Dear Donor –

Thanks to your support, the 2025-2026 Legislative biennium was successful in bringing long-needed moderation to the Legislature. In November 2024, we elected more Republicans to the House and Senate, eliminating the Democrat/Progressive supermajority. Because of those gains, we Republicans were able to hold more leadership positions across committees, which allowed us more control over the narrative. As Vice-Chair of House Government Operations & Military Affairs, Co-Chair of the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus, and Co-Chair of the VT Rural Caucus, I am proud of the work I was a part of. In both years, from the first week of January until the last week of May in Montpelier, we worked hard to bring balance to the bills that came through our committees and advocated for positions in Caucuses that became law, like repealing the Road Rule/Tier 3 mapping and establishing a military pension tax exemption for certain military retirees and survivors.  Collectively with my Republican Caucus colleagues and a non-partisan coalition of colleagues in both the VT NG&VA Caucus and the Rural Caucus, we accomplished these goals. We also succeeded in preventing legislation from being voted out of our committees and sustaining the Governor’s vetoes of legislation that we knew would be harmful to Vermonters. After serving in a super minority for six years before this, these last two years have been eye-opening as to what we could do if we ever had a majority of our own. For that to happen, and even to sustain what we have now, we need your help. We need to elect more moderate candidates who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is reasonable and to work across the aisle to make it happen. That doesn’t happen overnight, and with the seniority members who came in with me now have, we have a unique opportunity to use that power to our advantage and to work with the Governor to accomplish real change in the name of affordability. We saw how adding just 17 members to the House increased the number of leadership positions we held and by building relationships with our Chairs and committee members, how much influence we have.  If we can sustain that in the November elections, or even surpass that number, we can begin to tackle the real issues, instead of having to spend our time undoing the egregious legislation of past bienniums. We desperately need to solve the education crisis, the housing crisis, and the healthcare crisis, and we will work with the Administration to try to do that. Although I don’t have an opponent in this year’s Primary, your support means peace of mind for me to continue the work that I am doing and to build on that work in the future when we do have contested elections.

My website is currently unable to take donations. My mailing address is:

471 Potato Hill Road, Enosburg Falls VT 05450

Thank you and stay well, Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Berkshire)

Dear Constituents –

The week of May 26 in the Statehouse was one of hurry up…and wait…then hurry up and wait all over again. As of this writing, we adjourned at 7pm on the 29th, before hearing speeches from the Governor and House leadership.

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs continued to a final flurry of testimony and take votes on amendments to S.64 (expanding scope of the practice of optometry), S.278 (cannabis), and H.935 (emergency management).

During our time on the House Floor, we debated bills such as S.64, S.313 (transforming Vermont’s CTE system), S.193 (establishing a forensic facility for certain criminal-justice involved persons), H.915 (bottle redemption), S.71 (consumer date privacy and online surveillance), H.542 (suspending testing for PCBs in Vermont schools), and H.931 (miscellaneous changes to education law).

Bills of major importance that were also taken up during the last hours were: H.944 (Transportation Bill), H.951 (Budget), H.955 (Education Transformation), H.949 (Yield Bill), H.933 (miscellaneous tax bill), and an unsuccessful veto override attempt of H.727 (sustainable data centers). We also voted to not take up S.208 (standards for law enforcement identification). Even the annual Adjournment Resolution (JRS 56) demanded a roll call, as Progressives and some Democrats protested leaving without taking up S.208, the “ICE masking bill”.

The hours are long and sometimes unpredictable, but the rewards of public service are many.  It is an honor to serve as your Representative to the Vermont General Assembly. I have served for four terms since I was first appointed, and I humbly ask for your support to return to the Legislature next year to continue this work on your behalf.

During the off-session, I am available by email at [email protected] and will return your message in a timely manner. Please learn more at HangoforHouse.com

Stay well,

Representative Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The week of May 18 began our 19th week in the Statehouse.  For taxpayers who are counting, Vermont lawmakers are authorized for 18 weeks of service, excluding the week of Town Meeting, when legislators are not receiving any compensation. As we head into overtime, I remind readers that it costs over $300,000 per week to keep the wheels turning in the Statehouse.  As of this writing, none of the “must pass” bills have passed; they are in Committees of Conference. They all involve money, and they are all interrelated with the Education Transformation bill.  In my opinion, the work stalled on these bills early in the session, with committees spinning their wheels and instead taking up other issues that were perhaps “good to address” but not “necessary to pass” because this was the politically easier path. However, the Governor has issued a challenge to the Legislature to produce results that Vermont taxpayers can live with, and it is my hope that the Committees of Conference will do the hard work and take a stand on Education Transformation and its related fiscal impacts.

Additionally, in my opinion, much of the issue is that the Legislature has too many bills to consider.  This biennium, there were upwards of 1200 bills introduced across the House and Senate; that is far too many for committees to do their due diligence on the majority of them, and the ones that were taken up often were for a particular political reason, while others, perhaps more practical in nature, wilted on the walls. Each bill is estimated to cost $1000 from start to finish. Vermont currently has no limit on the number or type of bills that are introduced to the General Assembly. Across the country, 21 states restrict the number of bills that are introduced, from 5 per year per member in Colorado to 35 per member per biennium in California, with a caveat in some states that excludes in that number any local or obsolete law bills, or committee bills. I have also read that in a few states, there may be further restrictions on freshman legislator bill introductions and some even requiring bi-partisan sponsors.  This is something that I think a small state like Vermont would benefit from implementing, as I have seen a number of bills that haven’t been properly vetted due to the sheer number of bills, and bills that are so one-sided that they would never be taken up off the wall. It’s an interesting concept worth considering.

On the House Floor, we spent hours hearing amendments to bills sent back to us from the Senate and proposed amendments of our own to bills we were sending to them. These bills can be found by day in each House and Senate Journal on the General Assembly website.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we passed out ten bills for consideration of the full House, many of those bills we had seen previously that were amended by the Senate and sent back to us. There will be more to follow next week.             

