Senate orders third reading of bill allowing Burlington to adjust ward lines outside decennial census

Senate leaders ordered a third reading of H.508 on a motion to amend the bill as recommended by the Committee on Government Operations and after a brief discussion on the floor.

Senator Brechoski, the senator from Chittenden Central who reported the measure, told colleagues that the City of Burlington had asked for language that would allow it to adjust ward and district lines more flexibly than the charter currently permits. She said the draft language was intended to let Burlington change boundaries when annual census data showed constitutional deviations while guarding against arbitrary or politically motivated redrawing.

"What the city of Burlington wanted to do is to be able to adjust the lines of their wards and districts if the census data, which does come out yearly," Brechoski said, adding the intent was to avoid charter amendments for routine changes.

Brechoski told the chamber the city attorney had approved the language and legislative counsel had helped craft a version that prevents frequent, discretionary changes while allowing corrections when population shifts create constitutional concerns. She reported the committee vote on the charter revision as 5-0-0 and asked the full Senate for support.

The Senate voted to amend H.508 as recommended by committee and then voted to order the bill read a third time. The presiding officer announced that the ayes had it and that third reading had been ordered; a roll-call tally was not recorded in the transcript.

Next steps: ordering a third reading means H.508 is scheduled for a subsequent floor action (third reading) where the measure could be debated again and put to a final vote.