Since 2021, Burlington voters have agreed to ban guns from bars, protect renters from no-cause evictions and adopt a new police oversight model. All three changes to the city’s charter were approved overwhelmingly — but none has taken effect.
Instead, they’re stuck in Montpelier, where lawmakers and the governor must sign off before they can become law. The three measures are among the five charter changes Burlington has pending in the Statehouse. Only one is likely to pass before the 2026 session ends.
Lawmakers say charter changes take time to review and that some of Burlington’s issues should be addressed statewide, not by the city. The gun measure, in particular, appears to lack the votes to get out of committee.
The logjam is frustrating to city officials, who say state lawmakers shouldn’t let their personal opinions quash the will of Burlington voters. At least one city councilor is concerned about putting more charter changes on the ballot, because they might just get added to the pile.
With the legislature now convened, city officials plan to put on the pressure. Their message is clear: Lawmakers should at least bring the matters to a vote.
“Give these items their day,” City Council President Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) said. “I feel like Burlington voters deserve at least that.”
The Queen City is one of nearly 90 Vermont municipalities that abide by a charter, which establishes basic rules of governance. Burlington’s charter, for instance, describes election procedures, the process for appealing property assessments and the duties of various city officials. One quaint section requires the Board of Health to inspect all dairy barns before a farmer can sell milk.
Altering that passage or any other requires holding two public hearings and a citywide vote before sending the change to the legislature in the form of a bill. Such a bill must be sponsored by a legislator, pass both the House and Senate, and be signed by the governor.
Known as Dillon’s Rule, the oversight system dates back to the 19th century, when a ruling by Iowa Supreme Court justice John Dillon concluded that cities and towns “derive their powers and rights” from the legislature. In modern lingo, it means a municipality can’t change its charter without the state’s say-so.
Burlington voters have approved 14 charter changes in the past five years. Nine have crossed the finish line.
“Give these items their day. I feel like Burlington voters deserve at least that.”
City Council President Ben Traverse
Apolitical measures, such as one that increased the size of the city’s Airport Commission, tend to sail through. But those taking firmer policy stances have faced headwinds. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, has vetoed two: a 2021 measure to ban no-cause evictions and a 2023 initiative to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections.
The Democratic-controlled legislature overrode the noncitizen-voting veto, just as it did when Scott rejected similar bills in Winooski and Montpelier two years earlier. An effort to overturn the eviction bill veto failed by one vote in the House. Lawmakers subsequently reintroduced the bill, and it’s now before the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs, which reviews all municipal charter changes. Also awaiting action are charter changes that would give the city’s police commission more say in officer discipline, allow the city to determine how much notice tenants should receive of impending evictions, let the city draw its own voting maps and ban guns in bars.
The gun ban is identical to one that voters approved in 2014 but went nowhere in Montpelier. The issue resurfaced after a man was fatally shot on Church Street in 2024 following an altercation in a downtown bar. The city also saw a spate of gun violence in 2022.
Each measure passed with 60 percent or more of the city vote. Nearly 87 percent of voters favored the gun measure.
In an interview last week, Rep. Matt Birong (D-Vergennes) said the Gov Ops committee that he chairs will take up the voting map measure this year. But he wouldn’t commit to hold hearings on any of the other charter changes this session. He declined to share his own position on most of them, saying he would need to review the legislation.
Birong said he’s wary of taking up the gun control and renter-protection bills because he thinks those issues are better addressed on a statewide level instead of on a “fragmented” town-by-town basis. Legislative review is “part of the process,” Birong said.
As for the gun bill, Birong said he doesn’t have the votes to get it out of his committee. The measure, sponsored by Burlington resident and Senate Pro Tempore Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden-Central), already passed in the Senate, but Scott has vowed to veto it. That gives Birong pause.
“I struggle with dedicating committee time to a bill that we know is going to be vetoed,” Birong said. He wouldn’t say whether he thinks any of Burlington’s other charter changes would meet the same fate.
Local officials think Birong’s reasoning is bunk. Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, a former state representative, said taking up a measure such as the gun bill could inspire policy changes elsewhere. The ballot item’s overwhelming approval underscores “the absurdity of how undemocratic this is” to not even call the question, she said.
“Explain to me how democracy is working in the state of Vermont when a community cannot take something that is so fundamental to public safety into their own hands,” she said.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski (D-Burlington) said she’d rather find a compromise or wait until she has the votes than call a question knowing it will fail.
But Councilor Gene Bergman (P-Ward 2) said the charter changes are effectively dead already as they languish in committee, sometimes for years. Lawmakers need to debate tough issues and go on record with their votes, he said.
Otherwise, “they get to skate. They get to not have to deal with it at all,” Bergman said. “That’s outrageous. It’s a failure of leadership, and it really pisses me off.”
Baruth, who has successfully pushed for other gun-control measures, wants Krowinski to be more forceful in shepherding it through. He planned to hold a press conference this week to pressure lawmakers. In an interview with Seven Days last month, Baruth said the speaker should consider reassigning members of Birong’s committee to ensure a favorable vote — a rare move but one Baruth said would be justified in this case.
Krowinski balked at the suggestion, saying she doesn’t rule with an iron fist. She pledged to push for hearings on Burlington’s charter changes this session, the gun bill included. Of all of them, the voting map bill has the best chance of making it out of committee, Krowinski said.
Birong said he and his committee members haven’t yet discussed what other charter changes, if any, will be a priority this session. His committee already has a lot on its plate, he said, listing bills related to state employee pensions, flood response and Vermont’s Open Meeting Law, among others.
Even if the charter changes make it out of committee, Council President Traverse isn’t optimistic about their chances. Democrats and Progressives, who may be more likely to support the bills, hold 90 seats in the House — not a veto-proof majority. Traverse thinks Scott would likely veto the police oversight charter change and those related to tenant protections.
The politics in Montpelier make Traverse reluctant to take up more charter changes, though he did vote to put one on the Town Meeting Day ballot. The measure would enshrine the city’s Office of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in the charter, much like the other city departments. Traverse worries that if Burlington voters pass it, the measure could meet the same fate as some of the other charter changes, particularly if Vermont Republicans latch onto the national rhetoric against diversity initiatives.
“It would be really unfortunate if it gets to Montpelier and ends up having a demoralizing effect on folks who are doing this important work,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”
The Burlington council is considering other charter changes, too, though not for the March ballot. Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak has proposed increasing the city’s borrowing limit in order to address deferred maintenance and capital projects. She has also floated the idea of exempting a portion of a home’s assessed value when calculating property taxes, which would reduce some residents’ tax bills. Councilors will decide next week whether to add an advisory question about the issue to the March ballot.
Despite the backlog in Montpelier, Mulvaney-Stanak says the city should continue attempting to amend its charter, not just to advance policy goals but also to clean up outdated language.
Councilor Bergman agrees. Charters are a statement of a city’s values, he said. If lawmakers disagree with how Burlington wants to address gun violence, renter protections and other issues, they should provide alternatives.
“It’s not enough to just say no,” he said.
The original print version of this article was headlined “In Legislative Limbo | Five Burlington charter changes approved by voters are languishing in the Vermont Statehouse. Why?”
This article appears in Jan 7-13 2026.
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