Rolling Along - 2/21/26

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.

EDUCATION

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 agreement on the path forward. If you want a primer on education finances, including a projection of the near future, this slide deck by the joint fiscal office is worth spending a few minutes with. As if the issues aren’t complicated and fraught enough, there is still a vocal group intent on using reform to undermine what is left of our tuitioning system. So much for Do No Harm… But, realistically, our part-time citizen legislature – with low pay, no staff, no benefits, very little time and limited expertise – is not equipped for major systemic change making. There is simply a lack of capacity, especially with a weak Agency of Education.

ACT 181

I have mentioned this before but it seems to be flying under everyone’s radar, perhaps because it is technical. Act 181 of 2024, the major revision of Act 250 zoning, is under way and it is problematic for rural Vermont. Every property in the state is being put in one of three tiers and how properties can be used and developed all flow from the tier. So, this is important for everyone! Please read a summary here. Of particular note for us is Tier 3 and the road rule – read a quick summary here.  The Rural Caucus, of which I am a member, has presented a bill to slow the process down and reassess some of the provisions due to unintended consequences. H730 is being ignored by the Chair of the Environment Committee (from Middlebury) and leadership (from Burlington). It is disappointing.

COMMITTEE WORK

In the Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee, we passed out a sensible bill on making solar development on disturbed land adjacent to an existing facility easier and cheaper to build. We have also been exploring changes to our solar net metering laws, how we govern electric disconnections, what rules we want to put in place to protect Vermont ratepayers and our environment from data center development, how to move forward on energy codes for residential building without an existing building code – Vermont being the only state without a residential building code. We are also looking into the top request from the Climate Council – creating a data collection mechanism for fossil fuel usage in Vermont so future policy making can be based on accurate data.

IMPORTANT ELECTIONS

The Chamber elected a new adjutant general last week to lead the VT National Guard and two board members for the VT State College system. All excellent candidates.

Please let me know your thoughts,

Representative Chris Morrow

morrowforvt@gmail.com