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

This week at the Statehouse started with the second attempt to call up a bill for vote on the House Floor under VT House Rule 51. The bill, H.70, relates to the inclusion of use value appraisal land in the conserved land inventory. In this two-year biennium, H.70 has received minimal attention, despite Rural Caucus members’ advocacy letters to the Speaker and the Chair, and a motion to vote was left on the table in February 2026. This rule was written specifically for situations such as this and would allow a bill to be brought to the House Floor for a debate and vote on the merits of the bill. Unfortunately that motion failed 80-58, and H.70 did not get consideration by the full House, but those of us who spoke up for including this carefully stewarded land in Current Use passionately defended Vermonters who are engaged in working lands professions – farmers and those in the wood products industries. Thank you to all of the rural Vermonters who offered support.

On the House Floor, there were a number of votes on Senate proposals of amendment to bills that we passed earlier this session. Some of those included: S.189 (establishing a process for reducing or eliminating hospital services); H.739 (prohibiting the use and sale of the herbicide paraquat); Proposition 4 (Declaration of rights; government for the people; equality of rights); S.212 (potable water supply and wastewater system connections); S.208 (standards for law enforcement identification); H.648 (banking, insurance, and securities with regards to cryptocurrency fraud protections); and S.243 (distributing funds to the VT Language Justice Project). For more information on these bills, type the bill number into the tracker on the VT General Assembly website and look for the “as passed” version(s).

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we continued taking detailed and lengthy testimony on S.64 (amendments to the scope of practice for optometrists); S.278 (cannabis); H.588 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); and H.957 (Williston charter change).

Elsewhere in the Statehouse, the Rural Caucus remains engaged in the moving parts of legislation across the building, as we wait for the Committee of Conference on S.325 (the “Act 181 repeal” bill) to meet and make their recommendations. Also to be watched are the Committees of Conference on the Budget (H.951), Miscellaneous Tax Bills (H.933), the Yield Bill (H.949), and the Capital Bill (H.952). These CofC’s are listed on the House overview webpage on the General Assembly website and can be viewed like any other committee meeting.

The VT Chamber, in conjunction with the VT National Guard Family Readiness Program and with support from the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus, conducted a diaper and baby wipes drive at the Statehouse on May 13.  The drive was a huge success, gathering over 2500 diaper and countless containers of wipes, and $3000 for deployed families. It is an honor to serve in Montpelier.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

This week in the Statehouse was all about S.325, the repeal of many of the provisions of Act 181 that rural Vermonters so clearly spoke in opposition of. S.325 was on the House Floor on Wednesday and Thursday, and we debated into the evening to amend and pass this bill. The amendments to S.325 reflected the desire to keep the spirit of compromise from the Senate alive and to strengthen the provisions of the bill so all small communities across Vermont can engage in housing development if they choose to do so. My colleagues who voted against these amendments yet decry the lack of affordable housing in our state must take a long, hard look at the economic realities that we face: declining enrollment in our schools, lack of employees for the few businesses that remain in rural areas, demise of farms and forest products producers, and migration of young people out of state to find employment and a more affordable way of life that doesn’t involve long commutes to school, work, the grocery store, or to seek medical care. Without adequate housing, there is no remedy for these realities. The amendments (and their outcomes) were as follows: (Failed) Burditt Amendment – to allow Tier 1B towns without appropriate staff to contract for staff;  (Passed) Burtt Amendment #1 – definition change to smart-growth principles that strengthen agriculture and forestry industry use while supporting on-farm housing; (Passed) Burtt Amendment #2 — exempting accessory on-farm businesses from Act 250 review; (Failed) Charlton Amendment — all communities, including small and mid-sized communities, have been given housing targets; it will take much time for those units to be built out, so the ask was to extend the allowable timeframe through the end of 2030;  (Failed) Dobrovich Amendment #1 — extending interim Act 250 exemptions for towns lacking zoning and allowing the approximately 60 communities across the state to go forward with individual projects by a vote of their Selectboard; (Failed) Dobrovich Amendment #2 — attempting to get the same result as the aforementioned amendment with slightly different language to assist towns lacking zoning; (Declared non-germane) Higley Amendment — allowing the use of land enrolled in Current Use (Use Value Appraisal Program) to be counted towards State conservation goals of 30x30 and 50x50 (30% of Vermont’s land to be conserved by 2030 and 50% by 2050) that is required by Act 59 of 2023, yet another bill passed over objections during the time of the supermajority.

S.325 eventually passed with two of the seven proposed amendments, and that would not have been possible without legislators hearing loudly and clearly from the many constituents and Selectboards who reached out with their concerns. Roll calls on most of those amendments and the bill for second reading can be found in the House Journal from May 6 on the Vermont General Assembly website https://legislature.vermont.gov/

It is an honor to serve as your Representative.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

Our Statehouse week began with a ceremonial reading of a House Concurrent Resolution congratulating the 2026 Richford Rockets basketball team on their D-IV championship win.  The team and their coaches traveled to Montpelier to be present for the reading, offered by their local Senators and Representatives. It is always a pleasure to receive visits from school groups and their chaperones at the Statehouse. I will take this opportunity to remind readers that the Governor has an open-door coffee hour each Thursday morning at 8am, and the Lt Governor also offers a similar opportunity for the public to engage with administration officials at these scheduled times:  https://ltgov.vermont.gov/coffeewithconstituents. More information on connecting with the Governor’s Office can be found at: https://governor.vermont.gov/contact-us-requests.

Our work on the House Floor reflects the time that we are spending in Committee reviewing bills passed before crossover and amended by the other Chamber. A full listing of each bill passed can be found on the General Assembly website in each day’s House and Senate Journals.

The Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, of which I am Vice-Chair, passed S.298 (VT Voting Rights) and is currently continuing to hear testimony on: S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure), S.278 (cannabis), and the sections of S.323 (miscellaneous agriculture subjects) pertaining to hemp. It’s important to note that if one types a bill number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website, the most recent draft of the bill isn’t what pops up as a result.  It takes some digging to find that on the webpage of the committee that has possession of the bill.  Drafts can vary widely in content from one version to the next, especially as we approach the end of the session.

The Rural Caucus this week heard presentations on a Medicare-related issue affecting Critical Access Hospitals (which NMC is not designated as).  We continue to discuss updates to S.325, which is the vehicle for repeal of Act 181’s Road Rule and Tier 2 and 3 language.  The House Environment Committee is closing in on passing out that bill, so to find the latest version, please see their webpage. There is also a great deal of talk in general about land conservation, particularly with respect to including land in the Current Use Program as part of the calculation.

