This week began with the Franklin Co delegation meeting with Northwestern Medical Center officials to understand their prospective on the bills and policies being circulated throughout the Legislature.

At the Statehouse, House Government Operations & Military Affairs continued our work taking testimony on the following bills: H.233 (requirements for state-funded grants); amendments to H.397 (miscellaneous amendments to the statutes governing emergency management and flood response); an amendment to H.244 (State contracting standards for advertising); H.404 (authority over highways of Old Bennington); S.59 (amendments to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law); S.56 (creating an Office of New Americans); and S.23 (use of synthetic media in elections). These are bills that we will continue to take testimony on next week.  The Committee also heard a presentation on municipal charters and will be learning more about Veterans services being offered in the State and how those are funded.

On the House Floor, bills of note were: S.9 (after-hours access to orders against sexual assault); H.91 (the Emergency Temporary Shelter Program). This bill marked the start of the House Human Services Committee’s response to the situation we find ourselves in of dependence on the hotel-motel program. There are a number of good initiatives in the bill, but the price tag and uncertainty of a funding source proved to be too much for me to vote affirmatively.

The Rural Caucus continued the dive into education policy, hearing from the Senate on their district mapping work and a very interesting presentation by the Chancellor of the Vermont State College System on their vision for the future of the University.

On Friday, I attended a Rural conference with workshops on Rural Transit, Housing, Healthcare, and resilience in rural communities.

It is an honor to represent my communities, and I welcome your questions and concerns at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5