There was lots of activity this week across multiple fronts as legislators push to get their priorities across the finish line before the end of the session, which is rapidly approaching. Legislative leaders have already indicated that they expect to come back in late May for a veto session, so they are currently targeting the second weekend in May for adjournment; this effectively gives Committees two weeks to get bills back to the floor, if they are to pass this year.

The recent imposition of tariffs is likely to create a significant struggle for businesses in Vermont and Canada, causing widespread concern about the potential loss of jobs, revenue, and the survival of small businesses. The economic damage is evident, affecting everything from manufacturing to retail.

Action Alert!

Last week the House punted on education reform when they passed H.454, which delays making any structural changes to Vermont's education system until 2029. Even worse, it puts the same folks who designed and run today's failed system in charge of building the new one. You can find our full analysis of the bill here.

The House passed their landmark-ish education reform bill yesterday. It's a mixed bag of results that punts on governance reform while making significant strides on education finance.

The Legislature's grand education transformation initiative offers a mixed bag of results but does manage to move forward historic changes to the way we raise funds to pay for schools that should introduce better transparency and accountability for taxpayers while also putting downward pressure on spending. Unfortunately the combined effect of governance and finance changes that create a very top-down educational model. 

Action Alert!

A bill that would allow legislators to exempt themselves from ethics oversight is up for a key vote on Tuesday in the Senate Government Operations Committee!

This week the Judicial branch jumped on the H.1 bandwagon, saying that if the Legislature is going to exempt anyone from ethics oversight, it should be them!

The reforms brought forward by H.474 relate to revising the candidate nomination process for major parties and making changes to campaign finance rules.

Good Morning House Ways & Means Committee,

Thank you for your work on the new foundation formula, this will be an important step forward for education policy in Vermont by reducing the complexity of the current system and providing transparency and predictability to voters about how the school budgets they vote on will impact their tax bills.