municipal land use decisions with transportation investments.
• Transportation Funding Study; Consultant. Directs AOT to contract with an
independent consultant with expertise in transportation funding and finance to look
at current and potential future transportation funding needs and options, including
a mileage-based user fee (MBUF). A written update and preliminary draft, if
available, are due by December 15, 2024, with the final report and
recommendations due by January 15, 2025.
• EV Infrastructure Fee; Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles. Requires the DMV
Commissioner to collect an annual electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure fee for
electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles as follows:
o for a battery electric vehicle, an annual amount equal to the annual
registration fee or a biennial amount equal to twice the annual registration
fee; and
o for a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, an amount equal to ½ of the annual
registration fee or a biennial amount equal to the amount of the annual
registration fee.
Allocates the EV infrastructure fees collected to the Transportation Fund to be
used to increase Vermonters’ access to EVSE charging ports. Directs DMV to
implement a public outreach campaign about EV infrastructure fees by October 1,
2024. The EV infrastructure fee for battery electric vehicles will sunset on the
effective date of a mileage-based user fee for battery electric vehicles.
• Proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Transportation Program; EVSE Charging Ports Project.
Requires AOT to include a project in its proposed fiscal year 2026 transportation
program that provides the estimated Fiscal Year 2026 revenue from the EV
infrastructure fee to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development for
grants to increase access to level 1 and 2 EVSE charging ports.
• Central Garage; Real Property; Facility Design; Authority. Authorizes AOT
Secretary to use up to $2 million in Central Garage Fund reserve funds to purchase
a specific piece of real property in Berlin, or to purchase a different piece of real
property after receiving specific prior approval from the Joint Transportation
Oversight Committee (J