Former Democratic House Majority Leader Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, is retiring after 14 years in the House, the latest in a string of high-profile legislative retirements.
“It’s been a pretty significant sacrifice in terms of family and my profession,” said Jewett, a lawyer by trade. “I need to take care of some things I haven’t had enough time for.”
Jewett first announced his plans in an interview with the Addison County Independent.
Jewett was first elected to the House in 2002, and served on various committees, including Government Operations and a special joint committee on Judicial Retention.
Most recently, he served as vice chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.
Much of his work focused on reforms to the state’s criminal justice system and the opiate crisis. Among his efforts, Jewett pushed to revitalize the Vermont Prescription Monitoring System in order to curb drug abuse. He worked to soften sentencing practices for young people, reform the driver’s license suspension program and increase resources to tackle sexual crimes.
This session, Jewett helped lead the effort to nudge the state to divest its investments in fossil fuel companies.
Jewett was a major driver behind traffic safety legislation this year.
He also worked to craft marijuana legislation in the House last session, looking to create greater oversight of marijuana use in the state without legalizing it. That same bill, which didn’t pass, would also have created a penalty for driving under the influence at a lower rate, starting at .05 percent instead of .08 if other drugs are found in the driver’s system.
“I’m really proud of representing the people and the place where I’m from,” said Jewett, who has lived in Addison County since 1996.
Jewett represents the Addison-2 District, which encompasses the towns of Cornwall, Goshen, Hancock, Leicester, Ripton and Salisbury.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Addison County Rep. Jewett not seeking re-election.
