Democratic lawmakers are in the process of dismantling Act 181, the landmark Act 250 reform measure designed to encourage housing where it makes the most sense while protecting undeveloped land. It’s clear that the Act will be significantly pared back due to (a) political pressure from rural areas and/or (b) garden variety Democratic cowardice in the face of the slightest headwinds.

As they do so, Democrats will be throwing another of their core constituencies under the bus. If they’re willing to ignore the teachers’ union (not to mention principals and school administrators and, well, parents) by pursuing the Act 73 education reform bill, their rewriting of Act 181 is an abandonment of environmental groups. Yep, the Dems to seem to have a tendency to take their strongest supporters for granted. (See also: Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ folk.)

Act 181 was one of the most carefully crafted, inclusive pieces of legislation to come down the pike. It was the product of extensive negotiation and collaboration across the full gamut of interested parties, from environmental groups to developers and business interests. It was meant to strike a delicate balance between development and conservation — a balance that’s now being undone in the Democrats’ retreat.

Act 181 had the added benefit of encouraging development where we need it the most: in settled areas with public services. I don’t know about you, but my definition of “workforce housing” doesn’t involve isolated homes deep in the woods. It means affordable housing where the workers and the jobs are located.

Sure, there are equity issues in play. We don’t want to leave our smaller communities behind. But as I understand it, those towns can get into the mix if they choose to. And there’s room to tweak Act 181 without tossing it in the circular file.

Besides, we’re in a full-blown housing crisis, or so I’ve been told by my betters. That means immediate action aimed where it will have the most and quickest impact. Which is exactly what Act 181 was supposed to accomplish, but it’s gonna get significantly watered down if not killed outright.

Meanwhile, Gov. Phil Scott, who sees Act 181 as an unsupportable infringement on the property rights of rural towns and residents, is essentially demanding that same approach when it comes to public education reform. He worries that Act 181 would ultimately harm rural communities by shutting them out of development. At the same time, he insists on a school governance plan that would slash local control over education and lead to the closing of many rural schools.

And that would be ruinous for development in small communities. Why would any family move to a place where there’s no local school and their kids would face long-distance busing to get to a centralized facility? Is the governor’s cost-control fixation on public education so compelling that he’s uninterested in the harm it would do to the very communities he claims to defend against the potential impact of Act 181? Maybe it’s just me, but there seems to be a deep contradiction at play.

But Democratic leaders are cowed by negative reaction to Act 181 and the prospect that Republicans would demagogue the issue in the fall campaign. So they’re taking all the hard work done in 2024 and all the good will of their environmental allies, and tossing it into a metaphorical bonfire. Oh well. It’s not like we haven’t seen this movie before.