House Judiciary reviews H.86: rulemaking for salt best practices, limited liability for certified applicators

The House Judiciary Committee heard a presentation on H.86 (draft 4.3) on April 17, 2025, a bill that would require the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to adopt best management practices (BMPs) for application of road- and sidewalk‑deicing salts by rule and would create a limited-liability protection for commercial and municipal salt applicators who are certified and who follow those BMPs.

The bill requires ANR, after consultation with the Agency of Transportation (AOT) and other states, to adopt BMPs by rule on or before July 1, 2026, and ties a limited-liability protection to certification and implementation: the draft ties liability protection to January 1, 2027, unless the committee changes that timing. The draft also directs ANR to offer voluntary training and certification for commercial salt applicators, to establish record-keeping and reporting (including an annual summary of salt use), and to provide a model form for commercial applicators.

Why it matters: Committee members and witnesses framed H.86 as an effort to reduce chloride loading to surface waters before more rivers and lakes in Vermont are placed under Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) obligations. Committee members raised questions about whether rulemaking and legislative review (LCAR) provide enough oversight of the BMPs, how the liability protection would operate in practice, and who would pay for administering the program.

Legislative counsel Mike O'Grady, who walked the committee through draft 4.3, said the bill was restructured to move the BMP substance into a new subchapter of title 10 and to make rulemaking the vehicle for setting BMP details. "APA rulemaking is an open process. It requires public review and comment, requires public hearing, it requires…