Dear Constituents –

It has been a very busy week in the Statehouse. It is officially the end of crossover week for policy bills, and next Friday will mark the crossover deadline for any bills passed out this week that ask for an appropriation or raise revenue.

On the House Floor, we passed the following bills to the Senate: H.96 (increasing the monetary threshold for certificates of need; H.50 (identifying state real property suitable for conversion into affordable housing); H.21(relating to writs of possession); H.105 (expanding youth substance awareness safety program); H.458 (relating to Agency of Digital Services); H.1 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission); H.206 (relating to the Uniform Commercial Code); H.238 (phaseout of consumer products containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances;  H.2 (increasing the minimum age for delinquency proceedings), which pauses the progression of Raise the Age legislation from a prior biennium; H.463 (technical corrections to the 2025 Legislative session); H.137 (regulation of insurance products and services); H.266 (protections for 340B converted entities and 340B contract pharmacies); and H.141(the Budget Adjustment Act), which is a bill that the Governor vetoed on Friday.  Concerns around the continued extension of the hotel-motel program led to the veto with House and Senate Republicans voting against H.141 in their respective chambers.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we voted out eight bills: H.67 (Government Operations and Legislative Accountability); H.463 (Technical Corrections to the 2025 Legislative Session); H.1 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission); H.321 (miscellaneous amendments to cannabis statutes); H.397 (miscellaneous amendments to the statutes governing emergency management and flood response); H.472 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); H.244 (State contracting standards for advertising); and a miscellaneous elections bill that does not yet have a number. As a reminder, you can look up the content of any bill by number on the General Assembly website, as well as on each committee’s webpage to learn who the witnesses were and what action was taken by the Committee. Please make sure you are looking at the most recent draft, as indicated by number next to the bill number. As a result of many hours of testimony, we were able to include language from several individual bills that were referred to us in bigger omnibus or miscellaneous bills and also to provide policy language for the budget asks that our committee outlined in a letter to House Appropriations.

Special issues caucuses met this week amidst the hustle and bustle of committee action. The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus heard about the distinction between State and Federal active duty and the obligation to the Federal government when a Guard unit is called up. We also discussed an action alert for veterans groups to reach out to House Ways & Means and Senate Finance with support for H.43/S.17, exempting military pensions and survivors benefits from State income tax. The VT Rural Caucus heard more about land use legislation and conservation efforts, as well as the constraints that Federal funding uncertainties are putting on agencies that assist our farmers and loggers.

Please reach out to me with questions or concerns. It is an honor to represent your interests in the Statehouse.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

2025 Town Meeting Day Report

Dear Constituents –

The Legislature convened on January 8 with the directive to bring tax relief to Vermonters. However, the policy development has stalled. Since then, committees have taken testimony on every aspect of education reform, from aid for school construction, to PCB remediation, to class size, to district size, and everything in between.  The Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, of which I am Vice-Chair,  has received a crash course in drawing district lines and the school board elections process. What we have yet to do is to produce anything of note that takes the Governor’s Education Transformation Plan and moves it forward.  The biggest roadblock from where I sit is the majority party not being able to make a counter-proposal on the number of supervisory districts to divide the State into. Currently, there are 52 Supervisory or School Districts, and the Governor has proposed five. The entire House is waiting for the Education Committee to decide on a number between five and 52. Ways & Means cannot move forward with creating a Foundation Formula until the correct number is determined. Gov Ops stands ready to draw district lines in the event that the Ed Committee is not up to the task, which is becoming more apparent as the weeks go by; we have already started work on determining the elections process for the proposed wards within those districts. What is the cause of this inertia?  My guess is that undue pressure is being put on the Ed Committee from outside sources in the education world that seek to preserve the status quo…an unreasonable expectation after so many from the majority party lost their seats on the unaffordability of their property taxes. Vermonters demanded change at the polls in November – whatever that change looks like is up to the Legislature to determine, and the time to do that is now.  As Vermonters flee the State to more tax-hospitable locales, we don’t have time to waste on more studies or money to waste on more commissions to do that studying.

There are many valuable bills and policy concepts being introduced each year, and there are an equal number that are pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. It is our duty in leadership to determine which will do the most good for the most Vermonters; it is a task I take seriously, even if I don’t have the ultimate say in what we pass or don’t pass. Being in the minority means making concessions and building relationships to get through the contentious times and working across the aisle to bring forth what we believe is best for Vermont. I will continue to work with other legislators to advance legislation for the good of Vermonters.

Bills of note for public interest are: H.2 (increasing minimum age for delinquency proceedings); H.16/S.68 (Repeal of the Affordable Heat Act); H.62 (Repeal of the Global Warming Solutions Act); H.65 (Revoke VT’s use of California’s Clean Car Act); H.159 (Repeal of Residential Energy Standard); H.411 (Governor’s Public Safety package); H.412 (Governor’s Land Use and Housing Development package).

