A bill that would give a competitive edge in state contracts to businesses that limit their contribution to climate change has hit a roadblock in the Governor’s Office.
The bill mirrors an executive order signed by former Gov. Peter Shumlin in July, which says that if two companies submit substantially similar bids for a state contract, preference should be given to the company with certain environmental protections in place, when possible.
Though the executive order raised no red flags among agencies at the time, now that environmental advocates are seeking to put it into law, Gov. Phil Scott wants to hit the brakes.
Advocates for the bill said one reason they sought to turn the existing executive order into law was to prevent Scott from repealing it.
Administration officials say they’ve been too busy with other priorities, including boosting the economy, to have evaluated whether to rescind it.
The bill to put that order into law, however, would “add subjectivity and complexity … and bureaucracy and complication to the procurement process,” said Scott’s communications director, Rebecca Kelley.
Scott supports the state’s renewable-energy goals, and supports environmental initiatives, but not this one, Kelley said.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation recently brought forward concerns over the bill.
S. 32 would prevent VTrans from receiving the type of federal funding on which the agency depends for most of its projects, said the agency’s chief of contract administration, Denise Gumpper.
As a result, VTrans has asked legislators to rewrite the bill to exempt most VTrans projects from the substantive requirements in the bill.