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

Dear Constituents –

At the Statehouse on Monday, a packed house welcomed the new VT Kid Governor, Roslyn Fortin of Highgate, who was chosen from among 1000 peers in a statewide election to represent Vermont 5th graders. It’s not every day that we get to listen to a motivating policy speech by an articulate, thoughtful 10-year old in the Statehouse. Congratulations!

My work this week was focused on the process for the election of the Adjutant General of the VT National Guard. My committee, House Government Operations & Military Affairs, conducted a Joint Hearing on Tuesday afternoon with Senate Government Operations on the history and statutory obligations of the Legislature in elections for the TAG (as the position is abbreviated) and to hear testimony from the two declared candidates. We are currently the only state in the nation that still elects our TAG, rather than being appointed by the Governor or another body. The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus (of which I am a Co-Chair) also conducted a forum for members to listen to the candidates present their biographies and participate in a Q&A with legislators. On Wednesday, the Chair of Government Operations & Military Affairs and I (Vice Chair) conducted a Caucus of the Whole for House members to understand our legislative obligations and to be informed about the election process. The election of the Adjutant General will take place on February 19.

In committee, Legislative Counsel educated us on the Public Records Act, as a result of concerns that were brought to our attention during the off-session, heard testimony on several towns’ charter changes, and listened to presentations on the reports of the Emergency Medical System (EMS) Assessment Report and the VT Public Safety Communications Task Force Report and received an update from the Department of Forest, Parks, and Recreation on wildland fires. We hope to build legislation based on the recommendations of those reports. Our committee heard several bill introductions:  H.645 (identity verification in real property transactions); three bills relating to the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages (H.647, H.665, H.672); two on cannabis sale and use (H.634 and H.633); H.654 on establishing a task force on VT airspace safety and unidentified anamolous phenomena; and H.588, the annual Office of Professional Regulation housekeeping bill.

The House floor was quiet, as committees continue to hear from agencies and organizations for their legislative priorities. A few committees have passed out bills that we took House votes on, with only one containing a notable change to statute: H.84, which would allow teleheath appointments to be recorded with the consent of both patient and practitioner. Please reach out to [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The Vermont General Assembly gaveled in on Tuesday morning Jan 6, and our Committees took off at a brisk pace.  The Legislature has gained several new members, as four Representatives and two Senators resigned in the off session, and Governor Scott appointed their replacements.  I’ll take this moment to thank St Albans Rep Casey Toof for his service to Franklin Co and the State in his various roles, as he will also be resigning from the House on Jan 16.  The House floor action mainly consisted of ceremonial procedures, such as hearing resignation letters and seating new members. We also passed HR10 that adjusts the timing to approve new bills for release.

In the Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we took testimony from agencies and organizations regarding their priorities for this session: the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, the Secretary of State’s Office, the Office of Professional Regulation, the Treasurer’s Office, the Vermont State Employees Association, the Department of Liquor and Lottery, and the new Director of Animal Welfare in the Department of Public Safety. We received an update from our legislative counsel on the status of a bill that we began preparing at the end of last year that examines all reports due to committees by statute to evaluate their relevancy to the committees’ work. This involves every member of the legislature, working within their committee’s jurisdiction to determine if a report that was ordered in the context of enacting a piece of legislation is still necessary, if it should be repealed, or if we need another biennium to determine its efficacy.

The entire body, both Senate and House, held a Joint Assembly to receive the Governor’s State of the State address on Jan 7.  His message was very clear and held the same priorities as one year ago: education transformation must happen according to Act 73 that was passed at the end of the 2025 session, or he will be holding back his signature on any budget- or tax-related bills this session; better public safety, decreased regulations on housing and development, and inclusive of all of the above: affordability.  For the second year in a row, healthcare insurance premiums are skyrocketing, property taxes are poised to increase by double-digits, working families are priced out of housing, and the era of federal funding windfalls has ended.  The Governor will present his budget in less than two weeks, and there will be hard decisions across the board on which necessities to fund and which programs can be put on hold as we work to get our spending back in line with our existing revenues.