A sampling of bills that I’ve sponsored or co-sponsored this session are: H.16 (repealing the Affordable Heat Act); H.43 (exempting military retirement and survivor benefit income from VT income tax); H.57 (survivor benefits for law enforcement officers); H.70 (inclusion of use value appraisal land in the conserved land inventory); H.74 (exempting Social Security benefits from VT income tax); H.87 (raising awareness of military-related postsecondary opportunities); H,136 (health insurance coverage for biomarker testing); H.139 (requiring licensed athletic trainers at secondary school athletic events and practices); H.144 (enhancing food allergen awareness in food service establishments); H.247 (cardiac emergency response plans in schools); H.249 (income tax deduction for home study programs); H.296 (VT’s adoption of the Dietician Licensure Compact); H.300 (income tax credit for emergency first responders); others will be introduced at a later date, as there are many bills coming before the House, and our Legislative Counsel attorneys are working through that backlog.

Constituents should be aware of this website for information on tax relief programs and assistance that may be useful: TaxCreditVT.org

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected] I welcome your questions and concerns.  It is an honor to represent you.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Highgate, Franklin, Berkshire, Richford)

Dear Constituents –

Time is ticking as the Legislative session moves into the last week before Town Meeting Break.  Committees continue to work on bill introductions and testimony, as well as preparing budget memos to the Appropriations Committee. In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we continued our work on DR 25-0244 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); DR 25-0242 (miscellaneous changes to election law); DR 25-0351 (miscellaneous cannabis amendments); and we resumed our discussion on H.1 draft 1.3 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission).  We heard bill introductions on H.240 (authorizing drawdown of dams during emergency flood events); H.232 (creating the VT Municipal Response and Recovery Special Fund); and H.145 (disruption of proceedings governed by Vermont’s Open Meeting Laws). We voted out affirmatively a committee bill DR 25-0914 (repealing the sunset on to-go cocktails), which will come to the House Floor next week.

Our committee held our weekly joint meeting with Senate Government Operations, and we  were joined this week by Senate Education, to learn more about the process for redistricting and elections with respect to education reform.  There has been conflicting guidance as to which committees will be working on drawing the district maps, and we are finding that the process is rolling out extremely slowly, but we do know that Government Operations will be tasked with the elections piece of the statewide transformation plan.

The House Floor was very quiet this past week. More bills were read a first time and referred to committee – we have been told that again this year, there may be a record number of bills submitted by legislators wanting to have their concerns taken up. The House voted affirmatively on H.13 (Medicaid payment rates for home- and community-based service providers); H.41 (miscellaneous amendments to laws governing impaired driving); H.98 (confirmatory adoptions); and H.154 (designating November as VT Month of the Veteran), which was passed out of my committee with great pride.

The Rural Caucus held a Public Forum in person and via Zoom on Wednesday evening, listening to rural folks from around the State pitch their concerns in two-minute intervals. This is a particularly enlightening exercise, giving us the ability to reach many people in a very short time, and we will add those concerns to our list of legislative priorities.

Please reach out to me at [email protected] and look forward to a Town Meeting Day update at the end of next week.

Stay well, Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

In the Vermont House of Representatives this week, we continued to have more bills introduced and referred to committees. If there is a bill that readers are interested in, check the committee webpages on the General Assembly website under “Bills”. You can determine from there if a bill has been presented to the committee for an introduction and follow its progress. Two bills were passed out of the House, H.118 (relating to expanding the scope of hate-motivating crimes) and H.41(relating to the  abuse of the dead body of a person), which was prompted by the recent death of an Enosburg resident.

In the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we heard witness testimony on a miscellaneous bill for the Office of Professional Regulation and introductions of two bills, H.103 (prohibited practices for services involving veterans’ benefits) and H.154 (designating November as the Month of the Vermont Veteran). We also heard an introduction of a Resolution (JRH ) to join the Convention of States and took a straw poll on H.44 (relating to miscellaneous amendments to the laws governing impaired driving), which calls for a task force that touches on our committee’s jurisdiction. There were presentations from the Vermont Arts and Culture Disaster and Resilience Network, who work in salvage and recovery operations after extreme weather events, the Vermont Federation of Sportsman’s Clubs - our committee jurisdiction is widespread - and the State Ethics Commission on H.1 (relating to accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission). The week ended with the first joint meeting of the House and Senate Government Operations Committees to begin our work on School District elections and apportionment. I look forward to the challenge of working together with my colleagues on these pieces of the education transformation puzzle. The address to submit comments and concerns to the Agency of Education is: [email protected]

The Rural Caucus polled members on the top issues affecting their constituents, and building housing emerged as the number one priority. Lowering property taxes was not far behind, as were initiatives to help farmers and loggers with costs associated with lost work during adverse weather events. The Caucus will hold a public forum, in person and via zoom for constituents and organizations to give a 2-minute presentation on an issue affecting those who live in rural Vermont. The event will take place February 19 5:30-7pm in the Statehouse or via zoom.  Sign up to attend at this address: Sign up here to participate: https://forms.gle/cccHsG66y9HXXHWD7

Additionally, the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations will hold the second of two joint public hearings on the FY’26 budget on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 5:00 p.m in person or via videoconference. Anyone interested in testifying should sign up in advance of the hearing through the following online form: https://legislature.vermont.gov/links/joint-public-hearings-on-the-fy26-budget Instructions on how to access and participate in the hearing will be sent once you have signed up for the hearing. The hearing will be available to watch live on YouTube at the following link: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/streaming/house-appropriations 

Lastly, the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus will be holding a press conference in the Statehouse on February 26 at 10am in support of H.43 and S.17 (relating to the exemption of military retirement pensions and survivors benefits from Vermont income tax).  We hope to have a strong showing of veterans, retirees and families, and speakers at the event.

Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

This week in the Statehouse, your Representatives and Senators were hard at work in their committees, hearing testimony on new bills that have been introduced and diving into their respective policy areas. In Government Operations & Military Affairs, we heard introductions to bills relating to Legislative Operations and Government Accountability, the Morristown and Barre City Charters, municipal ordinances governing nuisance properties containing salvage and scrap, and municipal ordinances governing the maintenance of properties within downtown districts. The Committee voted to affirm a Special Report of the contested Bennington-1 election, based on extensive research and testimony of other, similar cases throughout history. We also discussed the concepts for a miscellaneous Office of Professional Regulation bill and heard from advocates who were in the Statehouse for 3 Squares VT with requests for funding for food pantries, meal sites, and Meals on Wheels.

On the House Floor, we voted out: H.31 (claim edit standards and prior authorization); H.43 (workforce leadership in Vermont); and H.141 (the Budget Adjustment Act). The BAA proved to be more than just a simple mid-year adjustment to the FY’25 Budget – on the last day of testimony, the Human Services Committee brought a proposal to extend the General Assistance hotel/motel program until June 30. This would cost an additional $1.9M, and it proved to be too much to vote in favor of for 51 members. The legislation passed with 87 members voting for it, and it will go to the Senate for their consideration. The House also voted in favor of accepting the Special Report on the Bennington-1 contested election, 91-42, thereby retaining the seat of the current member whose election and subsequent re-count were certified by the Secretary of State in the days following the election.

The Rural Caucus has been polling members to learn the priorities they are bringing to the table on behalf of their constituents, so we can begin addressing those concerns through support for legislation. Preliminary results show all members ranking rural housing needs/loosening regulations around residential building as a top issue.

Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

This week in the VT Statehouse, legislative business settled into a predictable pattern.  Committees are taking up the hard work of digging into the issues before us. The Education and Finance Committees are working on school funding and related policy, and we are told that every other committee will have a piece of that puzzle to work on in the near future. In the meantime, we are all taking bill introductions from sponsors and hearing from agencies and organizations that we will work with throughout the biennium.  Some committees, notably Government Operations and Health Care, have passed out bills that have been voted on by the House and sent to the Senate. Appropriations finalized the Budget Adjustment Act (BAA) on Friday, which will be presented to the House next week.

In Government Operations & Military Affairs, we heard presentations relating to our committee jurisdiction: VT Association of Broadcasters (relating to emergency management);  Department of Liquor & Lottery (BAA request); VT Cannabis Equity Coalition; Department of Public Safety; VT Sheriffs’ Association; VT National Guard. We drafted our memo to Appropriations on the budget adjustment items that came before our Committee, and we continued to hear testimony on the Bennington-1 contested election.

On the House Floor, the following bills were passed: H.78 (use of Australian ballot in local elections); H.27 (Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission); H.35 (permanently unmerge individual and small group health insurance markets); H.31 (claim edit standards and prior authorization requirements); HR5 (authorizing remote committee voting).

On Tuesday, the Governor made his annual Budget Address to the Joint Assembly.  He spoke about the need for more Housing, better Public Safety, Education funding reform, and Affordability for all Vermonters, themes that were woven throughout his speech. We will learn more about those initiatives in the coming weeks.

The Rural Caucus met on Wednesday to hear more priority bill pitches from members who have policy concepts related to rural Vermont. In the next week, members will be ranking those priorities to learn which top five priorities we will focus on learning about as a Caucus.

For those following the military pension income tax exemption issue, H.43 was introduced on Friday to the House Ways & Means committee with moving testimony from both active and retired military members. Gov Scott also included this in his annual tax relief package.

To learn more about bills introduced or passed, please see the VT General Assembly website and type the bill number into the bill tracker.  You will find the status of the bill, where it is located, and any action that has been taken on it. For questions or concerns, please reach out to me at [email protected] Stay well, Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

The pace at the Statehouse is starting to fall into a more predictable rhythm – Committees continue to take bill introductions, learn about the agencies and organizations (advocates and others) that they will interact with, and attend trainings. House action has been minimal and mostly oriented toward bill introductions, ceremonial items and routine announcements.

