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