Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, urges senators to move the budget adjustment act forward without amendment at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was pr oduced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.The Legislature’s chief lawyer has deemed Gov. Phil Scott’s move to extend motel voucher eligibility for a narrow segment of unhoused Vermonters an “unconstitutional consolidation of power.” The executive order, signed by Scott late last week, extended motel stays for families with children and certain people with acute medical needs through June 30. It came after the governor blocked an attempt by Democratic legislators to pass a three-month extension for all people sheltered through the state program this winter. Speaking from the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, Senate President Pro-Tem Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, said that he’d asked the Office of Legislative Counsel, the nonpartisan body that drafts bills for lawmakers, for an opinion on the legality of Scott’s order.A subsequent letter penned by Brynn Hare, the office’s director and chief counsel, did not mince words.The order effectively creates “a new eligibility category” for the emergency housing program, Hare wrote, “prioritizing that new category” over the groups determined most vulnerable by the Legislature last year.“The executive order directly and intentionally conflicts with the actions of the legislature in favor of the Governor’s policy preference,” Hare wrote. “The Governor’s attempt to circumvent the intent of the General Assembly is an unconstitutional encroachment on a core function of the legislature.”Hare characterized Scott’s move as “an overlap of authority so complete as to constitute an unconstitutional consolidation of power.”Scott’s order leaves out the majority of people eligible for the program over the winter months — including people over the age of 65 and people fleeing domestic violence. Evictions for those not included in his order began Tuesday. The letter frames the order as “the latest in a disturbing trend of actions” by Scott’s administration “that flagrantly and unconstitutionally intrude on the authority of the General Assembly.” Hare cited Scott’s appointment of Zoie Saunders as interim state education secretary shortly after the Senate denied her confirmation last year, as well as Scott’s order authorizing the sale of specialty license plates for flood relief in 2023.Gov. Phil Scott speaks during his weekly press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerIn response to the letter, Amanda Wheeler, Scott’s press secretary, argued in a statement that the order “was intended to protect the most vulnerable.” She did not directly refute the letter’s assertion of executive overreach and unconstitutionality. “If the legislature has concerns about the legality of this action, they could adopt our language and add it” to the latest version of the budget adjustment bill, Wheeler suggested. At a press briefing earlier on Wednesday, Scott indicated he would sign such an updated bill. He vetoed lawmakers’ first attempt at the annual legislation, in large part over objections to the broader motel program extension sought by Democrats.Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson, center, and Chris Winters, commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, right, listen as Gov. Phil Scott speaks during his weekly press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerSenate Republicans plan to bring such an amendment to “codify what the Governor’s executive order was” when the budget adjustment bill comes around for final approval on Thursday, according to Senate Minority Leader Scott Beck, R-Caledonia.Democrats do not appear poised to go along with the change. Baruth, in an interview, maintained his support for passing a budget adjustment bill that offers extensions to everyone who received motel vouchers ahead of the April 1 cutoff.“There’s two very clear options,” Baruth said. “One protects everybody in a fully legal manner. The other one makes these absurd distinctions and does so in a way that is flagrantly unconstitutional.”Asked if he saw a future court challenge as a possibility, Baruth said, “I have not pursued that path.” Read the story on VTDigger here: Legislative lawyer calls Phil Scott’s executive order on motels unconstitutional . ...read more read less