Communication is a key ingredient in the democratic process, and I welcome your questions and concerns as I continue to represent my constituents in the Statehouse. Please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] and to learn more about my work at www.hangoforhouse.com

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire (Franklin-5)

Dear Constituents –

In the Statehouse this week, committees continue to dive into bills returned to them by the other Chamber, vetting changes and taking testimony on potential amendments on issues that have come to light during the legislative process. In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, on which I serve as Vice Chair, we spent much of our time on the following bills: S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure by OPR); S.298 Vermont Voting Rights (VT Voter Protections), and a few municipal charters.

On the House Floor, among the bills that we voted on favorably are: S.89 (expanding survivor benefits to certified  law enforcement officers, certain Department of Corrections employees, classified family services employees in DCF, and classified medical employees of State-operated therapeutic community residences or inpatient psychiatric hospital units); S.157 (recovery residence certification); S.239 (Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Working Group); S.255 (establishing a pilot Law Enforcement Governance Council in Windham County.

This is the time of year when we are starting to get a look at what the other Chamber is doing with important (must-pass) bills like the budget, yield bill, Capital bill, and T bill. The first of those to be hitting the Senate Floor appears to be the budget, aka the Big Bill.  At first glance, Senate Appropriations re-arranged the deck chairs considerably, as there is very limited funding available and many stated needs, which vary widely by Legislator. This is where advocates’ voices make a difference.  Both Appropriations Committees are tasked with taking a set amount of money and trying to shoehorn all of the asks and obligations into that window, which for the foreseeable future, is very narrow. Agencies and organizations were put on notice last Fall that the budget process would be difficult, and it truly has been.  Both money committees have done a commendable job trying to accomplish what they are statutorily required to do, which is balance the budget. Now the action in the building will ramp up, with advocates jockeying for position to speak with committee members, lobbying legislators to speak to their colleagues on their behalf, and crossing their fingers. This bill will likely go to a Committee of Conference, as the two Chambers are not aligned in their priorities.

The Rural Caucus picked up where we left off earlier this session, hearing from education organizations on the H.955 Education Transformation bill. This will be an on-going discussion, alternating next week to healthcare issues, so if any organization wishes to speak to the Caucus, please reach out at [email protected]. Act 181 discussions through the vehicle of S.325 continue to be debated in the House Environment Committee, and all of their committee hearings can be viewed on YouTube by clicking on the link to their webpage on the General Assembly website. 

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire

Dear Constituents –

Our work at the Statehouse this week was dominated by two big themes: Act 181 and Education Transformation.

On Tuesday, the Speaker of the House released a response to the Rural Caucus’ position on Act 181to repeal the Road Rule and Tier 3 mapping.  Vermonters’ voices have been heard, and after an additional day of testimony in the House Environment Committee, the Chair of that committee indicated her support of the same provisions, as well.  It is our expectation that S.325 will go back to the Senate with that repeal language included; however, a vote has not yet been taken as of this writing. Thank you to all of the selectboards and individuals who took the time to reach out to their legislators to assist us in getting to this point.

On Thursday and Friday, the House debated H.955, the Education Transformation bill that doesn’t transform anything. The bill as passed leaves us in much the same place as we were a year ago.  It is much too early to predict how this bill will change in the Senate, but the trajectory in that Chamber is quite different than in the House, with little chance to intersect. The bill will likely go to a Committee of Conference at the end of the session, as the House and the Senate do not appear to be able to work together to pass legislation that is capable of transforming our inequitable and expensive pre-K—12 education system. Once again, Vermonters spoke (in the 2024 elections), and your Franklin County delegation is doing everything possible to ensure that we can afford to deliver an academically excellent and equitable education to our students at a cost we can afford.

The National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus met on Tuesday and heard presentations from: Adjutant General Hank Harder, who gave us an update on our service members who are deployed and how we can support the families waiting for them at home; the US Small Business District Director, who described programs to assist veterans starting small businesses and farms; the Governor’s Veterans Advisory Council to introduce their organization to the Caucus; and an introduction to the Civil Air Patrol in Vermont.

The Rural Caucus heard from the Rural Schools Community Alliance; presenters of some of the rural-school related amendments for the Floor debate; and VT Housing & Finance Agency (VHFA) on their draft rules for the Qualified Application Plan (QAP) that must be filed to be eligible to receive funding to create rental housing. In rural areas, the new draft rules will essentially shut down new housing development, particularly age-appropriate housing for older Vermonters, because of a “siting threshold” that requires all new VHFA construction to be within two miles of services such as a grocery store or a pharmacy.  VHFA realizes that this is not possible for our rural areas, and the Rural Caucus is submitting comments, as you also may do, at [email protected] by APRIL 24.

My email is [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

The week in the Statehouse was highlighted by more Act 181 reform efforts. The Rural Caucus widely circulated a sign-on letter to the Speaker of the House and the Chair of the House Environment Committee to repeal Tier 3 mapping requirements and the Road Rule, with the hope that the Committee Chair will allow repeal to be written into S325 (currently calling for delays only). The alternative to that process will be to offer floor amendments when the vote of the House is taken. The Senate failed in their attempts to do this, but with 57 legislators signed on, and more asking to sign after the deadline had passed, it is possible that amendments would pass in the House. The Governor and the Lt Governor both support these amendments and have expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Rural Caucus.

Most committees are diving into bills sent to them from the Senate, although Ways & Means is focused on the Education Transformation bill (H955) and an education funding formula. Many have said that we do not have a funding problem but a spending problem, and that holds true when one looks at any federal, state, or local government budget. For various reasons, everyone’s budget has increased faster than their income (or revenue) because expenses are rising and services provided have expanded, and that is an unsustainable trajectory.

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee continues to take testimony on S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure) a few town charter changes, S.298 (a VT Voting Rights bill), and S.255 (a pilot policing project in Windham County). We also had a refresher session the adult-use recreational cannabis market and tax structure to prepare for S278, which is a miscellaneous cannabis bill sent to us from the Senate.

