Senate advances bill to collect heating and transportation fuel sales data to inform greenhouse‑gas policy

The Vermont Senate on May 18 advanced H740, a bill directing the Agency of Natural Resources to adopt rules to collect sales and distribution data from suppliers of transportation and heating fuels, ordering the bill for a third reading after a 17‑12 roll‑call to move it forward.

Senator Watson, reporting for the Senate Natural Resources Committee, said the measure is aimed at giving policymakers ‘‘the data necessary to craft and evaluate targeted policies to reduce our dependence on foreign high cost fuels.’’ Watson told colleagues that current state and federal data leave gaps for the transportation and heating sectors, which together represent roughly ‘‘72% of Vermont’s climate pollution,’’ and said better local data would let municipalities and regional planners assess how policies are performing.

The bill would require the secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources to adopt rules to collect from fuel suppliers information on types and volumes of fuels sold by geographic area and by sector. Watson said the design seeks to limit burden by asking for data suppliers ‘‘already have’’ (types, quantities, customer class and rough delivery area) and noted the measure came as a top recommendation in the state’s Climate Action Plan.

Senators pressed funding and data‑source questions during floor discussion. Watson said the administration requested $500,000 for implementation while the budget had flagged $300,000; ‘‘the administration was asking for 500,000 to make this happen,’’ he said, adding the budget had provisionally set aside $300,000. Watson also told senators that tax‑department and DMV records were considered and rejected as insufficiently specific or shielded by confidentiality, a point raised by other senators during questioning.

Opponents cautioned that the bill is purely a data‑collection mechanism, not a policy to mandate vehicle electrification, and warned of potential privacy or regulatory overreach. One senator characterized the measure as a ‘‘government that wants to tell [Vermonters] what fuels they will use,’’ while supporters stressed the bill ‘‘is strictly about data collection’’ and ‘‘is not directly related to electric vehicles’’ though it could inform future policy.

The Senate took a roll‑call vote on whether to order H740 read a third time; the roll showed 17 yes and 12 no, and the Senate ordered third reading. The bill will return for third reading and a final vote in a subsequent floor session.