Senator Bernie introduced S.134, a bill aimed at resolving uncertainty over municipal authority to regulate private airstrips and to improve data and public input around aviation activity. The bill would allow towns to include the "location, construction, repair, maintenance, and alteration of restricted landing areas" in local zoning bylaws and would explicitly make such restricted landing areas subject to Act 250 review, the sponsor said.

"So what this would do is first make it clear that towns can, include in their zoning bylaws, the location construction, repair, maintenance, and alteration of restricted landing areas," Senator Bernie said, explaining the measure responds to constituent complaints as private aviation expands.

The bill would also move an existing advisory body from executive order into statute. "This bill would create an aviation advisory council, that would have appointments from various people in the industry and also people who are experts about the sort of impact of aviation on the environment and on public health, and also people who are neighbors of airports," Senator Bernie said. The statutory council would include the secretary of transportation or a designee as chair, a Vermont National Guard designee, industry representatives, regional planning commission appointees, independent pilots, and community representatives, according to the read of the draft language.

On data, the bill directs the Agency of Transportation to track flight activity at state-owned air navigation facilities—date/time, aircraft class, elevation, and takeoff/landing counts—and to maintain a web-searchable database updated at least quarterly. The legislative read included an appropriation line read aloud as "$100,100,000 dollars appropriated to the transportation fund for the purpose of acquiring the technology necessary to perform the data tracking," which staff noted would be used to acquire the necessary technology and consult with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Supporters said clearer local authority and better data could reduce neighbor tensions where private landing areas are sited close to residences. Committee staff said the bill's aviation council language largely mirrors an existing governor-appointed council but would put membership and duties into statute so the Legislature can change them in the future. The committee agreed to pause further consideration and return with detailed testimony from transportation staff and interested stakeholders at a later meeting.

Next steps: Committee staff will schedule additional walkthroughs and invited testimony from the Agency of Transportation, the Vermont National Guard, municipal planning representatives, and local residents before advancing the bill.