May 24, 2025

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 three, weeks in session (at a cost of over $300,000/week) to deal with this bill. The Senate abandoned weeks of work because they didn’t have enough support and passed an amended version of the house bill late yesterday. Article here: https://vtdigger.org/2025/05/23/vermont-senate-passes-landmark-education-bill-after-days-of-debate-and-uncertainty/

The big lift will now be in the conference committee (three members from each chamber). Hashing out major education reform under pressure in a matter of days is not the ideal structure for thoughtful policy making. However, there is still an opportunity for a good bill to come out of this. Fingers crossed.

Health (Disease) Care –

The House passed two bills this week that have the potential to have significant impacts on our disease care system in VT. It is truly scary how close to the edge our system is right now – from hospitals to insurance companies to primary care facilities – and we potentially have massive Medicaid cuts to deal with coming soon. Vermont has the highest costs of hospital administered drugs in the country!

To combat this, we passed a bill to allow hospitals and federally qualified health centers to sell drugs directly again (430b program) but we imposed a cap on the prices. Drug prices are one of the main drivers of our health insurance costs (also some of the highest in the country). The 340b program will bolster many of our most vulnerable hospitals and primary care facilities.

The other bill will expand the purview of the Green Mountain Care Board to force it to act on hospital oversight and rate setting. It has been a reluctant regulator in recent years. I know there are many opinions about the GMCB, but it is now really the only major lever we have to address the crisis.

Both these bills are controversial to some extent as there will be winners and losers. But the legislature absolutely has to act at this point – crisis drives action. The premise is to drive down the main cost drivers in the system.

Housing -

After much debate and delay, the House passed a good housing bill that is now in conference committee and will, hopefully, be signed by the Governor in the coming weeks. This bill has a number of good provisions. Specifically, the bill proposes to make amendments to the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program and create the Manufactured Home Improvement and Repair Program, create the Vermont Infrastructure Sustainability Fund, allow for tax credits for the First-Generation Homebuyer and Down Payment Assistance Program, make changes to the Brownfield Property Cleanup Program, create a study committee related to disability housing, and require multiple housing-related reports. In addition, there is a program to help municipalities finance infrastructure costs needed to build housing. The so-called CHIP program should make housing projects of all sizes easier and targeted to permanent residents. More here: https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-05-23/divided-lawmakers-keep-housing-bill-hobbling-toward-finish-line

Social Media and our Kids –

We were all very happy to pass the Kids Code bill. This bill will put much needed safeguards on what social media companies can feed our kids. It would require social media platforms to adjust their algorithms and default privacy settings for users under 18. The damage being done to our kids through social media is under reported and frequently hidden. We are experimenting with a generation of children by exposing them to highly addictive algorithms feeding them often harmful content. No wonder there is a mental health crisis in our schools. This is a great bill that I hope the Governor will sign. A version of this passed last year mixed in with a data privacy bill that was vetoed. More information here: https://kidscodecoalition.org/vermont/

In normal years the legislature adjourns when the governor signs the budget – which he did last week. There is not much normal about our world these days… But, there are many, many smart and committed folks in Montpelier trying to do the right thing for Vermonters.

Please let me know your thoughts,

Chris Morrow

cmorrow@leg.state.vt.us