COLCHESTER — Rep. Sarita Austin (D-Colchester) is in the midst of a busy session at the Vermont statehouse, where she’s discussing the environment, education and supporting children and families. 

A retired middle school counselor, this is her fourth year in the House, where she represents the western side of Colchester alongside Rep. Wendy Critchlow.  

The Sun spoke with Austin to find out what she’s working on this session and what issues still need attention.

Environmental issues

Austin has been working on reducing or limiting products that contain PFAs with her colleagues in the House Committee on Environment.

PFAs are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that resist breaking down in natural environments and can accumulate in people and animals. Various scientific studies have found these chemicals may be a cause of cancer and can negatively impact human reproductive systems.

“PFAs are everywhere, so getting rid of them completely is impossible, but we’re really looking at managing the risks of them,” she said.

Austin and her colleagues passed H.238, a bill that would expand on a policy approved last year to phase out the sale and production of products containing these chemicals. H.238 is now being reviewed by the Senate. 

The committee is also working on addressing the levels of phosphorus in Vermont bodies of water to comply with the Clean Water Act, which is enforced by the federal government through the Environmental Protection Agency.

“It’s mainly to address discharges into clean water from farms and how they need to reduce the amount of phosphorus they send out,” she said. “It’s pretty regulated, so we’ve been taking a lot of testimony about what that’s going to look like when that happens.”

Austin and her colleagues also passed a bill to fix the permitting of stormwater by lowering the cost to obtain a permit for land with more than three acres of impervious surface that water can’t pass through. The regulations in question come from the state’s 2016 Clean Water Act. 

“We were hearing from Vermonters that it was inequitable because of the amount of money that they had to spend to get a permit,” she said. “So we made some adjustments to address their concerns.”

Austin is also working on a bill that would lead to a feasibility study about bringing cougars back to Vermont. The bill would establish a fund for donations to finance the study, not the state budget.

Education funding

Austin supports reforming Vermont’s public education system to make it more cost effective for Vermont taxpayers and better for students.

“I think Vermonters are concerned about financial issues, but they also want equal educational opportunities for their children,” she said. “So it’s about how we provide that at an affordable, sustainable cost to Vermonters.” 

As was proposed by Gov. Phil Scott, she supports consolidating small schools and districts to contain costs and provide more opportunities to students. 

“In order to lower the spending and the cost of education and still provide a quality experience for students we need to consolidate districts,” she said. “It’s just inefficient to have a lot of tiny, small schools unless they’re extremely remote geographically.” 

These changes will take time though, she said.

“We’re talking about creating districts, working with the Secretary of State on how to make those districts politically equitable in terms of population equality and representation,” she said.  

Helping lower income families

Austin is on the Advisory Council on Child Poverty and Strengthening Families, which seeks to advance policies that promote financial stability, asset building and supportive safety nets for low income families.

She said the state’s motel voucher program provided needed housing to many Vermonters, but that it was always a stop-gap measure, not a sustainable solution. 

While the advisory council has only met a couple of times, Austin has heard testimony from providers who help those experiencing housing insecurity about what would help clients move from emergency shelter to permanent housing. 

The answer, providers said, was transitional services.

“You can’t just take them from homelessness and put them into a new home or a living situation, they need a lot of skill development,” she said. “They need to be employed, so they may need workforce development skills in order to get a job and in order to pay for the housing. They need a lot of financial literacy education about all the financial demands of owning a home or running a home.”

Austin and her colleagues in the House passed H.91, a bill that would empower local community action agencies to provide transitional services to people experiencing homelessness and dissolve the state’s hotel voucher program to help achieve this goal. The bill is now being considered by the Senate.