VT 'poor tax' lawsuit dismissed
A budget cut that impacts about 860 low-income Vermont families can proceed as planned, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions on Monday dismissed a class-action lawsuit over the cut, finding “no sound legal basis” for the argument that the budget cut discriminates against people with disabilities.
The state will reduce Reach Up assistance by up to $125 for families where an adult with a disability receives Supplemental Security Income — people such as Robin Wheeler, the Williamstown mother named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
State officials had agreed to delay the budget cut while the case was pending. The change can now take effect as early as December, four months after the intended date.
Vermont Legal Aid attorney Christopher Curtis had called the cut a “poor tax” against vulnerable families, while lawmakers countered that the change was necessary and reasonable during a difficult budget year.
Judge Sessions agreed that the case relates to “one of the most vulnerable populations in Vermont.”
“In an effort to achieve budgetary savings the Legislature has voted to decrease public aid to those families, resulting in what can only be further hardship for parents as they struggle to provide food and shelter for their children,” Sessions wrote.
“While the Court is sensitive to the plight of these families, and acknowledges the efforts of Vermont Legal Aid on behalf of the plaintiff class,” Sessions continued,” it finds no sound legal basis for maintaining the Plaintiffs’ claims.”
Curtis, the attorney who challenged the law, said in a statement he hoped lawmakers will reconsider their decision in January.
Attorney General William Sorrell and an assistant attorney general who worked on the case could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening after normal business hours.
This article was first published online Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015. Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank