At the end of last session a number of legislators announced they were not going to run for reelection and over a dozen more lost their reelection bids. In total, this meant 54 new faces in Montpelier this year, which created a serious stir. The political void departing legislators would be leaving behind – in terms of expertise, knowledge of the process, the history behind key bills, familiarity with staff – is hard to overstate.

S.51, as passed by the Vermont House and Senate, amends several sections of Vermont's tax code to expand income tax exclusions and credits. Effective retroactively from January 1, 2025, the legislation modifies provisions related to the Vermont Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), retirement income exclusions, and introduces a new Vermont Veteran Tax Credit.

The legislature has gone home after passing a historic education reform bill. At the end of the day, most of the drama played out in conference committee, but the floor debates still featured impassioned pleas from supporters and opponents alike. Despite attempts by progressive legislators in both chambers to reject the conference committee compromise, the education reform bill passed handedly in the House and eked out passage in the Senate.

It is clear that the House does not want voters involved in setting school budgets. It has always been sort of implicit in this bill, but House members said it explicitly in debates this week: they do not envision a future system where local voters weigh in on their school budgets in any meaningful way.

The bill amends the state's Open Meeting Law to enhance transparency, accessibility, and accountability in public meetings; requiring hybrid meetings and clarifying policies and procedures for various meeting functions.

S. 122, passed by the Vermont House and Senate in 2025, focuses on enhancing economic and workforce development through targeted funding, task forces, and new commissions.

This week's legislative update isn't much of an actual update. That's because the conference committee charged with finding a path forward on education reform (H.454) did not meet at all this week. And, yes, the Legislature went home in order give this same committee time to work out a compromise...

Thank you for taking on such an entrenched issue this legislative session. The bill you are working on essentially equates to Act 60, Act 68, and Act 46 all wrapped into one and the fact that you have gotten this far in one year is already impressive.

There is no doubt more work to do to get this bill to the finish line, and tweaks will need to be made next year and in following years. I do not think it is an understatement to say that Vermonters are relying on you. They are relying on you to arrest skyrocketing education costs. They are relying on you to bring stability to a chaotic tax structure. They are relying on you to reverse the declining student outcomes that are jeopardizing the futures of so many young Vermonters.

The Legislature worked late last night, finally concluding that an education reform deal was out of reach. They are coming back in a couple weeks to (hopefully) finish the job.