Changes started happening rapidly this week as the bulk of the work moved out of committee and onto the House and Senate floors. Nearly every major policy thread of the 2026 session is now being actively reconciled between chambers, and the outcomes of those negotiations will determine whether this session produces durable reform or elegant placeholders. Those negotiations also include the Governor in some instances, such as education reform efforts which were unveiled last night.

Reference-based hospital pricing cleared critical procedural hurdles and is now positioned to become law this session. The property tax yield bill conference committee dug into the mechanics of excess spending exemptions and a one-year renter credit expansion (and the fiscal analysts started raising red flags). The Act 250 conference committee finalized guardrails for accessory on-farm businesses while preserving the road rule repeal. Career technical education reform advanced with unanimous support. And on the Senate floor, a sweeping portfolio of bills moved through final readings, including a permanent ban on crypto kiosks, manufactured housing modernization, and the formal repeal of the Clean Heat Standard's dormant statutory language.

Let's jump in.

This week has that stretch of the session where the clock forces decisions. Senate Education and Senate Finance continued to wrestle with the most consequential education bill of the session, House Ways & Means dove deep into the mechanics of property tax yields and the excess spending adjustment that will shape education finance for years to come, and multiple committees advanced housing production tools while grappling with whether Vermont's housing targets are built on solid ground.

Meanwhile, the House quietly concurred on a chronic absenteeism bill that represents a genuine shift in how Vermont approaches school attendance policy, and S.325 (the Act 181 fix) is headed to a conference committee that will determine the future of Act 250 jurisdiction.

Let's dig in.

After initially looking like it would be a tame week in the Legislature, it certainly didn't turn out that way... A real lamb to lion situation.

This week the Legislature turned its attention to two questions that will shape Vermont's fiscal future for years to come: who pays, and how much? House Ways & Means spent the better part of three days dissecting proposals to restructure Vermont's income tax brackets and create a new investment income surtax, while simultaneously wrestling with what to do with the revenue: cut middle-class taxes or stand up a state-run health care premium assistance program to replace expired federal subsidies. Meanwhile, a sobering demographic briefing from the Joint Fiscal Office reminded the Committee that the population trends underlying all of these revenue assumptions are heading in the wrong direction.

Also this week... a key House Committee endorsed repealing significant sections of Act 181, the Senate put forward a significantly different approach to this year's property tax bill, and the Ethics Commission's budget request gets gutted right as they are being asked to do more.

Let's dig in.

This week the Legislature turned its attention to the nuts and bolts... the practical, on-the-ground realities of implementing the big-ticket reforms that have been debated all session. Senate Education heard directly from superintendents who have actually led district mergers about what it takes (and what it costs) to make consolidation work. Senate Health & Welfare moved a prescription drug discount card closer to reality. And Senate Government Operations wrestled with how to modernize lobbying transparency without chilling free speech.

Of course the big happening this week was the passage of the House's education reform package, which the Governor promptly promised to veto. Why? Not because it doesn't save money (which it may or may not do) but because it doesn't force school district consolidation and the removal of local school boards.

Buckle up, here we go...

The bill, H.585, makes a set of health insurance reforms intended to strengthen oversight of nonprofit health insurers, increase transparency in parts of the health coverage market, and change certain payment and coverage rules, affecting insurer governance, executive compensation, association health plans, claims review, site-neutral reimbursement, prescription drug cost-sharing design, and health care sharing plan reporting.

This week the State Auditor's office delivered a sobering accountability check on Vermont's (former) flagship health care programs and the government accountability pilot moved to the Senate with fundamental questions about scope and institutional design still unresolved. Meanwhile, the climate policy infrastructure took a step forward with H.740's greenhouse gas registry advancing, though the familiar gap between policy ambition and funding commitment surfaced once again. The House's education reform bill also took another step closer to a floor vote.

Let's walk through it.

Act 173 reforms how primary care is paid for in Vermont while also laying the groundwork for a broader universal primary care framework, with major topics including Blueprint for Health payment reform, insurer participation and transparency, primary care spending targets, Blueprint funding, health care governance and oversight, care transitions, pharmaceutical coverage notice, and regional universal primary care.

A bottleneck of bills hit the floor in both chambers this week. The House and Senate floors were busy passing major legislation on homelessness, health care, housing, and the FY27 budget. Meanwhile, the Agency of Education delivered pointed critique's of both chambers' approaches to education reform (color me shocked) and Ways and Means began inventorying the enormous technical to-do list that sits between Act 73 and anything resembling a workable foundation formula.

Let's walk through it.

The crossover crunch arrived this week and it did not disappoint. The volume in both chambers intensified; marking up bills, taking votes, and wrestling with some of the most consequential education and health care questions Vermont has faced in years.

S.190 seeks to enhance state oversight of healthcare costs and improve financial transparency within Vermont’s hospital system, healthcare reform, hospital budget regulation, and consumer protection.