In the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we drafted and passed a committee bill to clarify certain provisions relating to the Australian Ballot System and heard presentations from the VT League of Cities and Towns, the Office of Professional Regulation, the Office of Racial Equity, the Vermont Community Action Partnership, and the Vermont Access Network, all within our committee purview.  We also had bill introductions for H.1, H.17, and H.27 – for those wishing to learn more about the bills that are on the wall in this committee, they can be found on our committee webpage, as well as those that we are taking up in the current week.

On the House Floor, we were really pleased to welcome members of the Richford Jr-Sr High School Championship Boys Track & Field, Softball, Girls Soccer, and MVU Softball Teams, their Athletic Directors and Coaches. It was an honor to introduce these young people and their mentors to the General Assembly.

We also received the report on Education Finance from the Secretary of the Agency of Education as a Caucus of the Whole.  This consisted of a presentation of bold concepts that will need time and energy to digest. The Committees of Jurisdiction have already been diving into the work of pulling these initiatives apart and vetting all of them.

The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus met and recognized, and I will remain as a tri-partisan Co-Chair, along with Rep Laura Sibilia – I and Rep Mary-Katherine Stone – D. We were introduced to a new partner, the US Coast Guard station in Burlington, and had a refresher intro from the VT National Guard.

The Rural Caucus had its weekly meeting where a few of our partner organizations introduced themselves and our members began pitching bill concepts to the Caucus.

Please continue to reach out to me with questions and concerns at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The first full week of the legislative session began with Committee members receiving trainings and introductions to State agencies and others who are frequently in our rooms. House Appropriations is working on the annual Budget Adjustment Act, and we are all anticipating the Governor’s budget address on Jan 28.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we heard presentations from the Department of Liquor & Lottery, the State Auditor’s Office, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Wildland Fire Program at Forest, Parks, and Rec, the Vermont Retired State Employees Association, and the Regional Planning Commissions and Development Corporations. We also began our work of receiving the Attorney General’s report on the contested election in the Bennington-1 district.

On the House Floor, we held several memorials to past Representatives, including former Governor Thomas Salmon. A number of new bills were introduced and referred to Committees. A bill that I am proud to have co-sponsored that was referred to the House Ways & Means Committee is H.43, exempting military retirees’ pensions from state income tax. This is a bill that has been submitted for several bienniums but has never gained traction because of opposition in the tax committees. This session, we are proud to have 75 members in the House and 21 members in the Senate sponsor this bill. It is the very least that we can do to honor the men and women who have served our country. (Not to mention that we are ranked as one of the worst states for policies to retain military retirees).

On Wednesday, the VT Rural Caucus held its reorganization meeting, and I will continue as a tri-partisan Co-Chair. We were excited to see so many new members from around the state in attendance.

I am pleased to be working with two interns this session, one from a program I helped to establish with Norwich University and one from UVM. I look forward to having these young people assist me with my work, as well as providing mentorship and instruction to them; internships are a win-win for both the mentor and the mentee, and it is a privilege to introduce students to State government.

As always, I welcome questions and comments at [email protected]

Thank you for the honor of serving.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa A Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

The Vermont Legislature opened on Wednesday, January 8. The first order of business was the determination of a quorum by roll call of members, including the resignation of one and the appointment of his successor. Next up was the election of a Speaker of the House, the first such contested election in my six years in the General Assembly. The House elected Rep Jill Krowinski of Burlington to her previous position by a vote of 111-35 and unanimously re-elected the Clerk of the House by voice vote. In the afternoon session, the House held its seating ceremony, and the Senate elected a President Pro Tem to lead their Chamber. A Canvassing Committee, of which I took part in, to certify the election of statewide candidates, was convened, and several procedural Resolutions were voted on.  Later in the session, Committee assignments were announced, and I am happy to report that Franklin County Representatives are now a part of Committee leadership on several committees! I will continue to serve on the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, this biennium as Vice-Chair. On the second day, the House cast our votes for Lt Governor (no candidate having received a majority of the vote in November); John Rodgers won that vote 158-18. In the afternoon assembly, we listened to the Governor’s Inaugural Address, where he stressed the need to work together to fix the education finance system, relax regulations to allow more housing to be built, and make Vermont affordable again for all its residents. After this session, Senators also received their Committee assignments; northern Vermont is well-represented on Committee leadership in that Chamber, as well.

Committees began meeting so members could get to know one another, ask procedural questions, and learn the juridiction and process of their committees. Several committees saw new bill introductions, as well. Caucuses also began the work of re-organizing and reaching out to members on their respective issues. I am hopeful that we are setting the tone for collaboration and cooperation on the important needs that our constituents impressed upon us during the election season, and I look forward to working with my colleagues from across the State and across the aisle to find solutions to make Vermont affordable and livable.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with your questions and concerns. Thank you for this opportunity to serve.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango – Berkshire

Dear Constituents –

Thank you for exercising your right to vote this Election Day! Statewide, the political pendulum has swung toward the middle, and this can only be a hopeful sign for Vermonters. I expect to see more moderate legislation, more thoughtful consideration for constituents’ immediate needs, and more collaboration on important issues like the economy (jobs, workforce) and affordability (more housing, fewer taxes); I certainly hope that’s correct! I look forward to working with my colleagues in Montpelier, and I welcome your input. Please reach out to me at [email protected] with your concerns and questions, and I will endeavor to keep you abreast of Statehouse news throughout the session (Jan 8-May, 2025).

