CLAIRE D. AYER was raised and educated in the Champlain Valley. She graduated from Champlain Valley Union High School, Jeanne Mance School of Nursing (RN, 1969), and Middlebury College (BA, Environmental Studies, Cum Laude, 1992). Senator Ayer is currently the chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

Following Nursing School, she married Alan Ayer, and they have two daughters and a son. After four years in the U.S. Air Force, they became residents of Weybridge in 1979.

Senator Ayer was a founding member of the Middlebury River Watershed Partnership and served as an advisor to the UVM Extension Natural Resources Board. She served six years on the Weybridge School Board, all but the first as Chair.

She also served on the Middlebury Area Land Trust, the Weybridge Conservation Commission, and the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Committee. Ayer is a Justice of the Peace, as well as a member of the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing and the American Legion Auxiliary. In addition, she served as a member of the Electoral College in 2008.

After graduating from Middlebury College at age 44, Ayer served as a director on the board of the Otter Creek Natural Resources Conservation District and worked with local farmers and land users, state and federal agencies, and non-profit organizations to help landowners conserve resources while protecting water quality. She worked to develop new, cooperative relationships between Vermont agencies dealing with the environment and agriculture. Senator Ayer represented twelve Northeastern states as she led several national committees dealing with natural resource conservation policy and funding.

During her first three terms in the Vermont Senate, Ayer served on the following Senate committees: Agriculture, Transportation, Finance, Government Operations, and as Vice Chair of Natural Resources and Energy. She also served on the Judicial Retention and Health Access Oversight committees. She was elected to serve on the UVM Board of Trustees for six years.

Update, Summer 2010

My priorities remain the same as they were eight years ago: health care, the economy and the environment. While we’ve made progress in each area, we still have a long way to go. This past session was mostly about the economy. I supported and promoted legislation that used stimulus money to create and retain jobs in Vermont, as well as to retrain Vermont workers for our 21st century economy. When faced with tough budget choices, I worked to make budget cuts that spared our most important programs. I did not support programs for which we had inadequate funding or were financed with deferred spending. In the end, every part of state government contributed to balancing this year’s budget.

Although the legislative session is just five months long, I continue to represent and serve myconstituents twelve months of the year. I visit people in every town in Addison County and Brandon and participate in local and county events. In addition to my legislative work and community advocacy, I have taken on more responsibility in and out of the State House.  

For four years, I’ve been Vice-Chair of the Senate’s Finance Committee, which deals with the state’s budget. I represent the Senate on the Lake Champlain Basin Committee, which works to improve water quality, the economy, and the environment for Addison County and other towns surrounding the lake. As a member of UVM’s Board of Trustees, I work to shape higher education policy for the state.

At UVM, I served a year as Chair of the College of Agriculture Board and moved on to serve as Chair of Educational Programs and Institutional Resources Committee, which enables me to influence academic quality and direction at UVM, as well as ensure the transfer of knowledge gained from our research to Vermonters who can put it to work.

In 2009, I was appointed to represent the Senate on the Building Bright Futures (BBF) Council and was recently elected to the board of the Champlain Valley Area Health Education Center (AHEC), both exciting opportunities to learn and serve. The mission of AHEC is to improve access to high quality health care for Vermonters. In a nutshell, we do that by promoting health careers, supporting healthcare students, and supporting healthcare professionals in under-served areas of Vermont.

The BBF is a statewide effort of private industry, state agencies, educators, physicians, and child care professionals to organize what is currently a “patch work” of services for young children to avoid overlaps, cover the holes, and give Vermont kids the care they need when their brains are developing faster than at any other point in their lives. As a new grandmother, I’m a believer in the importance of this effort and the necessity of coordinating resources to provide optimal opportunities and growth for our children.

I was also re-elected by my Senate peers to continue as Assistant Majority Leader, which enables me to influence what bills come up for a vote in the Senate. Finally, I was appointed to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules in 2009. While it sounds a bit dry and bureaucratic, it’s the committee that ensures state agencies make rules that accurately meet the legislature’s intent. It’s demanding, but it gives me a wider view of legislative issues than I would otherwise have and, as a result, I can serve my constituents and colleagues better.

I look forward to serving Addison County and Brandon in the Vermont Senate for another two years and will appreciate your vote. Please call me if you have questions or comments.

504 Thompson Hill Road, Weybridge, VT 05753 cayer@leg.state.vt.us

 My home number is 545-2142. Montpelier number: 800-322-5616 (during the session)