The House Floor was quiet compared to the past few weeks and welcome that we had more time in committee to dive into these issues.

As noted above, the Rural Caucus met, drafted a letter, and solicited signatures on Act 181 reform. We also heard from the Land Use Review Board and SkiVT about specific rules around ski areas and golf courses in proposed Tier 3 areas.

It is an honor to serve in the Legislature. I value the work I am doing on behalf of Vermonters and hope to continue as your Representative in 2027-28. To learn more about that work, please visit www.hangoforhouse.com. I can be reached at [email protected].

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

The week of April 1 in the Statehouse was much quieter now that the crossover deadline has passed. Both the annual budget and biennial capital budget passed.

The biggest news not worth celebrating is that the House Education Committee passed out the “Education Transformation Bill” (H.955) on Thursday that isn’t a transformation at all. The bill tasks school districts, with the guidance of paid facilitators, to look at how to combine services within Cooperative Education Service Areas. A great idea, but we already enacted legislation allowing school districts to do that! At the moment, there are far too many unknowns to be enthusiastic about this bill, the voluntary implementation deadlines stretch too far in the future to provide any real relief to struggling taxpayers, and there are too many steps between now and “transformation”, whatever your district votes that it should look like. VT is not much farther ahead than a year ago…

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee began to take testimony on bills from our Senate counterparts: S.232 (relating to public Libraries and the Dept of Libraries); S.298 (VT Voting Rights Act); S.255 (establishing a pilot Law Enforcement Governance Council in Windham County); S.206 (licensure of Early Childhood Educators).

The Rural Caucus held its previously postponed Rural Listening Session on Wednesday evening.  We heard from 45 Rural Vermonters in-person or online and nearly 30 others provided written testimony. To learn more about the Rural Caucus, visit https://www.vtruralcaucus.com/

Because of the importance and sheer number of individuals who have spoken out on the impact of Act 181, the following is a brief explanation of one troubling provision of that law, and a link to provide public comment on future guidance:

Act 181 of 2024 created a new jurisdictional trigger for Act 250. Beginning July 1, 2026 “the construction of a road or roads and any associated driveways” will trigger the need for an Act 250 permit with few exceptions, when the length of any single road is greater than 800 feet, or the length of all roads and any associated driveways in combination is greater than 2,000 feet. See 10 V.S.A. §6001(3)(A)(xii). Exceptions are provided for municipal, state, utility, farm, and forestry roads and driveways.

 Act 181 also provides that the Land Use Review Board (“Board”) may adopt rules to help guide implementation. The Board has requested that the Legislature delay the effective date to allow for the public outreach and consultation required by rule making. Given the uncertainty of whether or not this delay will be granted and the upcoming July 1st effective date, the Board is working instead to develop guidance. Guidance under development is intended to help clarify exemptions, define what qualifies as pre-existing road, and give definition to the difference between a road and a driveway.

 Draft Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance is now available here: https://act250.vermont.gov/document/road-construction-jurisdiction-guidance-draft-3-25-26 The Land Use Review Board is holding a 30-day public comment period from March 30 through April 30, 2026 on the draft Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance document:   Comments may be submitted via email to:  [email protected] 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve Franklin-5.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire

Dear Constituents -

The pace in the Statehouse this week was long, slow, and steady.  Bill after bill lined the calendar, as we sat for hours listening to floor reports and taking votes. A sampling of those bills passed as of 3/25 can be found here: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2026/march/25/speaker-krowinski-provides-overview-bills-passed-house-crossover-deadline?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=enews%20%7C%20House%20bills%20include%20lower%20drug%20costs%20and%20data%20security%3B%20Burlington%20hears%20from%20mayor%20over%20ICE%20raid&utm_campaign=Enews%203%2F25%2F2026&vgo_ee=PT0EYAH7oSBO035WmetdTOhZwccR%2B8cjokLApcdzuOzX%3AG5K42n8t%2B1QysSP%2FIjWrR%2FW546c0C9%2Fa Nearly double that number were passed as of this writing. For more information on specific bills, type the bill letter and number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website at https://legislature.vermont.gov/

H.951 (the Budget Big Bill) and H.944 (the Transportation bill), as well as H.949 (the Yield bill) were all voted on the House Floor this week.  Each had some concerning provisions that had to be carefully weighed – is the overall bill worth voting for, even though there are sections that are cause for concern? – For me, the Yield Bill was the bill that rose to the top of my concerns; the Governor recommended buying down the property tax rate with the entire $105M surplus (taxpayers’ hard-earned money), but the majority party voted that down to only use 50% of the surplus and keep the remaining 50% for “future use”. Since we can’t bind the decisions of a future Legislature by our actions, who’s to decide what that “future use” is? My other top concern was the Ways & Means amendment to the T-bill that stripped a provision that 50% of the PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) Special Fund, which is raised by municipalities, would go directly back to towns for their town highway budgets.

I successfully reported H.935, an act relating to Emergency Management, on the House Floor on Friday, which enables nonprofits to enter into an MOU with the Div of Emergency Management for the Ready Response Grant Program to swiftly provide shelf-stable food and bottled water on-site during all-hazards events, ensures that individuals with disabilities have a say in planning emergency response, updates fire statutes, and releases previously appropriated funds to the Dept of Public Safety for continued improvements to statewide call-taking and dispatch technology over a period of three years.

Committee time was limited to hearing amendments to our bills and taking limited testimony on the few new bills coming in slowly from the Senate. With Floor time extending into the evening, our daytime was taken up with writing reports and tracking the progress of the bills we’ve reported out of a very busy Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee.

The Rural Caucus continues to be inundated with requests to submit testimony on the impact of Act 181 on rural Vermonters. A scheduled listening session had to be postponed until April 1 due to the extended Floor time last Wednesday.  After a rally on the Statehouse steps where we heard from Vermonters who are impacted by this law, many in the Rural Caucus are more determined than ever to roll back the Road Rule and Tier 3 mapping set into motion in 2024.