Stay well,

Rep Lisa A Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

This year’s Primary Election is important! Voting is on or before August 13 at your regular polling place or by requested Absentee Ballot.  Your voice makes a difference in how policy is written during the Legislative process! Please exercise your freedom and right to vote by voting now or on August 13.  Vermont requires voters to choose only one ballot, but if you don’t see the name of your candidate of choice on that ballot, you can write it in and select that candidate, regardless of which ballot you choose to vote. Please don’t hesitate to write in my name on whichever ballot you choose, as that will assure that my seat remains filled by a thoughtfully conservative-minded legislator.

Thank you and Stay well,

Representative Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Berkshire, Richford, Franklin, Highgate)  

Dear Constituents –

Last Monday, the Vermont General Assembly re-convened for a veto session to address the eight vetoes that Governor Scott thoughtfully considered and wrote this past session, most of them at the very end.  As I’ve noted in previous columns, this Legislature has a bad habit of waiting until the 11th hour to produce lengthy, complex legislation for its members to consider and vote on. On reading the Governor’s veto messages, which can be found on his webpage http://governor.vermont.gov/content/home, a common theme is heard: this Legislature took on too many “first in the nation” issues, leadership did not come together with average legislators to pass legislation that would benefit all Vermonters, and we passed legislation that will have consequences for working Vermonters for years to come. Over the past several months, I’ve noted that a few individual legislators from all three parties and Independents have been willing to sit down to hammer out compromises, and I’m proud to have been a part of that effort.  We had a popular, Administration-backed housing bill that had tri-partisan sign-on in January that would have offered housing relief for our decades-long crisis. I am grateful to my colleagues from the Democrat and Progressive parties for being bold enough to sign onto it, and the Independents for supporting it.  As I’ve said, that bill went nowhere because House leadership wanted it their way, which was to combine housing development access with a sweeping land conservation bill that was written by powerful outside organizations. Senate leadership allowed some of the initiatives in the initial bill to go forward and be approved by the House, but it was too much, too restrictive, and too late for many to support the entire bill. This scenario continued through the veto session, as a total of seven vetoes were overridden in the House, and six were overridden and one was sustained in the Senate. In the space of seven hours, reasonable consideration to balance the needs of all Vermonters was crushed, leaving the minority of us who voted to sustain the vetoes exhausted and discouraged. We expected it and showed up but hoped for a better outcome. Sadly, the rhetoric doesn’t end there.  Every chance the supermajority has, in nonpartisan school and Selectboard meetings, in Op-Eds throughout the media, and in public forums, they are touting how they are the saviors of public safety in our communities, the answer to housing for everyone, the pinnacle of substance abuse prevention, and the champion of many other initiatives that are among the most liberal or restrictive in the nation, depending on the nature of the legislation that was passed into law. Nowhere do the supermajority talk about dialog and compromise; instead, they point to who did or didn’t show up to meetings and how their way is the only way. It pains me to see my colleagues across the aisle, whom I’ve had honest and heartfelt conversations with, being strong-armed into holding their noses and voting the way leadership wants them to, regardless of the outcome for their constituents.  [email protected]

Thank you for the honor to serve.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

I will be seeking re-election to the House of Representatives in October.  It is an honor to represent my constituents in Richford, Berkshire, Franklin, and Highgate.

The Legislature adjourned at 2am Saturday after passing a staggering number of bills, many “half baked”, in the final hours, despite having had many months to get them right. As we end this 2023-24 biennium, I reflect back on our work, thinking about the legislation that passed, and my role in that process. We began this session with great hopes for a bill that I sponsored which would allow for the simpler, faster build-out of substantially more housing units. Despite efforts by the Rural Caucus and the Administration, we did not get that bill. We were left with H.687, the Act 250 bill, being the vehicle for all housing legislation. This is a massive bill that very few legislators had the opportunity to understand in the very short time between being presented to us and having to vote on it.  While I respect the input that made this bill better than it started out, it is still not the housing bill that we needed or anticipated in those early weeks of the session. A bill of this magnitude had too much crammed into one piece of legislation (167 pages!) too late in the session, and regardless of requests for more time, the Supermajority leadership chose to push forward. As one legislator put it, “I can’t vote yes on something that I haven’t had time to understand”, which was sadly the case with a number of bills that were passed in the final days of the session. I have serious doubts that this bill will allow development in places that really need it. Teachers, nurses, loggers, manufacturing workers, and law enforcement all need a place to live in our communities, and we already turn them away for lack of housing. This bill adds a new requirement for the re-imagined Land Use Review Board to make rules and to contemplate whether and how subdivisions are a jurisdictional trigger in Tier 3 areas – potentially much of the land in rural counties. What Tier 3 rule-making will bring is completely unknown, and at no point does it contemplate the impact on communities; only the environment, and I fear that the more rural areas of our county will be left behind economically if development is not easily accessible for our small towns.  Legislation that didn’t pass because for lack of support included several bills that would increase recruitment efforts, expand benefits for members of the military, and tax relief for veterans, survivors, and retirees. As a Co-Chair of the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs and a member of the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, I find it shocking that we rarely take up this type of legislation, let alone pass an act that honors those who served their country. Additionally, the failure to pass a Yield Bill (H.887) that produces any real savings in the education fund or makes necessary structural changes to the education funding system will be felt in our pocketbooks well into the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve Franklin-5. Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

We are approaching the final week of the Legislative session, which is characterized by frenzied attempts to pass bills; this often looks like advocates requesting new policy at the 11th hour, new language being adopted without thorough review, reliance on other committees or individuals to “fix the issues” as it moves through the process, and a general “pass it any way we can” mentality. This is not good policy-making! The VT Legislature meets January-May, with the exception of Town Meeting Week. There would be plenty of time to get it right, if we had appropriate and reasonable criteria for a bill to be considered, rather than allowing the supermajority leadership to determine whose bills take priority; instead, we continue to take up an increasing number of new bills and leave others hanging until the final weeks.  Very few of the bills before us are “must pass” (the Budget is one). For example, last biennium, there were 130 bills in my Committee, and we took up 59 of them; this biennium, that number grew to 173 with 74 being passed out as of this writing. That is an unsustainable number! There is not enough time to adequately vet all of these bills, many of them priorities of the powerful lobbies that work year-round to put their preferred candidates in office. You will see the unfortunate results of those efforts in your hard-earned paychecks and at restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, and the gas pumps. Vermont is unaffordable for working Vermonters; taxpayers and businesses are bearing the brunt of that reality. To counter this trend, I work very hard to not raise taxes or add new fees, and I hope that my efforts will be supported at the polls this year, along with other fiscal conservatives like myself across the State. Candidates are currently circulating petitions to get their names on the ballot – please take the time to vet those candidates: look at their voting records and webpages to learn what issues they support.  Ask yourself if they truly represent the Vermont you want to live in!

To learn which bills were passed this week, the daily House and Senate Journals are available online at the Vermont General Assembly website; they are too numerous to list here. These can be found by clicking on “More House Information” and “More Senate Information”. Each committee’s webpages also list all bills passed from that committee, which can be found by clicking on “Bills Out of Committee”. To learn the status of those bills, type into the bill tracker the letter and number of the bill, and you will see its’ current location.

A sampling of bills of interest this week include:  S.259 (climate change cost recovery); S.195 (how a defendant’s criminal record is considered in imposing conditions of release); S. 58 (public safety); H.766 (prior authorization and step therapy requirements health insurance claims, and provider contracts); S.196 (types of evidence permitted in weight of evidence hearings); S.309 (miscellaneous changes to laws related to Department of Motor Vehicles, motor vehicles, and vessels); S.213 (regulation of wetlands, river corridor development and dam safety); H.889 (Pay Act). Please reach out at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

This week at the Statehouse found Committees responding to Senate proposals of amendment to bills passed earlier in the biennium and bringing those bills to the House Floor.  The Government Operations Committee finished our work on S.310 (natural disaster government response, recovery, and resiliency), HR18 (Resolution from the Special Committee on Impeachment) and a few more municipal charter changes; we also continued to work on S.55 (changes to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law), S.220 (act relating to Vermont’s Public Libraries), S.96 (act relating to privatization contracts), S.159 (County and Regional Governance study), and took a straw poll on H.887 (homestead property tax yields, non homestead rates, and policy changes to education finance and taxation – the Yield Bill). With regards to H.887, there is nothing in this bill for either short-term or long-term cost containment, or structural reform beyond an excess spending threshold and a penalty, neither of which have ever been effective in Vermont. Taxpayers will continue to feel the brunt of higher-spending districts across the state as we receive our property tax bills, and this is a direct result of the statewide funding formula that has existed since Act 60 was passed, making local decisions subject to the impact of a statewide education fund and the whims of other school board decisions across the state.                                                   On the House Floor, the following bills were passed: S.30, S.109, H.887, S.209, S.191, H.881, H.40, H.861, H.563, and H.659. Readers can find the content of these bills by typing the bill letter and number in the bill tracker on the General Assembly website and looking at the most recent “as passed by” copy. We also voted on PR3, a proposed constitutional amendment that will go through a four-year process that amends the Vermont Constitution to add the right to collectively bargain.  My explanation on the House Floor, as one of only eight Representatives to vote no, was “I believe in the power of unions, but I am never in favor of changing our precious and historic Vermont Constitution”. Additionally, and most importantly, the Budget “Big Bill” (H.883) was returned to us from the Senate and immediately sent to a Committee of Conference to resolve the differences between the two Chambers. This is one of only a couple of bills left to be sent to the Governor that are considered to be “must pass”, and once this is done, we will be able to adjourn.                      In Rural Caucus this week, we heard about a new program that the USDA will be offering in conjunction with the Administration for rural communities that will bring assistance to our neediest municipalities as they navigate the red tape that comes with applying for aid from FEMA, the SBA, and other federal governmental agencies. We also heard the latest update to the $3M Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP), launched by the Administration in 2023 with the help of our advocacy, and we were pleased to hear that all of the funding has been obligated to municipalities for crucial work on projects and assistance with identifying and scoping those projects.  Many were developed in response to the need for new housing stock.  Please contact me at [email protected]             

