Senate Transportation reviews draft miscellaneous motor‑vehicles bill covering EV fees, veterans and permits

Legislative counsel presented the first draft of a miscellaneous motor‑vehicles bill at a Wednesday meeting of the Senate Transportation committee, walking members through a series of mostly technical and clarifying changes that affect electric vehicles, veterans’ designations, identification documents and learner and commercial permits.

Damian Leonard, legislative counsel, said the draft clarifies that the term "pleasure car" will include "plug‑in electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles and plug‑in hybrid electric vehicles" to avoid inadvertently excluding those vehicles from statutes that reference pleasure cars. "The goal here is to avoid inadvertently excluding those vehicles from all of the other statutes that mentioned pleasure cars," Leonard said.

The draft includes a number of specific changes: a clarification that a new applicant for an enhanced driver’s license need only submit veterans‑related documentation once rather than at every renewal; a provision allowing a documented anatomical gift form to be indicated on non‑driver ID cards; edits to disability placard language that align statutory text with current practice; and authorization for replacement registration certificates to be generated and printed by vehicle owners from their electronic DMV accounts at no charge.

On fees, Leonard explained the bill would exempt the EV infrastructure fee for vehicles owned by the state, by municipalities when used for municipal purposes, and for vehicles (including trailers, trucks and ambulances) owned by volunteer fire departments or volunteer rescue organizations that are used exclusively for firefighting or rescue. He said these exemptions are intended to track how other registration fees and exemptions are treated. "So this prevents a carve out there when you buy something through the department, but then use it for personal uses or something else," Leonard said.

The draft also expands an existing veterans’ registration exemption (23 V.S.A. § 378) to include an annual $2 emissions charge referenced in the draft, and identifies the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs form (VA Form 21‑4502) as the document that certifies eligibility for that exemption. Leonard said the bill makes the veterans provision align with federal documentation requirements.

Committee members asked several technical and policy questions. Logan Webber of the fiscal office noted that for gasoline taxation, municipalities generally do not receive an exemption from the gas tax in the same way as some diesel reductions; "For gasoline, I believe we do not," Webber said. Senators asked staff to confirm how the EV infrastructure fee revenues are treated and where they are deposited.

The draft also contains technical updates to learner and commercial learner permits: photographic images on certain learner permits, ability to generate replacement permits online at no charge, and a fix to the statute governing deferral of sentences when the defendant holds a commercial driver's license or commercial learner's permit so courts cannot improperly defer judgments in cases involving commercial motor vehicle operation.

No committee vote was taken on the draft; senators said they expected further review and follow‑up with agency staff and fiscal analysts. Leonard said he would continue to work with the commissioner and agency staff to refine the language and return for further discussion.