As always, please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] or visit my website www.hangoforhouse.com to learn more about the issues that are important to me.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Berkshire)

Dear Constituents –

The week after crossover in the Legislature is one of “hurry up and wait”. The bills that had to pass out of committees by March 13 moved on to money committees this week. Those discussions were difficult, as the reality is that there are far more funding requests than revenue coming into State coffers. The Appropriations committees have an unenviable job to balance that budget while fulfilling their obligation to protect the most vulnerable, create economic opportunity, and return affordability for Vermonters.

Committee members spent their time writing or hearing amendments to their bills, hearing testimony on new bills that have come over from the Senate, writing floor reports, and determining which bills to take up in the second half of the biennium.

On the House Floor, we debated and passed a large number of bills in two weeks.  As previously reported, many committees didn’t pass bills until the end of last week, so they were stacked up for hours to be heard, debated, and voted on the House Floor. For complete information, one can go to the General Assembly website to read the daily House and Senate Journals.

Most of my time for the past two weeks has been spent drafting H.935, a committee bill on Emergency Management, which can be found on the House Government Operations & Military Affairs webpage, that we built over two months, including requests brought to us by various agencies and organizations such as the Department of Public Safety, the VT Division of Emergency Management, the VT Foodbank, the VT Language Justice Project, VT Access Network, and the Urban Search and Rescue teams.

The Rural Caucus has heard an outpouring of concern about the implications of implementing Act 181, which has also been reported in this column and on my website, hangoforhouse.com, where I will be posting regular updates from the Land Use Review Board (LURB) on their activities.  You may also go to https://act250.vermont.gov/home for contact information to make public comment, learn about Act 250 and Act 181 as enacted in VT statute, and hear recordings of their public hearings.

S.325 at this writing is the only vehicle available for Act 181 reform; while not going so far as calling for repeal of the egregious “Road Rule” or the Tier 3 mapping process, it does call for implementation delays, and for greater outreach to the public on Act 18’s provisions in general.

Please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] with questions and concerns.  It is an honor to serve in the General Assembly.

Stay well,

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

FROM THE LURB:

Act 250 Tier 3 Followers,

** February/March 2026 Update **

Feel free to forward this update widely!  Additional updates to follow each month.

Stay Tuned… again.

Work on the next version of the draft Tier 3 rules and mapping continues to take longer than anticipated.  I originally planned to get the next draft out to everyone by January/February.  Apologies for the delay.  Frankly, all the input from Vermonters has been extremely helpful, and it’s important to me that the Board hear the feedback and do the best we can to factor it into our work.

I now expect the next draft to be ready by the end of April.  That means more extensive public engagement will shift to May and June.  A final draft and final public hearings will therefore shift into the summer.  Reminder that Tier 3 jurisdiction begins at the end of 2026 (12/31/26), but see below for more on this.

• For Tier 3 questions and comments, you can reach out to me directly by phone (802-480-1885) or send email to [email protected].

• Want to schedule a presentation or conversation with your organization or local board?  I’m at your service, including evening meetings.  I’ve had productive meetings with municipal officials and boards in Cabot, Grafton, Ripton, Reading, and I am planning meetings in Charlotte, Chester, and the larger Windham County region.  Perhaps your Planning Commission, Conservation Commission, or Select Board would like more information?  If so, let me know.

Board Recommends Pushing Start Dates to December 31, 2027

On February 20, the Board testified in front of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.  We recommended pushing the start date of several new provisions included in the Act 181 reforms (passed in 2024):

• Tier 3 Jurisdiction – push one year; move start date from 12/31/26 to 12/31/27

• Criterion 8C, a new review criterion for Act 250 projects – push one year; move start date from 12/31/26 to 12/31/27

• Road Construction Jurisdiction – push 18 months; move start date from 7/1/26 to 12/31/27

We want more time for the necessary rulemaking process, in part to get it right and in part to ensure a robust public engagement process that provides multiple opportunities for feedback.  Just as importantly, Vermonters need more time to learn about and prepare for these substantive statewide land use permitting changes.  Many people I have spoken with have expressed concern that their neighbors and fellow community members are unaware of these Act 250 changes – particularly the expansion of jurisdiction for new road construction and in Tier 3 areas.  The Land Use Review Board wants to raise awareness and welcome more Vermonters to the table to help us implement Act 250 reforms in a meaningful and practical way.  We need more time to make this happen.

We also recommended that the Legislature grant the Board the authority to apply a limited number of Act 250 review criteria for development in Tier 3 areas.  This would help keep the Act 250 review focused on just the criteria relevant to the critical natural resource area that triggered the need for a permit in the first place.  This could reduce the scope and complexity of the application and review in Tier 3 areas.  With the proper authority granted, the Board would engage in a public rulemaking process to determine which of the 10 review criteria (and 32 sub-criteria) to apply in Tier 3 areas.

The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee appeared to be receptive and is working on a full re-write of bill number S.325 to make a variety of necessary changes to Act 181.  This bill’s intent, as described in draft language, is to “provide technical clarification, transitional certainty, and implementation alignment” to Act 181 without altering its underlying policy goals.  We can’t know for certain that the Board’s recommendations will make it into the bill.  That will become clear if/when the Committee and then the full Senate finalize and vote on the bill.  Hopefully in the next two weeks.  After that, the bill would still require review and approval by the House Environment Committee, the full House, and the Governor.

Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance Coming Soon

Separate from Tier 3 jurisdiction, the new road construction jurisdiction provision will require an Act 250 permit for the construction of certain new roads and related development. As noted above, the new road construction jurisdiction provision goes into effect on July 1, 2026.  This date is in the middle of Vermont’s road construction season, which is one more reason the Board is recommending pushing this to a winter date – i.e., December 31, 2027.  At recent Board meetings, we’ve been discussing various components of the road construction jurisdiction provision.  We plan to have a guidance document available ahead of the upcoming road construction season – target date is the end of March 2026.

• For Road Construction Jurisdiction questions, reach out to two of my fellow Board members who are working on guidance - Sarah Hadd, [email protected], 802-480-1886; Brooke Dingledine, [email protected], 802-480-1878.

Information Online

Tier 3 Rulemaking and Report | Act 250

https://act250.vermont.gov/tier-3-rulemaking-and-report

Road Construction Jurisdiction | Act 250

https://act250.vermont.gov/road-construction-jurisdiction

Wondering what this is all about…

What is Act 250?

