Rep. Torre and I have summarized some of the most relevant legislation we have been working on in the Vermont House of Representatives this session. This report was shared at town meetings throughout our district earlier this month, and in the Valley Reporter. Please reach out at any time with questions or ideas to share. . .
Vermont House Legislative Committees are where the hands-on work of lawmaking happens. Once a bill is introduced, it is assigned to a committee. Committee members gather testimony to better understand an issue, asking questions, reviewing data, and discussing how a proposal might work in real life. Constituents may weigh in on an issue by contacting their representatives. From there, the committee works to shape balanced legislation—by creating a new law or improving existing law—before voting it out to the full legislative body for consideration.
AGRICULTURE, FOOD RESILIENCY, & FORESTRY
While the U.S. often lags behind other countries in regulating pesticides and chemicals, Vermont has been a leader in protecting our environment and food supply.
H. 739 would prohibit the use of paraquat, a highly toxic herbicide that has been linked to Parkinson’s Disease. Paraquat is banned in much of the world, including the E.U. and China, but is widely used in the U.S. (including Vermont) to suppress weed growth in orchards and other crops. The legislature will consider a wide variety of expert testimony on the risks to human health and the impact a ban would have on Vermont agriculture.
EDUCATION
The House Education Committee has heard testimony from Vermont Superintendents, Vermont Principals, and other education stakeholders as the committee works to move forward on Act 73. As they move forward, they are considering the important work of the Commission on the Future of Public Education, and the hours of public input given to the Redistricting Task Force. In addition to considering new school district boundaries, the committee is considering the use of cooperative shared service areas as a means of cost savings for districts that simply don’t have enough scale to offer key services. Several factors up for debate include whether the new district map will include a combination of Supervisory Unions and School Districts. Each model has its own merits and drawbacks, which the committee continues to debate. However, the goals of Act 73 are clear: fewer districts, minimum class sizes, and an educational system that benefits our students and bends the cost curve to slow the rise in property taxes. Vermont has seen a significant decline in enrollment in grades K-12 over the last few decades while spending continues to rise.
HEALTH CARE
The Health Care Committee continues its work to find ways to reduce the cost and increase access to quality health care in Vermont. The system saw a $230,000,000 reduction in costs to the system, mostly due to a reduction in what hospitals can charge for drugs given in an out-patient setting. Implemented in FY26, this action helped keep the increase in education health insurance to single digits.
H.577 would launch a card, Array RX, that enables Vermonters to pay about 20% of the cost of generic prescription drugs and 80% of trade drugs through a multi-state nonprofit consortium. This would be available to all Vermonters, and would count towards the deductible on health insurance plans.
The Committee heard testimony on the $195 million Federal Rural Health Transformation Fund grant recently awarded to Vermont. There are strict limits on how the funds can be used, and the allowable use will be implemented by the Agency of Human Services. The Committee remains focused on enhancing access to primary care.
GENERAL & HOUSING
H.757, an act specifically related to manufactured-home housing and limited equity cooperatives, addresses inconsistencies and misconceptions regarding manufactured homes (formerly known as “mobile homes”) and resident-owned manufactured home cooperatives. The bill recognizes these homes as permanent structures affixed to the land, rather than movable personal property, allowing financial institutions to treat these homes as real property, thus reducing perceived lending risk and improving access to financing. These changes, among others, make manufactured homes more attractive to lenders, lower borrowing costs for buyers, and allow for more reasonable interest rates and loan terms.
H.772 balances landlord and tenant rights relating to residential agreements and eviction procedures, and creates a pilot program for positive rental-payment credit reporting. The bill creats an ejectment process for good-cause evictions; shortens the eviction process when it is the only course of action; makes certain ejectment records confidential; and authorizes assistance for landlord-tenant conflicts.
