Balance - 1/17/26

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 sexy topic: cell tower siting. There is an expeditated (relative to the Act 250 process) procedure for cell tower siting in Vermont. The current law has a sunset provision, so we are deciding whether to extend it. Believe it or not, there are many nuances to this – how do we balance the need for cell coverage with proper placement, municipal considerations and public input and concerns? These are the kinds of issues your legislature is regularly working on which never make the press.

Balance is a good way to think about what we do in the legislature – we are constantly charged with balancing priorities, interests, and ideologies in the dynamic environment of a changing economy, changing federal restrictions and funding, and the changing realities of Vermonters. It is very much a case of if we don’t manage change, change will manage us. Nothing is static and we cannot go back to a bygone era, no matter how nostalgic we are. Do we want local control of our schools (and other things) and lower taxes? Do we want our wetlands micromanaged at the parcel level with out the broader context of the need for housing? Do we want people’s aesthetic opinions dictating if and where we can site solar projects? There are so many considerations to balance.

I am interested in not making these binary choices. Sometimes they just are binary and the tradeoffs are clear. But sometimes there is room for more creative approaches. That is what we are after with a new Caucus I am helping to start (which met last week for the first time) – the Caucus for Vermont’s Economy. Not surprisingly, the caucus, so far, is made up mostly of newer members who are frustrated with how things work under the golden dome. This is a bipartisan group of folks who just want to get things done to make life easier for Vermonters and the many small businesses they run. We will be looking into reducing regulatory barriers, improving permitting across state government, and generally looking for ways to support Vermonters in their creative and economic activities.

A few miscellaneous items of interest:

·         If you want a quick (45 minutes) but deep overview of Act 73, the education overhaul bill, please watch this Youtube presentation. If you want any of the slide decks, let me know.

·         Factoid we learned in our security briefing last week: the number of threats to Vermont lawmakers is doubling every year. It is so disheartening that the ugliness we see around the country is creeping into the Vermont mind stream.

·         The Governor’s budget address – the basis for our crucial budget deliberations over the next few months – will be Tuesday at 1pm. It will be streamed live.

·         We passed a great bill last week – S60 An act relating to establishing the Farm Security Special Fund to provide grants for farm losses due to weather conditions – that I fully support and which we need to find money to fully fund. Farmers are so crucial to our lives in so many ways.

·         The state economists released their latest assessment on Friday. Things are steady, but choppy waters ahead. More here.

As always, please be in touch with your thoughts and let me know if I can help with anything related to state government.

Take Care