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)