Vermont House of Representatives

Vermont House of Representatives
Vermont General Assembly
Type
Type	Lower house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 5, 2011
Leadership
Speaker	Shap Smith, (D) Since January 8, 2009
Majority Leader	Willem Jewett, (D) Since January 5, 2013
Minority Leader	Donald H. Turner, (R) Since January 5, 2011
Structure
Seats	150
Political groups	Democratic Party (94) Republican Party (48) Progressive Party (5) Independent (3)
Length of term	2 years
Authority	Section 7, Legislative Department, Vermont Constitution
Salary	$636/week + per diem
Elections
Last election	November 2, 2010 (150 seats)
Next election	November 6, 2012 (150 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative Control
Meeting place
Representatives Hall Vermont State House Montpelier, Vermont
Website
Vermont House of Representatives

The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives are elected to a two year term without term limits.

The House meets in Representatives Hall at the Vermont State House in Montpelier.

Leadership

The Speaker of the House presides over the House of Representatives. The Speaker is elected by the full House by Australian Ballot. If there is only one candidate for Speaker it is commonly a voice vote for the election of the Speaker. In addition to presiding over the body, the Speaker is also the chief leadership position, and controls the flow of legislation and committee assignments. Other House leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses relative to their party's strength in the chamber.

The current Speaker is Democrat Shap Smith of the Lamoille-Washington-1 District. The Majority Leader is Willem Jewett of the Caledonia-2 District. The Minority Leader is Republican Donald H. Turner of the Chittenden-9 District. The current Clerk of the House is Donald Milne, First Assistant Clerk is William MaGill and the Second Assistant Clerk is H. Gwynn Zakov.

Leadership information

Position	Name	Party	Residence	District
Speaker of the House	Shap Smith	Democratic	Morristown	Lamoille-Washington
Majority Leader	Willem Jewett	Democratic	Ripton	Addison-2
Assistant Majority Leader	Therese Taylor	Democratic	Barre	Washington-3
Minority Leader	Donald H. Turner	Republican	Milton	Chittenden-10
Assistant Minority Leader	Brian K. Savage	Republican	Swanton	Franklin-4
Progressive Leader	Christopher Pearson	Progressive	Burlington	Chittenden-6-4
Assistant Progressive Leader	Susan Davis	Progressive	West Topsham	Orange-1

Composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)				Total
	Democratic	Prog	Ind	Republican		Vacant
End of previous legislature	94	5	3	47	150	0
Begin	97	5	4	44	150	0
Current	96	5	4	45	150	0
Latest voting share	70%			30%

Seven members of the Democratic Caucus are also affiliated with the Vermont Working Families Party.

