SEN. CHRIS BRAY smiles at the Vergennes Memorial Day parade.
Independent photo/Steve James

The following five questions, along with a requested word limit, were asked of each local candidate in a competitive race for the Vermont House or Senate.

The questions are not repeated in the context of each candidate’s response, but are recalled by subject at the beginning of each answer.

Primary Election Day is Aug. 13.

1) PERSONAL BACKGROUND: First, my Vermont roots reach back to 1846, and I have a deep love for our state; and, second, my parents raised me and my siblings to believe that we could become anything we wanted, and, along the way, we must help our community. As a result, I have taken on many forms of public service, from coaching and refereeing, to fire and rescue, to boards and commissions, and, for the last 16 years, the Vermont General Assembly. Serving as a senator has been the greatest privilege of my life, and I love the work, the endless learning, and most of all, the people.

2) THREE ISSUES: There are many pressing issues for the next legislature to address; they include education (see Question 3 below); affordable housing (Question 4 below); economic development; an aging population; affordable health care; mental health care and substance abuse treatment; and climate change—this last one being a major focus of my work as Chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee for the last decade, so I will focus on that.

Climate Change. Vermonters in general want to live in harmony with our beautiful surroundings. We are natural stewards. At the same time, Vermont’s median income is only 86% of the national average, so we are always mindful of costs, including the cost of change—even changes that will ultimately save us money.

Climate change is real, pressing, and already costing Vermonters millions and even billions of dollars each year (a single major flood here can cause over $1 billion of damage). Climate change is driven by the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of our fossil fuel powered economy. Vermonters use costly polluting fossil fuels in two major ways—for heating and transportation. These days, there are proven ways to reduce both costs and emissions.

For example, if you replace a fossil fuel powered car with an electric one, you can save, over the average 12-year lifespan of a vehicle in Vermont, tens of thousands of dollars (approximately 47%), AND you reduce GHG emissions by nearly 98%.

In a similar way, you can heat using cold climate heat pumps that run on clean electricity, not fossil fuels. This change too requires an investment, and it too delivers savings; the five-year average heating cost for a heat pump saves 15% over heating oil, and 34% over propane.

If re-elected, I will continue to work on programs make the transition to these cleaner, money-saving technologies affordable for all Vermonters.

3) PAYING FOR SCHOOLS: At the outset, it’s worth reminding ourselves that school districts (and local voters)—not the legislature—determine the overall spending in Vermont on education. Legislators do not control local school budgets.

It’s also important to remember that in order to make taxes fairer (that is, based more upon ability to pay), education property taxes for 70% of Vermonters are income-sensitized; that is, these Vermonters do not pay the full education property tax; instead they pay based on their income. For 2024, the amount paid is capped at 2.54% of a household’s income for household income up to approximately $90,000/year, with tapering supports extending to approximately $130,000 of annual household income.

This year, as I member of the Senate Finance Committee I was able to help craft a 30% reduction in the education property tax from the state’s initial 20 cent increase, to 13.8% (many Addison County districts are well below this). This 30% decrease saved $70M in education taxes.

Even so, next year, we must do better. Therefore, I also proposed a study group, now underway, to address both education costs and delivery.

I’m also proposing two further actions:

First, we deliver a wide array of important social services at schools, including free food for all children, counseling, and health care. These services make our communities stronger and healthier, and, therefore I propose that we treat them as a “community expense,” that is, as an obligation of the state’s general fund, which has broader and more varied revenue streams supporting it. As a result, the education fund obligation, and thus the education property tax, will both be reduced.

Second, as Auditor Doug Hoffer has pointed out, the state of Vermont could, with no loss of quality, standardize its payment schedule for medical services and procedures, including for teachers, saving tens of millions of dollars each year. Every $11 million saved equals a penny off the education property tax.

4) HOUSING: The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee took on affordable housing directly this past session by defining Smart Growth districts that will be Act 250-free for the development of housing. In addition, we made these districts 400% larger for the developers of affordable housing, as defined by the federal government based on household income.

Our committee’s work last year made feasible the new Middlebury Seminary Street development being moved forward by the college and a private developer. Similar opportunities now exist in 16 Addison County towns and villages, and more will become eligible when they define smart growth areas.

At the same time, the committee mindfully preserved the critical role that Act 250 has played over the last 54 years to preserve and protect the green landscape in many forms, ranging from working farms and forests, to conserved and undeveloped fields, woods, mountains, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands.

In short, we created an opportunity for the development of quality housing, including affordable housing, while also keeping Act 250 robust and healthy.

Senate Natural also passed legislation that makes housing more affordable through energy efficiency. All affordable housing must be built to the state’s higher energy efficiency code, which adds a modest cost to the initial construction, but creates a lifetime of energy savings that pay for that additional investment many times over.

In addition, the committee moved forward training programs to teach science-based, engineered methods for constructing durable energy-efficient housing. This quality housing in turn helps consumers to reliably build wealth and security by protecting them from purchasing a home constructed using substandard, energy-wasting methods. These laws also create a fair and level playing field for contractors, so that those who build in compliance with the energy code can be distinguished from builders who do not.

5) CLIMATE: In 2020, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee (SNRE) helped write the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), which defines a pathway for Vermont to meet its energy needs while reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are the primary drivers of climate change.

Because the legislature is a part-time organization (meeting for 4+ months each year), the GWSA created a year-round 23-member working group, the Vermont Climate Council (VCC). The VCC studies means of reducing GHG emissions and improving Vermont’s resilience in the face of climate change, which is creating hotter, more violent weather (including floods and droughts), poorer air quality, and other consequences. The VCC produced its first Climate Action Plan (CAP, 2021), and is now working on a 2025 revision.

The CAP provides SNRE with helpful research that assists the committee when writing new laws, such as the Affordable Heat Act in 2023 and this year’s revised Renewable Energy Standard (RES 2.0). Next session, SNRE will use other research and recommendations from the CAP to put Vermont on the most cost-effective, money-saving pathway to a clean energy future with reduced consumption of fossil fuels. Following an initial investment phase through 2030, the non-partisan Joint Fiscal Office estimates that implementing the CAP will produce $6.4 billion in net savings to Vermonters.

Read more Addison Independent coverage of Christopher Bray here.

Find our Q&As with the rest of the Vermont Senate and House candidates here.