ACLU of Vermont
@ACLUVermont
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont is dedicated to the defense of individual rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Vermont Constitution.
Montpelier, VT
Joined April 2009
BREAKING: The AP just called the 2024 presidential election for Donald Trump. We’re clear-eyed about the chaos and destruction a second Trump administration will cause to our nation. That’s why we’re done with handwringing, admiring the problem, or waiting anxiously to see
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As students go #backtoschool here in Vermont, we are thankful for #VTPoli's support of permanent Universal School Meals! Here in Vermont, no child has to learn what hunger feels like in school.
#SchoolMealsfuel student health and learning. As the school year begins & students go#backtoschool, tell your members ofCongress weneed #schoolmeals4all! https://t.co/m4ReyxfKBt
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TODAY! Join us and attorney Harrison Stark at @ACLUVermont to learn about open meetings and remote access. Register here: https://t.co/1NqavqF8iU
#opengov
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If the Scott administration opposed overdose prevention centers—as Governor Scott’s veto of legislation authorizing this life-saving public health strategy in Vermont would suggest—they should have had that debate in the light of day.
acluvt.org
Department of Health violated public records and open meeting laws, undermining the work of Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee ACLU of Vermont Sues Scott Administration for Withholding Opioid...
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The government is obligated to be transparent in its decision-making about matters of public concern. Wrongfully claiming executive privilege to avoid accountability is out of step with Vermont values, and it denies Vermonters their right to transparent and responsive government.
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During and after these exchanges, Dr. Levine made significant adjustments to the Committee’s funding priorities, including removing funding for OPCs. He did not answer Committee member's questions about the changes prior to submitting the report on their behalf.
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However, “executive privilege” applies only to communications with the Governor of Vermont about official decision-making—and the Governor has no role in the Committee’s work.
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In response to our initial request for these public records, the Department of Health redacted most of the emails it provided, citing “executive privilege.”
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Between that meeting and his submission of the report, Dr. Levine and his staff exchanged several communications with Governor Scott’s staff. Redacted records of these communications suggest that staff discussed the Committee’s recommendations generally, and OPCs specifically.
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At the Committee’s December meeting, members ranked their funding priorities, and OPCs received nearly unanimous support as a top priority. The Committee was told that Dr. Levine would recirculate the rankings prior to submitting a final report to the legislature.
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The Committee was created by the legislature in 2022 to advise the state on how to spend $40+ million in opioid settlement funds paid out by drug companies over the next decade.
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But one of their top recommendations—spending $2.6 million to fund two overdose prevention centers—had been unilaterally reallocated by Commissioner of Health Dr. Levine, the Committee’s non-voting chair, when he submitted the group’s recommendations to the legislature.
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In January 2024, the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee published its recommendations for how the state should spend this year’s opioid settlement funds.
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Policymaking should not happen behind closed doors, and that is especially true when the policies have life and death consequences. That is why we are suing the Scott administration for withholding opioid settlement records and violating Vermont’s Open Meeting Law. 🧵
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Moving forward, we will continue to challenge efforts across the state to criminalize people experiencing homelessness simply for existing, and to advocate for humane and evidence-based solutions to this systemic problem.
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We urge Vermont leaders to respond to the housing and homelessness crisis with support, not handcuffs.
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Instead of arresting or fining people for simply existing, we must invest in proven solutions to end homelessness, which includes affordable housing, accessible and voluntary support services, and evictions protections. Only then can our communities truly thrive.
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With its appalling decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Supreme Court has doubled down on a shameful tradition of choosing to remove unhoused people from public view rather than provide our community members with what they actually need: a safe and dignified place to live.
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We cannot punish our way out of homelessness and poverty.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court ruled today that cities can punish unhoused people for sleeping in public, even if they have nowhere else to go. We cannot arrest our way out of homelessness.
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First Amendment 101: An officer can’t retaliate against someone just because the person bruises their ego. With FIRE and @ACLUVermont's lawsuit, the Vermont State Police learned that lesson the hard way—and it didn't come cheap. https://t.co/4npRyCibwa
nytimes.com
The state and the arresting officer settled a case with a man who argued that he had been exercising his First Amendment rights.
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