Hello, The legislature started digging into the myriad issues of government this week. Most of our time is spent in our committees, especially early in the session when there are not many bills coming up for a vote. For instance, this past week in Energy and Digital Infrastructure we heard from various officials about the debacle of mismanagement of Hyde Park Electric which lasted many years and was not caught by our oversight agencies. Most of our week was spent on another s

Happy New Year! Well, the legislature is off to a running start! Our second day consisted mostly of the Governor’s State of the State address (text here: https://governor.vermont.gov/press-release/governor-phil-scott-delivers-2026-state-state-address ) which was dominated by his forceful support of Act 73, the education reform bill we passed at the end of last session, including a threat to veto the budget and any education bill that doesn’t conform to Act 73. Not the most co

Happy Holidays! I hope you are finding some time to relax and enjoy our beautiful state. I am gearing up for the start of the next legislative session, which begins on January 6th. As was the case with the last session, this session will be dominated by the education debate. You might have heard that as of now property taxes are slated to go up almost 12% next year. About half of this is due to education spending and the other half is because the legislature and the Governor

Property Taxes and Education Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are having a relaxing and joy filled holiday weekend. In a few days, the Tax Commissioner is going to release a letter that communicates what the administration expects will be our average statewide property tax next year, based on: · expected revenues, · expected property values, · the budgets school boards are proposing to local voters, · other currently existing costs in the ed

Happy Winter! I will be hosting a listening hour at the New American Grill in Londonderry on December 4th from 5-6:30. Please come and let me know what is on your mind! Education - So, the School District Redistricting Task Force decided not to create any maps for the legislature, as mandated, but is proposing a voluntary, incentivized 10 year plan. The discussions, proposals and public feedback were complicated and contentious. According to the task force, it is not clear wh

Hello friends, Lots going with Education and Health Care! This will mostly be an informational communication, although I can’t resist a little editorializing… Education – your input is needed! The first impact of the education reform bill from last session is for a Redistricting Task Force to create up to three district/supervisory union maps for the legislature to consider in January. This map will be the basis for all further reform, so it is important. This was originally

Hello Friends, Happy November! Only 51 days until the days start getting longer. And 67 days until the start of the next legislative session. There is much to do! Starting with the good news: both food and fuel assistance will be flowing this week. Both were in jeopardy due to the federal government shutdown. The VT emergency board voted to use reserve money to fund these programs with the hope that the feds will reimburse us later. And yesterday a judge ordered the Trump adm

Hello Friends, So much is going on in the world! Where to start? Later in the fall I will comment on the implications for Vermont of the big bill congress passed a few months ago – namely, food, heat and healthcare assistance cuts for our most vulnerable neighbors and the large hole these policies will put in the state budget. Lean times ahead. Right now, I am a bit overwhelmed by the brazen, successful take down of our first amendment by the President and his minions at th

Happy Summer! You will be hearing from me in the coming weeks about the impact on Vermont of the recently passed federal reconciliation bill (the Big, Beautiful Bill). It is not pretty. In the meantime, I want to make you aware of new and existing resources for you or a friend. Please pass along this information if you know someone who might be interested. HOMESHARE VERMONT This has existed north of us for years and is soon coming to our area. It is a great piece of the puzzl

Last night we concluded the 2025 legislative session with the passage of two consequential bills – systemic education reform and limiting the use of cell phones in schools. Both are intended to further our commitment to our children to provide them with a sane, effective and affordable education. It was a contentious end to the session in both houses, with passionate people speaking their minds about issues they care deeply about. I will concentrate on the education reform bi

Hello, Well, the legislature temporarily adjourned late Friday night after many fits and starts. The good news is that we passed some excellent legislation on health care, housing, homelessness and support for flood impacted municipalities. I will be delving into these bills in a few days when I put out an end of session report. Many of these bills passed with strong bipartisan support, showing the hard work of the committees responsible for these topics. Unfortunately, after

Hello Friends, It was a busy week in Montpelier. The House passed a number of bills that, if signed into law, have the potential to address some of our key problems in Vermont. Before we get to these, a word about the education reform bill. Education – Unfortunately, the education bill has gone off the rails in the Senate. This was an unforced error in my opinion, due to poor leadership and myopic policy agenda setting. The entire legislature is staying an extra two, probably

Hello Friends, It was a relatively slow week on the House side, but the Senate was busy working on the education reform bill. It passed out of the Senate Education Committee and will now go on to the Finance Committee. The Senate made some major changes to the House bill, most notably, · Eliminating class size minimums · Changing the nature and composition of the task force charged with drawing the new district/supervisory union boundaries. Of note here is tha

The most important bills being worked on in the legislature are focused on health care (which still gets little press time despite being THE major crisis for the state), education reform and the budget. Health Care – Sorry for starting with the bad news, but this is an issue we all need to be aware of and involved in solving. The health care system, which is largely a disease and symptom treatment apparatus, is in crisis. Vermonters are paying way more than residents of othe

Happy Spring, The biggest issue we are facing is the looming federal debacle - cutbacks, uncertainty, tariffs, and upcoming cuts to Medicaid and other programs. A partial list of what has already been cut or frozen is here. Related to this is the extrajudicial incarceration of legal residents of Vermont – for an excellent overview on this scary development and what our laws are, please read this piece by my colleague Laura Sibilia here. It is hard to overstate the disruption

Hello, This week was all about the big education reform bill, H454, which passed the House on Friday. The Education and Ways and Means Committees worked extremely hard on this bill in a methodical and thoughtful manner. It is a comprehensive and measured plan to promote educational equity across the state, rationalize the funding mechanisms and to moderate property tax increases in the future. Details: https://ljfo.vermont.gov/subjects/education/h-454-education-transformation

The most important bills being worked on in the legislature are focused on health care (which still gets little press time despite being THE major crisis for the state), education reform and the budget. Health Care – Sorry for starting with the bad news, but this is an issue we all need to be aware of and involved in solving. The health care system, which is largely a disease and symptom treatment apparatus, is in crisis. Vermonters are paying way more than residents of othe

Hello Friends, It is a very bust time in the statehouse with all the bills that made it out of committee coming to the floor. Plus, there was a showdown with the Governor on the Budget Adjustment Act you might have heard about. Here are the substantive actions to be aware of: Property taxes – The Ways and Means Committee decided to use all of the unspent surplus from last year to buy down next year’s property taxes. This was an understandable political decision after the hue

On Monday I had the opportunity to sit down with Andrew McKeever from GNAT along with my friend Representative Chris Pritchard to discuss the legislative session so far. If you want our unvarnished take, watch it here. These last couple of weeks the Education Committee has been plugging along hearing testimony and not agreeing on much. On the one hand, there is a general sentiment that we need to do something to stabilize property taxes, on the other hand there is no agreemen

Constituent Communication 3-15-25 Happy Mud Season, While I am told this has been an unusually slow session so far, things are heating up in the State House! I am a straightforward person, so I am going to give you unvarnished commentary. Despite having a large surplus from last year, the state’s finances are very tight, and we are going into a period of difficulty. The state is challenged by the same things we are as citizens and business owners – inflation, health insur