Members

District	Representative	Party	Residence	First elected
Addison-1	Betty Nuovo	Dem	Middlebury	1996 (1981-1990)
	Paul Ralston	Dem	Middlebury	2010
Addison-2	Willem Jewett	Dem	Ripton	2002
Addison-3	Diane Lanpher	Dem	Vergennes	2008
	Warren Van Wyck	Rep	Ferrisburgh
Addison-4	Michael Fisher	Dem	Lincoln	2000
	David Sharpe	Dem	Bristol	2002
Addison-5	Harvey Smith	Rep	New Haven	2010
Addison-Rutland-1	Will Stevens	Ind	Shoreham	2006
Bennington-1	Bill Botzow	Dem	Bennington	2002
Bennington-2-1	Brian Campion	Dem	Bennington	2010
	Timothy Corcoran II	Dem	Bennington	2002
Bennington-2-2	Anne Mook	Dem	Bennington	2004
	Mary Morrissey	Rep	Bennington	1996
Bennington-3	Alice Miller	Dem	Shaftsbury	1996
Bennington-4	Cynthia Browning	Dem	Arlington	2006
	Jeff Wilson	Dem	Manchester Center	2008
Bennington-Rutland-1	Patti Komline	Rep	Dorset	2004
Caledonia-1	Leigh Larocque	Rep	St. Johnsbury	1998
Caledonia-2	Kristina Michelsen	Dem	Hardwick
Caledonia-3	Michelle Fay	Dem	St. Johnsbury
	Robert South	Dem	St. Johnsbury	2008
Caledonia-4	Martha Feltus	Rep	Lyndonville
	Richard Lawrence	Rep	Lyndonville	2004
Caledonia-Washington-1	Kitty Beattie Toll	Dem	Danville	2008
Chittenden-1	Anne Therea O'Brien	Dem	Richmond	2008
Chittenden-2	Terence Macaig	Dem	Williston	2008
	Jim McCullough	Dem	Williston	2002
Chittenden-3	William Frank	Dem	Underhill	2004
	George Till	Dem	Jericho	2008
Chittenden-4-1	Mike Yantachka	Dem	Charlotte	2010
Chittenden-4-2	William J. Lippert	Dem	Hinesburg	1992
Chittenden-5-1	Kate Webb	Dem	Shelburne	2008
Chittenden-5-2	Joan Lenes	Dem	Shelburne	2004
Chittenden-6-1	Joanna Cole	Dem	Burlington
	Kurt Wright	Rep	Burlington	2000
Chittenden-6-2	Jean O'Sullivan	Dem	Burlington	2012†
Chittenden-6-3	Jill Krowinski	Dem	Burlington	2012†
	Curtis McCormack	Dem	Burlington
Chittenden-6-4	Christopher Pearson	Prog	Burlington	2010
	Kesha Ram	Dem	Burlington	2008
Chittenden-6-5	Johannah Leddy Donovan	Dem	Burlington	2000
	Suzi Wizowaty	Dem	Burlington	2008
Chittenden-6-6	Barbara Rachelson	Dem	Burlington
Chittenden-6-7	Clem Bissonnette	Dem	Winooski	2008
	George Cross	Dem	Winooski
Chittenden-7-1	Michele Kupersmith	Dem	South Burlington	2010
Chittenden-7-2	Ann Pugh	Dem	South Burlington	1992
Chittenden-7-3	Helen Head	Dem	South Burlington	2002
Chittenden-7-4	Maida Townsend	Dem	South Burlington
Chittenden-8-1	Debbie Evans	Dem	Essex Junction	2004
	Linda Myers	Rep	Essex Junction	2000
Chittenden-8-2	Tim Jerman	Dem	Essex Junction	2004
	Linda Waite-Simpson	Dem	Essex Junction	2008
Chittenden-8-3	Martha Heath	Dem	Westford	1992
Chittenden-9-1	Bob Bouchard	Rep	Colchester	2010
	Jim Condon	Dem	Colchester	2004
Chittenden-9-2	Patrick Brennan	Rep	Colchester	2002
	Kristy Spengler	Dem	Colchester	2008
Chittenden-10	Ronald Hubert	Rep	Milton	2008
	Donald H. Turner	Rep	Milton	2006†
Essex-Caledonia	Constance Quimby	Rep	Concord
Essex-Caledonia-Orleans	William Johnson	Rep	Canaan	1996
Franklin-1	Carolyn Whitney Branagan	Rep	Georgia	2002
Franklin-2	John Mitchell	Rep	Fairfax
Franklin-3-1	Kathleen Keenan	Dem	St. Albans	1988
	Michael McCarthy	Dem	St. Albans
Franklin-3-2	Eileen Dickinson	Rep	St. Albans	2008
Franklin-4	Michel Consejo	Dem	Sheldon Springs	2006
	Brian K. Savage	Rep	Swanton	2008
Franklin-5	Stephen Beyor	Rep	Highgate Springs
	Albert Pearce	Rep	Richford	2008
Franklin-6	Daniel Connor	Dem	Fairfield
Franklin-7	Cindy Weed	Prog	Franklin	2012
Grand Isle-Chittenden-1	Mitzi Johnson	Dem	South Hero	2002
	Robert Krebs	Dem	Grand Isle	2010†
Lamoille-1	Heidi Scheurermann	Rep	Stowe	2006
Lamoille-2	Linda Martin	Dem	Wolcott	2004
	Mark Woodward	Dem	Johnson	2011†
Lamoille-3	Bernard Juskiewicz	Rep	Cambridge
Lamoille-Washington	Peter Peltz	Dem	Woodbury	2006
	Shap Smith	Dem	Morrisville	2002
Orange-1	Susan Davis	Prog	West Topsham	2006
	Philip Winters	Rep	Williamstown	1994
Orange-2	Sarah Copeland-Hanzas	Dem	Bradford	2004
Orange-Caledonia	Chip Conquest	Dem	Wells River	2008
Orange-Washington-Addison	Patsy French	Dem	Randolph	2002
