Vermont lawmakers on Wednesday gave final approval to PR.4, a proposed amendment that would add an equal protection provision to the state constitution, and the measure is set to go to voters this fall. The Legislature’s action means Vermonters will weigh in during the general election on Nov. 3, with the amendment needing a majority vote to take effect.
Rep. Barbara Rachelson, a Democrat from Burlington, presented PR.4 on the House floor and said the proposal is meant to push Vermont beyond what she described as the federal “floor” on rights. She argued that Vermont should develop its own constitutional equal-protection case law rather than relying only on federal standards. “The federal Constitution represents a floor, not a ceiling, of rights. It shows us the minimum we can do, not the maximum,” Rachelson said as she introduced the measure during the House debate.
PR.4 is designed to ensure that all people are treated equally under Vermont law regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or nationality. Supporters said the amendment builds on the U.S. 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by explicitly identifying groups that have historically faced discrimination in Vermont and elsewhere.
The measure also follows Vermont’s multi-year amendment process. PR.4 received Senate approval in March, after originating earlier in the chamber nearly a decade ago, and it cleared the House in Wednesday’s vote. Under Vermont practice, proposed constitutional amendments must win support from back-to-back legislatures before going to voters, which requires re-approval across multiple sessions before it reaches the ballot.
On Wednesday, the House approved PR.4 128-14. The opposition this year was larger than when the amendment won House approval two years earlier, when it passed with only four votes against. All but one of the House members who voted against PR.4 this year were Republicans, and the “no” votes included the vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Tom Burditt of West Rutland.
Other Republican lawmakers who voted no included Rep. Mark Higley of Lowell, the House’s assistant minority leader, and Rep. Zak Harvey of Castleton, the vice chair of the state Republican Party. Of the Republicans voting against the measure, only Val Taylor of Mendon offered an explanation on the House floor. Taylor framed her opposition in religious terms as she voted no on PR.4.
“I believe in my heart — and, I’m sorry — the only words that are going to change Vermont and change this world, I believe, come from the Bible, and I think that is what’s lacking in the world,” Taylor said. “True love, peace — how I raise my girls — comes from the Bible.” The House vote concluded with PR.4 receiving near-unanimous support beyond the 14 lawmakers who opposed it.
In the Senate, lawmakers approved PR.4 in March without any votes against. However, one senator was not in the chamber for the Senate vote this year: Sen. Steve Heffernan, R-Addison. He told VTDigger at the time that he left his seat right before the roll call because his stomach was feeling “agitated” and he needed to use the restroom, and he said he had not decided how to vote after hearing from constituents urging him both to support and oppose the amendment. He later described the timing of his departure by saying, “My pizza hit at the right time, I guess,” calling it “convenient.”
If voters approve PR.4 in November, supporters said the change could influence future Vermont Supreme Court decisions on equal protection and would become the 23rd article of Vermont’s founding document. The amendment would also be the third change Vermont voters have approved to the state constitution in the past four years: in 2022, voters passed amendments prohibiting slavery and indentured servitude under the state constitution, and also preventing the state from interfering broadly with reproductive health care decisions.