ENERGY & DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Vermont’s investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy over the past decades has helped to reduce climate pollution and keep electric rates among the lowest in New England. But cost pressures from federal policy rollbacks, multi-state transmission upgrades, and growing power needs for AI threaten affordability and climate progress. Heating and transportation still depend primarily on fossil fuels (consuming 3/4 of Vermont’s energy spending), fluctuate wildly in price, and destabilize our climate. An excellent overview of Vermont’s energy picture is Energy Action Network’s annual report. The key takeaway: when we invest in energy efficiency, from weatherizing homes to driving electric vehicles, we help Vermonters achieve measurable savings over time.
The House passed H.527, a bill to extend a streamlined process for siting telecom facilities, primarily cell phone and radio towers. Determining the best locations for towers is a complex process that’s too difficult for towns and community members to engage in. This bill, now in the Senate, requires the Public Utilities Commission to recommend ways to make it easier for towns and the public to participate in local siting decisions.
The House passed H.710, now in the Senate, which updates the rules on expansions at existing electric-generation facilities. By requiring separate infrastructure — like access roads and utility poles — Vermont law currently makes it hard to build solar arrays next to one another. This bill makes it easier to build new renewables on already-developed sites.
As the race to power AI heats up around the country, House legislators are working to ensure that proposed data centers in Vermont are built responsibly, given their enormous power and water needs. H.727 strengthens regulation of large-load facilities by considering the environmental and cost impacts.
TRANSPORTATION
The House Committee on Transportation remains focused on the declining revenue coming into the Agency of Transportation (AOT) due to slowing gas-tax revenues and purchase-and-use fees. As Vermont continues its commitment to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions through electric vehicle (EV) adoption, gas-tax revenues decline. Electric vehicles pay an additional registration fee, but the mileage-based user fee (proposed to charge EVs a fee commensurate with the gas tax) is still in development. Federal and state EV purchase incentives, which boosted car sales, halted last year. A 60% increase in construction costs since 2020 compounds the revenue shortfall by impacting road maintenance costs. At current funding levels, the Agency projects that roughly 60% of state roads will be in poor condition by 2030.
The committee is proposing AOT’s annual contribution to the Education Fund through purchase-and-use fees (approx. $50 million in FY26) begin to cease. The proposed FY 2027 budget begins this process. Additionally, AOT plans to cut over $30 million from its FY27 budget, including a reduction in labor of over 50 positions.
Amidst these challenges, AOT plans to increase the miles of state highway maintenance projects in 2027 by maximizing federal funds (making up for the below-average paving in 2026). Legislative action last session ensured that funds for town roads and structures increase, at a minimum, at the rate of inflation. These funds are insufficient to meet the needs of municipalities, and are already committed through 2035, meaning no new projects can be added to the list. And while AOT funds for local projects like sidewalks and bike lanes have brought economic and social benefits to towns, funds for these projects remain severely limited.
WAYS & MEANS
The Committee on Ways and Means is still working to set the annual “yield” (education property tax) bill while awaiting school budget votes. These are unstable times, and property taxes will stay challenging while education transformation is still underway. The legislature is committed to working to stabilize and lower Vermonters’ property tax bills this year while maintaining essential public services and quality, public-education opportunities for our kids.
The Committee continues work started last year on the creation of regional assessment districts (RAD) and the design of a tax on second homes. RADs will allow towns in a region to work together to ensure a consistent appraisal cycle. This ensures that property taxes are spread fairly across the state and that there are fewer swings in individual taxpayers’ bills from year to year. A different (and higher) property tax rate on second homes is being considered to support public schools while reducing property taxes on homesteads, businesses, apartments, and camps.
Tax Credits and Free Filing Assistance
Last year, lawmakers expanded Vermont’s Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which offers tax credits up to $400 for low-wage earners, and up to $1000/child under 7.
Vermonters may be eligible for a credit on property taxes when filing your homestead declaration.
Vermont has volunteer tax preparers all over the state, ready to assist. Go to TaxCreditsVT.org for more information about Vermont’s anti-poverty tax credits and how to file for them.
Upcoming Constituent Meetings:
Monday, March 30 @ 7:30 AM, The Warren Store
Monday, April 13 @ 5:15 PM, The Big Picture Cafe and Theater
Legislative Ski Night at Bolton Valley in February
