We (Ben and I) attended an event last week hosted by Let's Build Homes. The room was full of different voices, including banks, local businesses, developers, chambers of commerce, statewide politicians, utility companies, local broadcasters, and nonprofits. It was a coalition of people and organizations that recognized the dire need for housing in our state. In a little under a year, this coalition has already changed the housing landscape in Vermont by passing the historic CHIP bill. But, there is more work to do. Regulatory changes are needed to guarantee predictability for developers and unlock private investment from out of state that is sorely needed in order to truly grow and modernize our housing stock. We also need to find innovative ways to bring down the cost of construction for "affordable" state subsidized housing units. We need to cut the $500 per square foot cost of construction in half. In our 2025 research priorities, we are looking at one way of pursuing that.

Rising health care costs in Vermont have emerged as a pressing economic and social challenge, with an outsized impact on working families across the state. As premiums and out-of-pocket expenses surge well above national averages, many households are grappling with financial strain that extends beyond medical bills to influence decisions on housing, education, and daily necessities.

The Senate is getting ready to vote on a historic education reform package (H.454) as soon as tomorrow. The bill includes major reforms to the financing of education in the state that are similar to the proposal we released in March. This overhaul will correct the tragedy of the commons situation that Act 60 has created (which significantly accelerated the growth of education spending in the state). The legislation also tees up major changes to the governance structure of education and creates a working group to come up with a plan for doing so.

Action Alert!

A bill was rushed out of the House Government Operations Committee this week that would allow legislators to exempt themselves from ethics oversight!

Campaign for Vermont is hiring! After years of being a board-run organization we are looking to staff up again to address major legislative initiatives.

Dear Public Utility Commission,

As your public comment period on Act 18 ends, we wanted to reiterate the importance of Vermonters knowing what the cost of this potential program will be. As we endeavor to combat the sources of climate change and the associated impacts on the daily lives of Vermonters, we, as citizens of this state, deserve to know what the costs and benefits of the Clean Heat Standard will actually be so that public policy makers can best evaluate how to deploy our limited resources for maximum impact.

Chelsea Myers (Associate Executive Director of the Vermont Superintendents Association) testified in the House Education Committee on Wednesday concerning S.304, which deals Career and Technical Education. She noted that VSA had two stakeholder feedback meetings in late 2023.  Several core themes emerged from the first meeting including:

Chairwoman Hardy asked Legislative Council to do a walk thru of H.875, the Ethics Bill.  Her purpose was to make sure she had a complete list of outstanding items.

Chairman Conlon noted for the House Education Committee that the testimony they had received to date on S.304 was concerning to him, particularly with regards to unfunded mandates and transportation to stand-alone schools. He noted that the APA report (Study on the Funding and Governance of Career and Technical Education in Vermont) focused on funding and governance and S.304 does neither. He added that time was not on their side at this point in the session, and he was not sure what he could get done.

Christina Sivret (Executive Director, Vermont State Ethics Commission) thanked Senate Government Operations Committee for their comments on bill. She continued on to propose changes to the current language, which addresses many issues of concern in numerous areas to include the sections on disclosure, voluntary compliance, assets from individual stockholdings, loans, conflicts known to applicant. Chairwoman Hardy was pleased that many of the changes are addressing concerns based on previous testimony. 

Representative Marcotte presented a high-level overview of H.707 for the Senate Economic Development Committee. He introduced himself and noted that he was Chair of both House Commerce and Economic Development as well as the SOCWED, a special committee designed to review how best to approach workforce development in Vermont.

Tom Golonka (Chair, Vermont Pension Investment Commission (VPIC)) thanked the House Government Operations Committee on Tuesday for listening to VPIC and the pension boards.  He noted that what they do is a tremendous obligation, and they take it very seriously, including the climate change problem. There is a 5-point plan that VPIC did which is on their website which he encouraged the Committee to read.

Golonka cautioned that the decisions of the Legislature do have an impact on the underfunding of the pension funds.  As an example, in 1970 the Legislature underfunded the pensions by $1M which today would be valued at $150M.  He reiterated that seemingly little changes matter and impact the funding status of the pension plans.

The Senate Government Operations Committee spent their committee time listening to twelve individuals who were slated to testify on H.875.  Chairwoman Hardy also noted the numerous written testimonies that were on their webpage with comments on the bill.

The House Government Operations Committee heard from several presenters Thursday morning speaking on S.42, which would seek to divest public pension funds of fossil fuel investments.

The Senate Government Operations Committee returned to the ethics bill, H.875 on Thursday afternoon. Chairwoman Hardy noted that they have been given an overview from Legislative Counsel and that Christina Sivret (Executive Director, Ethics Commission) would be the first individual testifying on the bill.  She introduced TJ Jones, an ethics expert consulting for the Commission. Sivret noted that it is a very long bill and provided several documents of written testimony, including highlights of areas of interest, quick summary of, and unfunded mandates.  She also provided a report from January on the proposed municipal ethics framework for Vermont.

Senator Weeks presented the bill, S.304, to the House Education Committee on Wednesday morning. To introduce the topic, he showed them a picture of a cruiser.  He said that while he served as a U.S. Naval Captain, 90% of the crew did not have any post-secondary degrees.  They were technicians, electricians, etc.  But many of them did take advantage of CTE and GED programs to better prepare themselves for the future.  Weeks noted he had a great deal of respect for them.  He noted that there was a wide range of ages among the sailors who wanted to get their GET and CTE certificates.

The Senate Education Committee reviewed adult education on Wednesday afternoon. Testifying first was Senator Westman who brought Representative Mihaly with him. Chairman Campion noted that the discussion before the Committee deals with the 60/40 split for adult education between the Education Fund and General Fund for adult education programs. Westman noted that going back before last year and over a period of some time there has been a large and targeted shift from the Education Fund to the General Fund, but he argued that regardless of age they are all students trying to get their high school degree. Last year a summer study was put together to review this issue and to make recommendations which they did this legislative session.

Representative Boyden reported H.702 to the Senate Government Operations Committee on Thursday.

She noted there are two distinct sections of the bill:

1. The creation of a Joint Oversight and Accountability Committee
2. The establishment of a working group to review the State’s grant process

Kristin Warner (Public Policy Manager, VBSR) spoke to the Senate Economic Development on the creation of a new flood relief program called FRAP (Flood Relief Assistance Program). This program was originally in H.723, but was not taken up by any committee.  An amendment containing the language creating FRAP was proposed on the House floor but was defeated. VBSR is asking the Committee to take testimony on this bill. 

Senator Weeks offered an amendment to S.304 on the Senate Floor Friday on behalf of the Committee on Education. The amendment was a strike-all which would provide students in grade six through eight with career enrichment and exposure to their regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center. The bill also provides students enrolled in grades nine and ten a genuine opportunity to participate fully in pre-tch and exploratory career and technical courses.