	Lawrence Townsend	Dem	Randolph	2008
Orleans-1	Lynn Batchelor	Rep	Derby Line	2010
	Loren Shaw	Rep	Derby
Orleans-2	Duncan Kilmartin	Rep	Newport	2000
	Michael Marcotte	Rep	Newport	2004
Orleans-Caledonia	Vicki Strong	Rep	Irasburg	2010
	Sam Young	Dem	West Glover	2010
Orleans-Lamoille	Mark Higley	Rep	Lowell	2008
Rutland-1	Andrew Donaghy	Rep	Poultney	2002
Rutland-2	Joseph Burditt	Rep	West Rutland	2010
	Dave Potter	Dem	Clarendon	2004
Rutland-3	William Canfield	Rep	Fair Haven	2004
	Robert Helm	Rep	Fair Haven	1990
Rutland-4	Thomas Terenzini	Rep	Rutland Town
Rutland-5-1	Peter Fagan	Rep	Rutland	2008
Rutland-5-2	Lawrence Cupoli	Rep	Rutland
Rutland-5-3	Herb Font-Russell	Dem	Rutland	2010
Rutland-5-4	Douglas Gage	Rep	Rutland
Rutland-6	Stephen Carr	Dem	Brandon
	Butch Shaw	Rep	Pittsford	2010
Rutland-Bennington	John Malcolm	Dem	Pawlet	2004
Rutland-Windsor-1	Anne Gallivan	Dem	North Chittenden
Rutland-Windsor-2	Dennis Devereux	Rep	Belmont	2006
Washington-1	Anne Donahue	Rep	Northfield	2002
	Patti Lewis	Rep	Berlin	2010
Washington-2	Thomas Koch	Rep	Barre	1996
	Francis McFaun	Rep	Barre	2004
Washington-3	Paul Poirier	Ind	Barre	2008
	Tess Taylor	Dem	Barre	2008
Washington-4	Mary Hooper	Dem	Montpelier	2008
	Warren F. Kitzmiller	Dem	Montpelier	2000
Washington-5	Tony Klein	Dem	Montpelier	2002
Washington-6	Janet Ancel	Dem	Calais	2004
Washington-7	Maxine Jo Grad	Dem	Moretown	2000
	Adam Greshin	Ind	Warren	2008
Washington-Chittenden	Rebecca Ellis	Dem	Waterbury Center	2011†
	Tom Stevens	Dem	Waterbury	2008
Windham-1	Michael Herbert	Rep	Vernon	2010
Windham-2-1	Valerie Stewart	Dem	Brattleboro	2010
Windham-2-2	Mollie S. Burke	Prog	Brattleboro	2008
Windham-2-3	Tristan Toleno	Dem	Brattleboro	2012
Windham-3	Carolyn Partridge	Dem	Windham	1998
	Matthew A. Trieber	Dem	Bellows Falls	2011†
Windham-4	David Deen	Dem	Putney	1990
	Mike Mrowicki	Dem	Putney	2008
Windham-5	Richard Marek	Dem	Newfane	2002
Windham-6	Ann Manwaring	Dem	Wilmington	2006
Windham-Bennington	John Moran	Dem	Wardsboro	2006
Windham-Bennington-Windsor	Charles Goodwin	Ind	Weston
Windsor-1	Jon Batholomew	Dem	Hartland	2010
	Donna Sweaney	Dem	Windsor	1996
Windsor-2	Mark Huntley	Dem	Ludlow
Windsor-3-1	Leigh Dakin	Dem	Chester	2010
Windsor-3-2	Alice Emmons	Dem	Springfield	1982
	Cynthia Martin	Dem	Springfield	2007†
Windsor-4-1	Teo Zagar	Dem	Barnard	2011†
Windsor-4-2	Kevin Christie	Dem	White River Junction	2010
	Sheila Vowinkel	Dem	White River Junction
Windsor-5	Alison Clarkson	Dem	Woodstock	2004
Windsor-Orange-1	Sarah Buxton	Dem	South Royalton	2010
Windsor-Orange-2	Margaret Cheney	Dem	Norwich	2006
	Jim Masland	Dem	Thetford Center	1998
Windsor-Rutland	Sandy Haas	Prog	Rochester	2004

† Originally appointed to the House.

Past notable members

Nearly all of the governors of the state, most US representatives and most US senators, were first members of this house. The following were also members:

• Nathaniel Chipman, Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont (1791–1794), U.S. Senator (1797–1803).
• Ray W. Collins, pitcher, Boston Red Sox (1909–1915)
• Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (2005–2009).
• Lyman Enos Knapp, Governor of the District of Alaska (1889–1893).
• Madeleine M. Kunin, U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland (1996–1999).
• Matthew Lyon, Member of the U.S. House from Vermont (1797–1801) and Kentucky (1803–1811), United States Factor to the Cherokee Nation in Arkansas (1820)

Operations

The house typically meets Tuesday through Friday during the session.

See also

• Vermont State House
• Vermont General Assembly
• Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
• Vermont Senate
• Members of the Vermont House of Representatives, 2005-2006 session
• Members of the Vermont House of Representatives, 2007-2008 session
• Vermont Representative Districts, 2002-2012

External links

• Vermont General Assembly
• Speaker of the House