MONTPELIER – Vermont’s Senate adjourned on Friday evening, ending the 2025-2026 biennium. The 2024 election and an end to the super majority in the House and Senate made it possible for a lot of good work to be accomplished over the last 2 years. Vermonters were rewarded for voting in[Read More…]
Legislative Report
It is not the end of the work
MONTPELIER – Yesterday evening, we gavelled out the 2026 legislative session, officially concluding the biennium. We passed the state budget, the yield bill to set property tax rates and the education transformation bill that I have been working so carefully on throughout the past year to get right. While this[Read More…]
Getting major legislation right
MONTPELIER – It is a little daunting that the legislative session is continuing this late into May, but that is because we are working hard in these final weeks to get several major pieces of legislation right.We are close to reaching an agreement with Governor Scott on the final education[Read More…]
Confronting highest health insurance premiums
MONTPELIER – The debate over health care legislation known as S.190 may ultimately be remembered as one of the defining affordability fights of this legislative session. At issue was whether Vermont would finally take aggressive action to confront some of the highest health insurance premiums in America or continue down[Read More…]
Legislators consider yield, other education bills
HARDWICK – We continue to pay close attention to our legislators and the Governor in Montpelier. As I write this report, we have the Senate and House converging on a bit of a showdown on Act 73 legislation. The House adopted H.955, which has a built in period of time[Read More…]
Vermonters made their voices heard
MONTPELIER – It has been a pivotal week in Montpelier as we near the end of the biennium and work to finalize major legislation before adjournment. The biggest development this week was the passage in the House of S.325, legislation updating portions of Act 250 and Act 181. This bill came[Read More…]
The truth is more complicated
MONTPELIER – For years, Vermont’s opioid epidemic seemed to move in only one direction: worse. Each annual report brought another heartbreaking record number of overdose deaths, another reminder that fentanyl had tightened its grip on communities across the state. But for the first time in years, Vermont may finally have[Read More…]
Vermonters feel financial strain
MONTPELIER – There’s an old saying in Montpelier, “When the budget is done, we’re done.” Agreement on the budget marks the end of the legislative session. Each year, more than a hundred bills may pass, and every bill that includes spending must be incorporated into the budget bill. Without legal[Read More…]
Fixing the front door of health care
MONTPELIER – If you wake up at 9 p.m. with a high fever, a worsening cough, or a child who just doesn’t seem right, you don’t have many options. You can wait and worry or you can go to the emergency room. More and more Vermonters are choosing the latter. Not because[Read More…]
Update on positive legislation and progress on working together
MONTPELIER – This week felt like a much-needed breath of fresh spring air in the House Education Committee, and I want to share an update on some positive legislation we’ve been working on, separate from Act 73, that has recently passed unanimously out of committee. I think we could all[Read More…]
We can, and should, do better
MONTPELIER – I have always held Gov. Scott in the highest regard. His leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was admirable and helped make Vermont the envy of much of the nation. His calm, balanced style, coupled with his good sense of following the scientists, guided our state in ways many[Read More…]
School consolidation through voluntary process
MONTPELIER – I need to take a moment to update you all on some very important legislation that was passed out of the Vermont House and is now headed toward the Senate. H. 955, a bill detailing the next steps in Act 73, sets Vermont on the path towards school[Read More…]