Enacted in 1970, Act 250 aims to balance environmental protection with sustainable development. It regulates large development and subdivision projects based on environmental, economic, and public welfare criteria. The law helps maintain Vermont's historic settlement pattern of compact villages and urban centers, separated by rural countryside, while allowing for responsible growth. Act 250 plays a crucial role in fostering distinctive communities and preserving Vermont's unique sense of place.

What are Tier 3 areas?

Historically, Act 250 jurisdiction has been based on the size of the development or subdivision, with a focus on larger projects.  Act 181 of 2024 implements location-based jurisdiction reform by identifying three different areas.  Tier 1 areas are planned for growth in and around village and downtown centers, where Act 250 jurisdiction would be reduced or eliminated entirely in favor of municipal-level permitting and other State permitting (e.g., ANR, Division of Fire Safety, etc.).  Tier 3 areas are critical natural resources, where Act 250 jurisdiction would be increased to cover more types of development than today.  Tier 2 areas are the rest of the state, where Act 250 jurisdiction would remain largely as we know it today, but with additional jurisdiction for projects building more than 800 feet of new roads.

Act 181 tasks the Land Use Review Board (LURB) with rulemaking to identify what critical natural resources will be included in the Tier 3 definition, and when Act 250 jurisdiction will be triggered for development in Tier 3 areas. The Legislature outlined certain types of resources that must be considered, but left the final decision to the LURB rulemaking process. That’s where we need help from stakeholders, experts, and the public!  It’s a policy discussion and a mapping exercise all wrapped up in a rulemaking process.

--------------------------------------------------------

Alex Weinhagen | Board Member

Land Use Review Board

10 Baldwin Street

Montpelier, VT 05633-3201

[email protected]

802-480-1885
https://act250.vermont.gov

Emails and other written or recorded information produced or acquired in the course of public agency business are public records and may be subject to public examination under Vermont’s Public Records Act.

Dear Constituents –

The week of crossover in VT is behind us, and bills passed will go on to the other Chamber or to a money committee if they affect the revenue of the State, where they are required to be voted out by March 20 in order to stay alive. Big money bills (T-bill, the budget, the yield bill, and the Capital bill) are exempt from crossover deadlines. Apparently, the Education bills will also be granted exemption, as those committees continue to discuss everything but the elephant in the room, which is district maps.(I’ve heard there is another one coming soon…)

The House floor saw a flurry of action where we heard hours of bill reports and took many floor votes. A few of the bills that passed the House from the Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs and on the Floor are: H686 (expanding identification of certain lobbying advertisements), H.588 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation), H762 (County and Regional Governance Study Committee), H841 (Animal Welfare procedures). Many more passed our committee but remain in the queue for Ways & Means or Appropriations. You can find these bills and their committee votes by visiting our webpage and clicking on “Bills Out of Committee”.

Committees heard amendments to bills coming to the Floor, and HGOMA heard our share. Even when a committee votes out a bill unanimously, it is most likely that someone will want something changed along the way. We spent the majority of our committee time working on a committee bill for Emergency Management and Disaster Response, DR 26-0550. As of this writing, it had not yet been introduced and assigned a bill number.  This bill had several sections and addresses technical rescues, emergency food and water distribution, wildland fires, emergency response involving individuals with disabilities, community media use in emergency situations, and public safety communications.

The Rural Caucus continued to hear updates on S325 that addresses some aspects of delay or reform of Act 181, the 2024 land use law that went into effect after the supermajority overrode the Governor’s veto. Breaking news: Senate Natural Resources & Energy voted out S.325 with a substantial delay to the Road Rule and more support for public outreach on these issues.

To submit public comment to the governing body, the Land Use review Board (LURB): [email protected].

The Rural Caucus will be hosting an event to listen to the concerns of rural Vermonters on Wednesday, March 25th from 5:30-7:00 pm in Room 10 of the State House and online via Zoom. More information is linked here and available on the resources page of vtruralcaucus.com .

The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus heard from NE Delta Dental about a free veterans dental care program that they run in partnership with local dental clinics and the VTNG Family Programs.  Please call 1-888-607-8773 for more information if you are a veteran needing dental care.

It is an honor to serve as your Representative.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

[email protected]

2026 Town Meeting Day Update

Dear Constituents –

The question on Vermonters’ minds from all around the State this Town Meeting Day is what is being done about Education Transformation (Act 73) that was enacted into law in 2025? So far, not much. The House and Senate Education Committees each have one model map and remain far apart on where they want to see the governance structure and funding formula end up, so that leads me to believe that any decisions affecting local school districts will go down to the wire at the end of this session, much like last year, with no agreement between the two chambers, and having to go to a Committee of Conference again to iron out the details of putting transformation into action going forward.  For local districts, that may mean a delayed timeline to see any changes implemented. The only difference this year is that the Governor has indicated publicly that he will not sign any education, budget, or finance bill until a bill detailing education governance and funding is passed by both chambers, meaning we can’t adjourn until we are well on a path towards implementing a meaningful transformation process.  That’s a big ask of this Legislature, which is majority-ruled by individuals whose feet are dug into the sand on issues such as school choice and size of districts and well-supported by lobbyists, including the NEA.

Elsewhere around the Statehouse, there are several housing-related bills in play, some dealing with landlord-tenant issues, and some with the unintended consequences of Act 181(2024) that impede development.  Currently, there is a statewide land use mapping process occurring that will determine if development is subject to Act 250 review, and by all accounts, everything except 2.4% of land designated as Tier 1 (A or B) will trigger some kind of environmental review that could be costly and time-consuming at best and disastrous to local landowners at worst.  The Rural Caucus has a bill (H.730) that would put the brakes on the implementation of rules until statewide mapping is complete and requiring notification to landowners, but thus far, the Chair of the House Committee on Environment has refused to take it up; we are placing our hopes with the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy to do the right thing.

There are other committees in the building doing important work. The Health Care committees have a heavy lift with healthcare reform, the Judiciary committees are trying to implement practical public safety measures, the Commerce and technology committees are tackling  AI challenges, Human Services is actively working on the State’s approach to homelessness and substance misuse, but all of those bills have a long way to go as they make their rounds of both House and Senate committees and the various money committees they have to make stops in.