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

At the Statehouse this week, the countdown to adjournment has begun.  Good sources have the target date set as May 10 – I look forward to seeing if they are right! The pace is frantic, with last-minute witnesses testifying in committees on crucial bills, side deals being made in hallways, bills being held hostage by one chamber to get something in return from the other, and caucuses jockeying for position on must-pass legislation. In Committee, we are focusing on S.310 (natural disaster response, recovery & resiliency), trying to understand the intricacies of emergency management when disaster strikes. We are also continuing to take testimony on S.55 (changes to Open Meeting Law).  If municipalities or others have comments on the most recent draft (found on the House Government Operations webpage), time is ticking, and we need to hear comments this week!On the House Floor, we passed several bills this week: S.199 (governance & merger of CUDs); S.189 (mental health response service guidelines); H.626 (Animal Welfare); S.30 (study to create a Sister State Program); S.109 (study of Medicaid coverage for doula services); the “ghost gun” bill final reading was postponed. It was a busy week outside of our usual committee/floor schedule: with a meeting of the  VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus on Tuesday, where we heard about the VT National Guard Primary Prevention Workplace Program, which strives to provide opportunities to prevent assault and harassment; and a Rural Caucus meeting on Thursday, where we heard from both sides of S.258 (an act relating to the management of fish & wildlife), weighing in on the potential change in makeup of the Fish & Wildlife Board and the ban on hunting coyotes with dogs. This is legislation that is near and dear to our hearts in rural Vermont, and if you have an opinion, please reach out to the House Environment & Energy Committee, which is taking testimony this week in hopes of voting out those changes. On the House Floor, there was a reading of the Resolution honoring the USS-VT Support Group’s work on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the commissioning of the USS-VT submarine. I introduced the group on the House Floor and relayed the crew’s sentiments that the items donated by Vermont businesses that make their way to the boat via the VSG are much appreciated by those sailors who call themselves honorary Vermonters. At Farmers’ Night on Wednesday, a weekly cultural diversion from our hard work under the Dome, the Lieutenant Governor referenced “sausage-making” when speaking of these last few weeks of the biennium when most legislators are trying to get their bills across the finish line in any way, shape, or form that they can.  I can honestly say that is what we are doing! Thank you all for reaching out on various bills that are coming before us – constituent voices are the most powerful when it comes to legislating, so keep up the great work informing us of your opinions.  My email is [email protected] 

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

Post-Eclipse: the Statehouse is back to its usual rhythm. Committees are digging into bills passed over from the other body, taking testimony, and prioritizing for the end of session. Rumor has it that we have just four weeks until adjournment; the second half of the session always seems to go faster than the first half!

In House Government Operations, we’ve begun our work on: S.310 (natural disaster government response, recovery, and resiliency); S.42 (divestment of state pension funds in the fossil fuel industry); HR.18 (House Resolution calling for Franklin County Sheriff to resign); and S.220 (relating to Vermont’s Public Libraries) and continued our work on S.55 (changes to Open Meeting Law).  These bills are all complex pieces of legislation, demanding much more testimony and consideration than I think we have time left for in the session.

If you’d like to learn more about these bills, go to the House Government Operations webpage, open the tab “bills in/out of committee”, click on the bill number, then “drafts and amendments”, and choose the highest draft number to click on for the latest version. Please feel welcome to pass along your comments to the Committee (email addresses are found on the home page for the Committee).

On the House Floor, we passed: S.659 (relating to captive insurance); S.25 (regulating cosmetic and menstrual products containing certain chemicals and chemical classes and textiles and athletic turf fields containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs)), with an amendment to change the threshold of lead from 5ppm to 10 ppm; and H.543 (Vermont’s adoption of the Social Work Licensure Compact).

If you’d like to learn more about these bills, type the letter and number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website and click on either “as passed by the House” or “as passed by the Senate” to get the most up-to-date version.

In Rural Caucus, we reviewed the progress of bills pertaining to rural Vermont and discussed potential vehicles to move those that aren’t making progress and future plans.

I am continuing to follow bills of interest to my constituents as they make their way through the process, as well as representing the interests of the Vermont National Guard and veterans in various committees. The VT NG&VA Caucus, of which I am a Co-Chair, values the contributions the Guard makes to Vermont and is grateful for the sacrifices made by the many veterans who call Vermont home.

