Statutes
The state is one of three in the nation that does not require political candidates to disclose personal financial information.
The Vermont constitution and the courts supports the right of a person to walk (fish and hunt) on any unposted, unfenced land. That is trespass must be proven by the owner; it is not automatically assumed.
By a court decision from 1903, people have the right to carry firearms without a permit.
In 2010, the state enacted a law requiring that a DNA sample be taken from everyone arraigned on a felony, and entered into a database controlled by the FBI.
After passage of the billboard-regulating Highway Beautification Act of 1965, Vermont moved to ban them outright in 1968. All billboards were gone from Vermont by 1974. Vermont is one of four states to have prohibited all billboards from view of highway rights-of-way by law, except for signs on the contiguous property of the business location.
After the legislature was redistricted under one-person, one-vote, it passed legislation to accommodate American emigrants from New York, which earlier legislatures had ignored. The new legislation was the Land Use and Development Law (Act 250) in 1970. The law, which was the first of its kind in the nation, created nine District Environmental Commissions consisting of private citizens, appointed by the Governor, who must approve land development and subdivision plans that would have a significant impact on the state's environment and many small communities. As a result of Act 250, Vermont was the last state to get a Wal-Mart; there are four, as of March 2008, but only the Williston store was new construction.
Having tried to discourage suburban sprawl, the legislatures of 1998 and 2002 moved to encourage downtowns. In 2008, there were 23 designated downtowns and 78 village centers.
There was a controversy in 2002 over the adoption of civil unions, an institution which grants same-sex couples nearly all the rights and privileges of marriage. In Baker v. Vermont (1999), the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that, under the Constitution of Vermont, the state must either allow same-sex marriage or provide a separate but equal status for them. The state legislature chose the second option by creating the institution of civil union; the bill was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Howard Dean. In 2009 however, the state legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill that was vetoed by Governor Jim Douglas. The legislature overrode the veto, making Vermont the first state to recognize same-sex marriage as the result of a bill passed in the legislature and not due to a judicial ruling.
In 2007, when confronted with an allegedly liberal issue, assisted suicide for the terminally ill, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives rejected the measure by a vote of 82-63.
A political issue has been Act 60, which balances taxation for education funding. This has resulted in the town of Killington voting 3:1 to secede from Vermont and join New Hampshire due to what the locals say is an unfair tax burden.
In 2009, Vermont passed the strictest law in the nation controlling the marketing of pharmaceutical drugs to doctors, hospitals and other health providers.
In 2009, a governor vetoed a budget bill for the first time in history. For the first time in history, the legislature was called into special session to deal with the veto.
In 2009, the state outlawed smoking at workplaces.
The age of consent in Vermont is 16.
Vermont is one of four states in the Union to allow any adult to carry a concealed firearm without any sort of permit.
Public nudity is legal in Vermont, though not disrobing in public. Within the State, thousands of nudists and skinny dippers gather for non-sexual nude recreation and host the World Naked Bike Ride through the streets of Burlington each year. The ride began in 2005 and has become an annual event.
Vermont is an alcoholic beverage control state. Beer and wine may be sold in local grocery stores unless the town in which it is located has voted "dry" at their town meeting. Only state licensed establishments may sell stronger alcoholic beverages in bottles. The quantity of these stores is limited. Prices are set by the state. The state directly controls the licensing of establishments that sell alcoholic beverages by the drink. In 2007, through the Vermont Department of Liquor Control, it took in over $14 million from the sale and distribution of liquor. There are 75 State Liquor Stores and 1,350 taverns in the state.
In Vermont a driver may regard double yellow lines as "advisory," meaning that they are merely a warning not to cross over them. However a motorist will not be ticketed for that as an offense by itself.
Vermont is one of two states who allow prison inmates to vote, the other being Maine.
Vermont is the only state in the union not to have a balanced budget requirement. Nevertheless, since 1991, it had always balanced its budget.
The state has an "open meeting" law. This requires special attention when a quorum of an elected government group is meeting anyplace, including socially.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Vermont