All committee agendas, hearings, bills, and House or Senate action, as well as legislator’s contact information can be found on the Vermont General Assembly website at www.legislature.vermont.gov  It is an honor to serve – Stay well, Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The Vermont General Assembly resumed session on June 16 and proceeded to follow through on several bills that were left in various stages of progress in both the Senate and the House. A long day ensued, and the following bills were taken up, passed, and sent to the Governor: H.474 (miscellaneous changes to election law); H.454 (transforming Vermont’s education governance, quality, and finance systems); H.480 (miscellaneous amendments to education law); and S.51 (Vermont income tax exclusions and tax credits).

H.474 is important to me because it contains a mandatory audit of multi-town Representative and Senatorial districts that I promised in January to identify and remedy the causes of erroneous votes in the November Bennington-1 district election.

While H.454, the Education Transformation Bill, has left the chambers and awaits the Governor’s signature, it is far from complete.  There will be two task force/working groups meeting throughout the summer and Fall to draw district maps and to prepare the stage for the Gov Ops committees to set up voting wards for school board elections. Pre-K, Career and Technical Centers, and Special Education, as well as property tax valuation, needs more work to flesh out the fine points. Many more details determining operation of districts and the daily workings of school districts will be honed and decisions made next session as we inch towards full implementation of the law in FY’29. In the meantime, there are a multitude of guardrails that have to be observed and several benchmarks that need to be met, on a strict timeline, for the law to continue to advance.

S.51 is a bill that I am particularly grateful for; it contains valuable tax credits for Vermonters, including a graduated tax-relief structure for military retirees, survivors of loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice as a result of their military service, and military  veterans. This language represents a compromise on the allowable income ceiling but adds in the new benefit for low-income veterans. Those of us in the Statehouse who understand the roadblocks that this bill has faced over two decades are relieved and thankful for the passage of these measures.

H.480 was the last bill on the calendar to be passed at 8pm, and it contained much-awaited priorities: policy enabling cellphone- and social media-free schools; implementing cardiac response plans in schools; allowing for language in a student’s Personalized Learning Plan to include the choice of military-related options for educational and career planning; and permanently extending a pilot program expanding the Vermont National Guard Tuition Benefit Plan for higher education. Again, some of these pieces were years in the making, and it is rewarding to see them finally put into statute.

Although the 2025 session ran longer than any of us wanted it to, the resulting legislation represents much hard work and compromise that I am honored to have been a part of, marked by all parties and Independents reaching across the aisle to build the bills that would be able to pass muster in a legislature that was the most politically balanced that we have seen in years. I am proud to represent my constituents in a state where everyone makes an effort to work together for the greater good; something that is not being seen on the national level.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. I am available throughout the off-season at [email protected].

Stay well,

Rep Lisa A Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The Vermont General Assembly, although not officially adjourned, has taken a break. The House will hold token sessions until June 16, joining our Senate colleagues to leave the H.454 Education Committee of Conference to work to put together an Education Transformation Plan that addresses our communities’ diverse needs and challenges. There will be more to come on this during our “veto session” later in the month.

Notable on passage: the S.127 Committee of Conference report on housing and housing development contains many of the asks that the Rural Caucus put forward in a failed amendment a week ago.  The Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) in this bill has been described as the most impactful development tool that passed in recent Vermont history. The S.51 Committee of Conference report mirrors a bill passed by the House on May 7 that offers tax credits for Vermont households, and military retirees, survivors and veterans. The military language in particular has been submitted for 19 years by Reps Canfield of Fair Haven and Morrissey of Bennington and has finally advanced to the Governor’s desk, which is an admirable effort by those long-time legislators. While not the 100% income tax exemption that many had hoped for, this is a big step forward for Vermont military retirees and veterans and brings us closer to what is offered by surrounding states.

Please reach out at [email protected] with questions and concerns.  It is an honor to serve.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5