Crossover (March 13) is the date that all policy bills must move out of their committees of jurisdiction if they are going to survive on their own. Any bill that has funding or tax implications attached to it will have an additional week (March 20) to pass. The caveat to that is the language from any bill that didn’t pass to the other chamber on time can be resurrected and inserted into another bill that did pass, as long as it is germane (related to the subject of the bill it’s being attached to). This is why at the end of the session, bills can get very long with vaguely related parts (making a « Christmas tree » out of them).

As a reminder to the public, all bills can be found by typing the letter and number of the bill into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website at www.legislature.vermont.gov. That website also has all general House and Senate information, as well as committee pages where you can find information on committee activity (witnesses, testimony, and drafts), names and email addresses of members, and YouTube recordings of every committee meeting. The main website has links to all House and Senate floor sessions, a calendar of the day’s bills up for votes, and journals for each day of the legislative session.

It is an honor to serve the communities of Highgate, Franklin, Berkshire, and Richford. You can read my past updates and learn more about me and my work on your behalf at www.HangoforHouse.com

 Your town officials work hard to keep your towns running smoothly and are in communication with your Representatives and Senators while we are in Montpelier, so please share your concerns with them or myself at [email protected], an address that I monitor year-round. Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. 

There is also the opportunity to meet with your legislators in person on the following dates:

March 16 at 8am at Fairfax Town Office

April 20 at 8am at Enosburg American Legion

May 2 at 8am at Swanton Village Office

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire (Franklin-5)

Dear Constituents -

We are now in the 8th week of the Legislative session. Committees are working on getting their bills out the door by March 13, which is crossover for policy committees.  Money committees have an additional week for those bills to be examined before going to the House or Senate floor.  If a bill you are following doesn’t make crossover, don’t be alarmed yet – there is a chance for it to stay alive as language in a related bill that may have a better chance later in the session. If there is one thing that I’ve learned in my tenure at the Statehouse, it’s that nothing is dead until the final gavel of the biennium falls.

The House floor has been unusually quiet, which is setting us up for a busy March, voting on all of the bills that have yet to make that crossover deadline. The Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee is intent on passing out several bills by that date: H.588 (updates to the Office of Professional Regulation); a veterans-related omnibus bill, a miscellaneous alcoholic beverage committee bill, H.841 Animal Welfare, H.762 County & Regional Governance Study, H.67 Government Accountability & Legislative Operations; and an Emergency Management & Disaster Response committee bill.  Some do not have bill numbers, as we are building them by combining other bills that are already on our wall.

The Rural Caucus continues to hear from municipalities, businesses, and individuals affected by the proposed implementation of Act 181 (2024) and the organizations advocating for land use regulatory reform.

The General Assembly had a busy day on Thursday, with hearing the State of the Guard presentation by the outgoing Adjutant General, Major General Gregory Knight, a ceremonial reading of a Resolution honoring General Knight, and a Joint Assembly to elect the new Adjutant General, Brigadier General Henry “Hank” Harder. We also elected two Trustees for the Vermont State Colleges System, Rep David Durfee of Shaftesbury and Rep John Kascenska of Burke.

Please reach out to me with your concerns [email protected]

There is also the opportunity to meet with your legislators in person on the following dates:

March 16 at 8am at Fairfax Town Office

April 20 at 8am at Enosburg American Legion

May 2 at 8am at Swanton Village Office

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

This week in the Statehouse, there has been a lot of interest in a bill that I co-sponsored with members of the Rural Caucus - H.730, an act relating to Act 250 location-based jurisdiction, which makes small changes to landowner notification and extends timelines for the land use tiers to be fully mapped prior to Act 181 of 2024 implementation. The Senate committees on Economic Development and Natural Resources gave the bill airtime for an introduction and seemed more interested in pursuing provisions of the bill than their counterparts in House Environment were when it was given airtime last week during the Chair’s absence. A press conference was organized by the Rural Caucus on this topic Tuesday; speakers emphasized that the goal of H.730 is to give communities, landowners, and project sponsors the time and clarity needed to understand where new rules will apply before they take effect. Representatives of Vermont’s forest economy also raised concerns about unintended impacts on critical rural businesses. To learn more about how your land is being mapped, please visit https://act250.vermont.gov/tier-3-rulemaking-and-report. At the bottom of the page, under the “Comments and Contact” section, there is an email address if you wish to provide public comment on the work of the Land Use Review Board (LURB). Your town government or Regional Planning Commission will also be able to answer questions about Tier 1a and 1b mapping.

The House floor continues to be quiet, with committees working to get bills to the floor.  In House Government Operations & Military Affairs, we have 117 bills on our wall this biennium (2025-26), we have passed out 26 others, and we are actively working on at least a dozen of them, with several consisting of multiple bills combined into one omnibus bill. A sampling of the breadth of our jurisdiction: alcohol, Office of Professional Regulation, emergency management, public records, vital records, state, local, and municipal government, military and veterans affairs, animal welfare, lobbying, and more.  All of our bills can be found on our committee webpage on the Vermont General Assembly website.

The National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus, of which I am a tripartisan Co-Chair, met and heard a final presentation from Major General Greg Knight, who is the outgoing Adjutant General of the VT National Guard. He spoke about the accomplishments of the Guard over the past 8 years since he was elected, and the challenges that face the Guard in the future. We also discussed several veteran-related bills that my committee is taking up.

Your Representatives and Senators are available to you by searching the Vermont General Assembly website by putting in your town name, and you will find their email address. We will try to answer all inquiries as soon as possible. It is an honor to serve our constituents.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

A recent US Census Bureau estimate indicates that Vermont recorded the largest percentage population decline in the nation last year, only one of three states that lost population. A Vermont Public article reports that number as 1800 residents no longer living here. By 2030, one in three Vermonters will be 65 or older, contributing to a decline in available workforce, declining student enrollment, and rising healthcare costs as residents age. These are concerning demographics! Additionally, Vermont has the second-oldest housing stock in the nation, the result of decades of restrictive development laws that left supply far behind demand, and much of it not suitable for an aging population or first-home buyers.

On the House Floor, we passed several housekeeping-type bills, as well as H.790, the Budget Adjustment Act, which is a mid-year budget true-up. Bills passed are in the House or Senate Journals each day. Please note if you are looking for the version that the House/Senate passed, it will be clearly labeled as “As passed by the House/Senate” on the General Assembly website by typing the bill letter&number into the bill tracker.

In the House Gov Ops & Military Affairs committee, we continued our work on the VT Ethics Commission, Public Records Act, H.762(County and Regional Governance Study), H.841(miscellaneous amendments to animal welfare procedures), H.669(online lottery sales), H.588(professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation), H.67 (government accountability), building omnibus bills on emergency management and disaster response and alcohol statutes. Please note if you are looking at these bills online, click on the latest draft on our webpage, not the “as introduced” version, as the language has likely undergone changes during the committee process.

The Rural Caucus continues to take testimony on the implementation of Act 181 with respect to the Tier system that is currently being mapped. On Friday, a number of members signed a letter that was sent to the Speaker of the House and the Chair of the House Committee on Environment to take up H.730(relating to Act 250 location-based jurisdiction), proposing various amendments to Act 181 of 2024, which House leadership has indicated they are not interested in taking up.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

Everyone has heard that Education Transformation is the biggest issue of the 2025-26 biennium, but how is that related to many of the other issues facing Vermonters? Educating our kids (salaries, facilities, supplies) is expensive; healthcare for middle-income Vermonters is expensive, and our insurance options are limited; lack of affordable (not subsidized) housing is at crisis proportions; lack of employees cause jobs to go unfilled, and employers close their doors because they can’t afford the costs (monetary and regulatory) to stay in business. If we had transparent, competitive, and affordable healthcare options, our farmers, clerks, construction workers, and small business owners would spend less of their income on healthcare premiums, they would have more disposable income, and school budget increases (which include healthcare premiums for education employees) would be less of a burden on taxpayers. If we didn’t have the most stringent land use and development regulations in the country, home ownership would no longer just be the American dream but the Vermont reality. If it weren’t so expensive for a business to set up shop in our state, we would have a greater array of well-paying jobs that would attract employees from out of state to put down roots in Vermont and contribute to the economy by shopping, recreating, and paying taxes here.  It’s a vicious cycle: decades of restrictive regulations led to a lack of new housing being built, which makes it difficult if not impossible for businesses to find employees, employers leave the state, and the ones that are left are expected to fill the gap by contributing more; schools are under-enrolled in many parts of the state, creating a perfect storm for those penny-pinching districts to have to cover the costs of the bigger, higher-spending districts across the state, thanks to our outdated funding formula.  Vermont is the only state in the nation that uses this particular, convoluted method of funding education. Not enough students, high costs of living, no new homes, and few new employment opportunities in our County brings us to where we are:  unaffordable.

Thousands of our County’s residents commute daily 30-90 minutes each way to access a wider variety of employment. That’s a lot of wear and tear on our roads and bridges.  Did you know that the Transportation Fund is in serious trouble? In this budget cycle, we are facing a $33M hole. Per state policy, we must make our state match (10-20%) to draw down federal funds that directly help our towns maintain their transportation infrastructure. We must fund the T fund to address the effects of long-deferred paving and bridge maintenance. The Governor has proposed taking back $10M of (vehicle) purchase and use taxes from the Education fund and re-directing it to the T Fund .

Once again this week, there was little action of substance on the House floor, as committees continue to work hard taking testimony and marking up bills.

In House Government Operations & Military Affairs, we heard our annual update from the VT Veterans Home, learned more about two proposed veteran-related and four alcohol-related bills, animal welfare, retirement pensions, and continued our work on our omnibus bill for the Office of Professional Regulation and another for emergency management.

Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

Vermonters are curious: What are we hearing and talking about in the Vermont Statehouse? On everyone’s mind is ACT 73 (Education transformation) and what the committees of jurisdiction (Education, Finance, Ways & Means) will do about it this year.The Governor, in his budget address, issued the challenge to the Legislature: implement a plan that conforms with the bill that passed last June, or he will veto all budget, tax, and education bills that cross his desk this session until a path forward is agreed on. HEALTHCARE: what will those committees do to ease the burden on Vermonters who, by prior Legislatures’ design, have virtually no market choice and are facing rate hikes so steep that they’ve decided to forego buying insurance altogether and instead will overwhelm our hospitals with conditions that otherwise may have been caught early on if they had primary care access. PUBLIC SAFETY: when will the Legislature put teeth into our laws to implement programs that really work to keep justice-involved individuals off the streets and to prepare them for re-entry into their communities? HOUSING: how can we possibly build the number of units we need to sustain our schools, our businesses, and our healthcare facilities into the future when we have the most stringent development laws in the country? We can’t, courtesy of past Legislatures under supermajority control; we desperately need regulatory reform! And lastly, AFFORDABILITY: all of the aforementioned point to the UNAFFORDABILITY that has become our reality. No one has been hit harder than Vermonters.  The rurality of our state lends itself to geographic isolation, complex supply chain issues, and a myriad of social struggles that beg for solutions bigger than what our little state can afford.

Also on our minds, in every committee room and hallway, are federal budget cuts that affect state programs. With constrained revenue predictions, the State budget can only backfill necessary programs to protect the most vulnerable residents. Those budget discussions are happening now across State government, with a stated 3% cap on spending increases, regardless of federal funding. Considerations are being debated in committees of jurisdiction to prevent the most vulnerable populations from being left behind.

These are the issues your local representatives and senators are working on in Montpelier.

As it is still early in the session, House floor activity remains quiet, as committees work to produce bills to send to a floor vote. In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs committee, we continued taking testimony on Public Records Act requests, H.567 dealing with the unclaimed property fund, several town charter changes, H.588 containing various amendments to the Office of Professional Regulation’s jurisdiction, and we began work on H.697’s comprehensive response to all-hazards events. Each committee’s activity can be found on their respective webpage on www.vermont.gov, complete with a daily agenda, witness testimony and documents, and a list of the committee’s bills and members with their contact information. Your local legislators can be reached any time at: first initial, full last name @leg.state.vt.us and look forward to hearing from you about concerns that affect Franklin County. Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well, 

Rep Lisa Hango