Please reach out to me at [email protected] with questions or concerns.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The Statehouse this week was eerily quiet.  With the snowstorm sending members home early and the abrupt end to frantic crossover activity, we had plenty of time to enjoy the beauty of the living museum that we work in and to catch up with everything that’s been put on hold for the past three weeks as we worked very long hours. In the Government Operations Committee, we took up the following new bills : S.55 (authorizing public bodies to meet electronically under Vermont’s Open Meeting Law), which should be of great interest to municipal officials ; and S.310 (natural disaster government response, recovery, and resiliency), both of which were brought to us as passed by the Senate. If constituents wish to testify on these bills, please reach out at [email protected]. To learn more, please enter the bill number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website.  A few bills were passed on the House Floor : H.872 (amendments to the charter of Barre Town) ; H.884 (modernization of governance for the St Albans Cemetery Association) ; H.874 (misc education bill) ; S.190 (statements made by a child victim of an offense involving serious bodily injury) ; H.876 (misc amendments to corrections laws) ; and H.882 (Capital Bill).

In Rural Caucus, we heard from the sponsors of S.213 (regulation of wetlands, river corridor development, and dam safety), another bill that has just come over from the Senate worth taking a look at. We also had a brief and very timely tax presentation from the Public Assets Institute  where we learned that many Vermonters qualify for Vermont's anti-poverty tax credits (the Vermont Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit). But if families don't file their taxes, they won't receive the credits. After April 15^th, families can still file for the credits, but they may have to pay a late fee. Go to TaxCreditsVT.org for information about what the credits are, if you qualify, and how to file for them for free.

Please also note that the NMV/E-R UUSD school districts will be holding informational budget meetings at the following times:

NMV: April 13 10am - Berkshire Elementary School, April 15 6:30pm - Sheldon Elementary School, April 24 6:30pm - Bakersfield Elementary School, April 29 6:30pm - Montgomery Elementary School ** REVOTE is April 30 at your polling location or absentee ballot. ERUUSD: April 16 6pm - Richford Jr/Sr High School, April 23 6pm - Enosburg Falls Middle/High School. ** REVOTE is April 30 at your polling location or absentee ballot

It is an honor to serve you in the Vermont Statehouse.  Please reach out with questions or concerns.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

The Legislature is digging out from under the backload of bills passed ahead of the policy and money crossover deadlines. The week began with a Joint Assembly for Judicial Retention and a ceremonial reading of the Medal of Honor Resolution. Throughout the course of the week, the House passed the following bills to the Senate: H.612 (miscellaneous cannabis amendments); H.622 (Emergency Medical Services); H.655 (qualifying offenses for sealing criminal history records and access to sealed criminal history records); H.702 (legislative operations and government accountability); H.878 (miscellaneous judiciary procedures); H.877 (miscellaneous agricultural subjects); H.585 (amending the pension system for sheriffs and certain deputy sheriffs); H.630 (boards of cooperative education services); H.880 (increasing access to the judicial system); H.721 (access to Medicaid and Dr Dynasaur); H.546 (miscellaneous tax bill); H.873 (testing for and remediation of PCBs in schools); H.687 (community resilience and biodiversity protection through land use); H.833 (the Budget) is concerning because of the amount of money contained within other bills isn’t found in this version! You can see the text of these bills in the online Journal of the House, with any amendments and roll call votes. A hotly-debated bills was H.687, aka the Act 250 bill masquerading as a housing bill.  This bill and its 14 individual amendments spurred 5 hours of debate, with members from rural Franklin Co speaking out against the overly-restrictive new triggers and the lack of incentives to build new housing. The number of amendments alone tell a story – the bill came out of committee through a top-down process that was not inclusive of folks who advocated for Act 250 reform. My remarks on the Floor captured the frustration of the Rural Caucus: “We convened this session with the affirmation by all parties that Vermont has a housing crisis, and finding a way forward to building more housing would be of the highest priority. We had a tripartisan housing bill that pulled together the goals of all of our constituencies across the state. It got no attention. To that end, over the Fall, driven by the need to modernize ACT 250 jurisdiction and governance, three crucial stakeholder groups met and did the work to form a coalition that prioritized a fragile balance between land conservation and increased housing construction; the housing bills put forward did just that. The committee almost exclusively focused on H.687 this session, and it fails to honor the provisions of that hard-earned collaboration that the three published reports represent. Instead, the bill disregards the laudable progress made by those study groups and a request by the Rural Caucus to streamline and modernize the process to make it simpler to build housing, and significantly expands Act 250 triggers to impact over 97% of Vermont land. This new map shows that our state’s most rural towns will be disproportionately penalized, and these new triggers will stunt the economies of those communities by making it nearly impossible to build much-needed housing to support the workforce of local industries and public services. Our rural communities do not have the resources to jump through the hoops that are being proposed to enable significant housing development, and without that infrastructure, nor will they be able to adequately respond to what is required of them. I urge members to join me in voting against this bill and standing up for all Vermont communities that have been waiting decades for the opportunity to bring their economies into the 21^st century”.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango