Dear Constituents –

This week began with the final Legislative Breakfast of the session for Franklin Co legislators and our constituents. Along with members of the public, we welcomed students from Richford High School who engaged with us on topics of importance to them, such as forgivable student loans and nicotine use.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we attended a bill signing in Governor Scott’s Ceremonial Office for H.154 (designating November as the Vermont Month of the Veteran). The office was packed with press, veterans groups, and legislators for this occasion. It was an especially significant event for the Committee, as we had passed this bill last biennium, only to see it languish on our Senate sister committee’s wall when the majority wasn’t interested in taking it up. We greatly appreciate the makeup of this session’s Senate Gov Ops Committee and their willingness to move this forward. Although this is a small gesture recognizing Vermont’s veterans, the signing was done with a sense of pride and honor.

In other Committee business, we continued to work on H.72 (municipal ordinances governing nuisance properties containing salvage and scrap); H. 109 (municipal ordinances governing maintenance of properties within designated downtown districts); S.23 (use of synthetic media in elections); H.23 (requirements for State-funded grants); a group of municipal charters: H.506 (Charlotte); H. 505 (Barre Town); H.504 (Rutland City); and we successfully passed out H.364 (approval of the annexation of property by the Village of Swanton), which will go on to House Ways & Means.

On the House floor, the following bills passed: S.18 (licensure of free-standing birth centers) and S.28 (access to certain legally protected health care services); another bill S.27 (medical debt relief and excluding medical debt from credit reports) was on the calendar for action as of this writing.

In the Rural Caucus, we heard from entities representing rural healthcare interests, including the New England Rural Health Association and an interesting presentation on the community paramedicine model, which is being used in the Brattleboro area.  Paramedics go through a special certification program in conjunction with Brattleboro Memorial Hospital that allows them to make house calls to individuals with COPD, congestive heart failure, and other conditions that might otherwise bring them into the Emergency Dept. This preventative model is being used across the country in rural areas to supplement primary care practices and to avoid costly trips to the ED.

It is an honor to be a part of this process and to represent my district and Franklin Co in the Statehouse. Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents -

The majority of time this week in Statehouse committees was spent continuing to hear testimony on bills: S.56 (creating an Office of New Americans); S.59 (amendments to Vermont’s Open Meeting law); H.233 (requirements for State-funded grants); H.23 (use of synthetic media in elections); H.364 (approval of the annexation of property by the Village of Swanton); and H.501 (deadline for public bodies to respond to alleged open meeting law violation). The Committee also heard an update on the operations of the Vermont Veterans Home, the only such residence and skilled nursing facility for veterans, their spouses, and Gold-star families in Vermont.

Action on the House Floor included passing the following bills: S.30 (updating and reorganizing the health insurance statutes in 8 VSA chapter 107); H.91 (Emergency Temporary Shelter Program); S.9 (after-hours access to orders against sexual assault); HR6 (amending House Rules to the House Ethics Panel); S.3 (transfer of property to a trust); H.293 (health equity data reporting and registry disclosure requirements); and H.454 (transforming Vermont’s education governance, quality, and finance systems). This latter bill, the “Education Transformation Bill”, took up much of our time on the Floor.  The original language of the bill, recommended by the Governor, was stripped by the House Education Committee, which proceeded to insert their own language pertaining to an extended timeline and a study committee that would be a subset of the recently concluded Commission on the Future of Public Education to further kick this can down the road; it was voted out of committee on a 7-4 vote along party lines. The House Committee on Ways & Means subsequently added their own language to this bill, encompassing changes to the property valuation system and classification of properties for tax purposes; this was also voted out of Committee 7-4, on party lines.  The House Appropriations Committee was the final stop on the way to the Floor for this bill, again being voted out 7-4 on party lines. On Thursday, the House held a Caucus of the Whole on the subject of this bill and the language contained therein. Suffice it to say that even after this presentation, there were many questions remaining. There were five proposed amendments to the bill and extended debate on the final day on the Floor alone. The bill that passed to the Senate is one that needs much more work; its current form was only released one week ago, and there were many questions left unanswered. The vote was 87-55, with several members voting yes merely to advance the bill to the Senate. Additionally, an amendment was proposed to align the effective dates with the intent sections, and that was voted down on the House Floor, which seems counter-intuitive to me. Typically, when a large bill like this passes to the Senate, it marks the mid-point of the session; the Ed bill was granted a reprieve from that crossover deadline, but that doesn’t bode well for the adjournment date this session. If this truly is the mid-point for Education Transformation, we will remain in session longer than necessary or be called back for further work later in the year.

On Tuesday, the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus met to discuss various bills that are moving or on the walls in Committees, including the perennial military pension and survivors’ benefits state income tax exemption.  Readers may recall that a few weeks ago, a favorable tax credit bill was passed from the House Ways & Means Committee to the House Floor, but as an amendment containing the military tax exemption language was offered, the bill was pulled back into Committee, and there it languishes.  This was an affront to all military retirees and their survivors, as Vermont remains the State in the nation that has the most unfriendly tax policy for military members and their families. The reason for that move by the majority party was that other public servants deserve the same tax credits; in a perfect world, all of these folks whose careers are dedicated to keeping us safe are deserving of everything their State can do to honor them.  What they fail to recognize is that when someone signs up for the military, “they lose their freedom to serve to protect our freedom” (unknown author); they cannot merely walk away from their jobs and must serve their country for the duration of their contracts. Their service is truly unique.

On Wednesday at the Rural Caucus meeting, the Vermont Council on Rural Development presented on the work that they have done to assist a number of communities around the State with their next steps when their local schools have closed. They plan to continue to engage with members of this Caucus with case studies and offering services.

It is an honor to serve. Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

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

Dear Constituents –

The news from the Statehouse this week is that crossover is finally behind us! The Budget “Big Bill” (H.493) has passed to the Senate, along with most of the bills that committees worked on in the first half of the biennium.

Committees devoted this week to hearing a few bill introductions from the Senate and amendments to bills that they were presenting for votes on the House Floor. The House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee heard amendments to H.474 (miscellaneous changes to elections law) and H.397 (miscellaneous amendments to the statutes governing emergency management and floor response). The bills that subsequently passed to the Senate were stronger for the process, and I appreciate the opportunity for another 139 members (my committee has 11 members) to lay eyes on a bill and offer changes that work for all Vermonters. Members often bemoan the fact that some bills leave committee without being properly vetted, but a legislative committee consists of 5 to11 individuals, and sometimes that offers only a narrow view of the subject matter; once a bill is on the Notice Calendar, many more members “take notice” and read the bill as it came out of committee (which often is drastically different than how it was introduced).  A one-day Notice Calendar gives everyone an equal opportunity to read a bill and formulate questions and suggestions, which could be asked during Floor debate or offered as amendments to the committee.

We also heard an introduction of H.404 (authority over the highways of the Village of Old Bennington), S.59 (amendments to Vermont’s Open Meeting Law), and S.23 (use of synthetic media in elections), otherwise known as “deep fakes”.

The order of business on the House Floor was passing crossover bills to the Senate, a Caucus of the Whole to hear the Budget explanation, and introductions of special constituents, including a representative from Taiwan, a valued trade partner with the US and Vermont. I had the pleasure of introducing representatives from the VT Association of Athletic Trainers and UVM Athletic Medicine, a special interest of mine.  Many of you have heard me speak about the importance of these primary medical providers and the role that they play in schools, clinics, hospital, workplace, and military settings.

At Rural Caucus, the Chair of House Education presented the work that they have done this session on the Education Transformation Plan.  Regretfully, it appears that they will be punting much of this work to a subcommittee to work on in the off-session.  This is a huge disappointment to me, as I was hopeful that by this time in the session, we would have had a plan that the House would have been in agreement on.  My committee was poised to do the work on drawing districts and setting school board elections policy, but that did not come to pass.

The Ways & Means Committee passed out the Yield Bill, which is crucial to setting tax rates. They elected to use $77M proposed by the Governor to buy down this year’s rates, and while a relief to taxpayers, I have serious concerns about the tax cliff we face next year since the work of the Transformation was not advanced this session.

As always, it is an honor to represent my constituents in the Statehouse, and I welcome questions and concerns at [email protected].

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

The Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs spent the week hearing amendments to some of the bills that we passed out last week, as well as working to advance H.10 (changes to the charter of Barre City) and H.17 (changes to the charter of the Town of Morristown).

The House Floor was very busy, passing the following bills: H.125 (reporting on the energy transition); H.231 (technical corrections for Fish & Wildlife statutes); H.259 (preventing workplace violence in hospitals); H.396 (creating the Mollie Beattie Service Award); H.243 (regulation of business organizations); H.222 (participation in a domestic violence accountability program as a condition of a final relief from abuse prevention order); H.80 (Office of the Healthcare Advocate); H.209 (Intranasal epinephrine in schools); H.219 (creating a family support pilot program for incarcerated parents and guardians); H.480 (miscellaneous amendments to education law); H. 482 (Green Mountain Care Board authority to adjust a hospital’s reimbursement rates and to appoint a hospital observer); H.398 (VT Economic Development Authority); H.461 (expanding employee access to paid family leave); H.319 ( miscellaneous environmental subjects); H.484 (miscellaneous agricultural subjects); and JRH 3 (allowing the Statehouse to be used by Green Mountain Boys & Girls State). A roll was called on H.489 (a re-introduced version of H.141 (the Budget Adjustment Act), which was vetoed by the Governor). The majority party lacks a supermajority this session to override a veto, so the strategy used was to introduce a new bill; it included the recent proposal to extend the hotel-motel program for everyone until June 30, while the Governor has proposed for it to remain in effect for vulnerable populations only. The Republican Caucus voted against the bill in hopes that in the next few days until we reconvene, an agreement can be worked out between the two sides, who are continuing to hold conversations after adjournment. We also held a joint assembly for Judicial Retention, reappointing seven judges and one magistrate.

The Rural Caucus met and heard a presentation from the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), outlining their budgetary constraints, particularly around upgrading facilities with the high costs of construction, and the difficulty with recruiting providers. We also heard from Secretary Zoie Saunders on looking at the Education Transformation Plan through a rural lens.

As I write this on Friday, our hard-working House Appropriations Committee is diligently going through the budget (the Big Bill) line by line, determining which programs to fund and how to cut the others. I’d like to thank our two local Representatives on that Committee, Lynn Dickinson and Wayne Laroche, for all the of the long hours they have worked this session, including on Mondays when we typically do not have House sessions.

Stay well, Rep Lisa Hango Franklin-5 The Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs spent the week hearing amendments to some of the bills that we passed out last week, as well as working to advance H.10 (changes to the charter of Barre City) and H.17 (changes to the charter of the Town of Morristown).

The House Floor was very busy, passing the following bills: H.125 (reporting on the energy transition); H.231 (technical corrections for Fish & Wildlife statutes); H.259 (preventing workplace violence in hospitals); H.396 (creating the Mollie Beattie Service Award); H.243 (regulation of business organizations); H.222 (participation in a domestic violence accountability program as a condition of a final relief from abuse prevention order); H.80 (Office of the Healthcare Advocate); H.209 (Intranasal epinephrine in schools); H.219 (creating a family support pilot program for incarcerated parents and guardians); H.480 (miscellaneous amendments to education law); H. 482 (Green Mountain Care Board authority to adjust a hospital’s reimbursement rates and to appoint a hospital observer); H.398 (VT Economic Development Authority); H.461 (expanding employee access to paid family leave); H.319 ( miscellaneous environmental subjects); H.484 (miscellaneous agricultural subjects); and JRH 3 (allowing the Statehouse to be used by Green Mountain Boys & Girls State). A roll was called on H.489 (a re-introduced version of H.141 (the Budget Adjustment Act), which was vetoed by the Governor). The majority party lacks a supermajority this session to override a veto, so the strategy used was to introduce a new bill; it included the recent proposal to extend the hotel-motel program for everyone until June 30, while the Governor has proposed for it to remain in effect for vulnerable populations only. The Republican Caucus voted against the bill in hopes that in the next few days until we reconvene, an agreement can be worked out between the two sides, who are continuing to hold conversations after adjournment. We also held a joint assembly for Judicial Retention, reappointing seven judges and one magistrate.

The Rural Caucus met and heard a presentation from the Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), outlining their budgetary constraints, particularly around upgrading facilities with the high costs of construction, and the difficulty with recruiting providers. We also heard from Secretary Zoie Saunders on looking at the Education Transformation Plan through a rural lens.

As I write this on Friday, our hard-working House Appropriations Committee is diligently going through the budget (the Big Bill) line by line, determining which programs to fund and how to cut the others. I’d like to thank our two local Representatives on that Committee, Lynn Dickinson and Wayne Laroche, for all the of the long hours they have worked this session, including on Mondays when we typically do not have House sessions.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

It has been a very busy week in the Statehouse. It is officially the end of crossover week for policy bills, and next Friday will mark the crossover deadline for any bills passed out this week that ask for an appropriation or raise revenue.

On the House Floor, we passed the following bills to the Senate: H.96 (increasing the monetary threshold for certificates of need; H.50 (identifying state real property suitable for conversion into affordable housing); H.21(relating to writs of possession); H.105 (expanding youth substance awareness safety program); H.458 (relating to Agency of Digital Services); H.1 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission); H.206 (relating to the Uniform Commercial Code); H.238 (phaseout of consumer products containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances;  H.2 (increasing the minimum age for delinquency proceedings), which pauses the progression of Raise the Age legislation from a prior biennium; H.463 (technical corrections to the 2025 Legislative session); H.137 (regulation of insurance products and services); H.266 (protections for 340B converted entities and 340B contract pharmacies); and H.141(the Budget Adjustment Act), which is a bill that the Governor vetoed on Friday.  Concerns around the continued extension of the hotel-motel program led to the veto with House and Senate Republicans voting against H.141 in their respective chambers.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we voted out eight bills: H.67 (Government Operations and Legislative Accountability); H.463 (Technical Corrections to the 2025 Legislative Session); H.1 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission); H.321 (miscellaneous amendments to cannabis statutes); H.397 (miscellaneous amendments to the statutes governing emergency management and flood response); H.472 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); H.244 (State contracting standards for advertising); and a miscellaneous elections bill that does not yet have a number. As a reminder, you can look up the content of any bill by number on the General Assembly website, as well as on each committee’s webpage to learn who the witnesses were and what action was taken by the Committee. Please make sure you are looking at the most recent draft, as indicated by number next to the bill number. As a result of many hours of testimony, we were able to include language from several individual bills that were referred to us in bigger omnibus or miscellaneous bills and also to provide policy language for the budget asks that our committee outlined in a letter to House Appropriations.

Special issues caucuses met this week amidst the hustle and bustle of committee action. The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus heard about the distinction between State and Federal active duty and the obligation to the Federal government when a Guard unit is called up. We also discussed an action alert for veterans groups to reach out to House Ways & Means and Senate Finance with support for H.43/S.17, exempting military pensions and survivors benefits from State income tax. The VT Rural Caucus heard more about land use legislation and conservation efforts, as well as the constraints that Federal funding uncertainties are putting on agencies that assist our farmers and loggers.

Please reach out to me with questions or concerns. It is an honor to represent your interests in the Statehouse.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

2025 Town Meeting Day Report

Dear Constituents –

The Legislature convened on January 8 with the directive to bring tax relief to Vermonters. However, the policy development has stalled. Since then, committees have taken testimony on every aspect of education reform, from aid for school construction, to PCB remediation, to class size, to district size, and everything in between.  The Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, of which I am Vice-Chair,  has received a crash course in drawing district lines and the school board elections process. What we have yet to do is to produce anything of note that takes the Governor’s Education Transformation Plan and moves it forward.  The biggest roadblock from where I sit is the majority party not being able to make a counter-proposal on the number of supervisory districts to divide the State into. Currently, there are 52 Supervisory or School Districts, and the Governor has proposed five. The entire House is waiting for the Education Committee to decide on a number between five and 52. Ways & Means cannot move forward with creating a Foundation Formula until the correct number is determined. Gov Ops stands ready to draw district lines in the event that the Ed Committee is not up to the task, which is becoming more apparent as the weeks go by; we have already started work on determining the elections process for the proposed wards within those districts. What is the cause of this inertia?  My guess is that undue pressure is being put on the Ed Committee from outside sources in the education world that seek to preserve the status quo…an unreasonable expectation after so many from the majority party lost their seats on the unaffordability of their property taxes. Vermonters demanded change at the polls in November – whatever that change looks like is up to the Legislature to determine, and the time to do that is now.  As Vermonters flee the State to more tax-hospitable locales, we don’t have time to waste on more studies or money to waste on more commissions to do that studying.

There are many valuable bills and policy concepts being introduced each year, and there are an equal number that are pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking. It is our duty in leadership to determine which will do the most good for the most Vermonters; it is a task I take seriously, even if I don’t have the ultimate say in what we pass or don’t pass. Being in the minority means making concessions and building relationships to get through the contentious times and working across the aisle to bring forth what we believe is best for Vermont. I will continue to work with other legislators to advance legislation for the good of Vermonters.

Bills of note for public interest are: H.2 (increasing minimum age for delinquency proceedings); H.16/S.68 (Repeal of the Affordable Heat Act); H.62 (Repeal of the Global Warming Solutions Act); H.65 (Revoke VT’s use of California’s Clean Car Act); H.159 (Repeal of Residential Energy Standard); H.411 (Governor’s Public Safety package); H.412 (Governor’s Land Use and Housing Development package).

A sampling of bills that I’ve sponsored or co-sponsored this session are: H.16 (repealing the Affordable Heat Act); H.43 (exempting military retirement and survivor benefit income from VT income tax); H.57 (survivor benefits for law enforcement officers); H.70 (inclusion of use value appraisal land in the conserved land inventory); H.74 (exempting Social Security benefits from VT income tax); H.87 (raising awareness of military-related postsecondary opportunities); H,136 (health insurance coverage for biomarker testing); H.139 (requiring licensed athletic trainers at secondary school athletic events and practices); H.144 (enhancing food allergen awareness in food service establishments); H.247 (cardiac emergency response plans in schools); H.249 (income tax deduction for home study programs); H.296 (VT’s adoption of the Dietician Licensure Compact); H.300 (income tax credit for emergency first responders); others will be introduced at a later date, as there are many bills coming before the House, and our Legislative Counsel attorneys are working through that backlog.

Constituents should be aware of this website for information on tax relief programs and assistance that may be useful: TaxCreditVT.org

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected] I welcome your questions and concerns.  It is an honor to represent you.

Stay well,

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

Dear Constituents –

Time is ticking as the Legislative session moves into the last week before Town Meeting Break.  Committees continue to work on bill introductions and testimony, as well as preparing budget memos to the Appropriations Committee. In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we continued our work on DR 25-0244 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); DR 25-0242 (miscellaneous changes to election law); DR 25-0351 (miscellaneous cannabis amendments); and we resumed our discussion on H.1 draft 1.3 (accepting and referring complaints by the State Ethics Commission).  We heard bill introductions on H.240 (authorizing drawdown of dams during emergency flood events); H.232 (creating the VT Municipal Response and Recovery Special Fund); and H.145 (disruption of proceedings governed by Vermont’s Open Meeting Laws). We voted out affirmatively a committee bill DR 25-0914 (repealing the sunset on to-go cocktails), which will come to the House Floor next week.

Our committee held our weekly joint meeting with Senate Government Operations, and we  were joined this week by Senate Education, to learn more about the process for redistricting and elections with respect to education reform.  There has been conflicting guidance as to which committees will be working on drawing the district maps, and we are finding that the process is rolling out extremely slowly, but we do know that Government Operations will be tasked with the elections piece of the statewide transformation plan.

The House Floor was very quiet this past week. More bills were read a first time and referred to committee – we have been told that again this year, there may be a record number of bills submitted by legislators wanting to have their concerns taken up. The House voted affirmatively on H.13 (Medicaid payment rates for home- and community-based service providers); H.41 (miscellaneous amendments to laws governing impaired driving); H.98 (confirmatory adoptions); and H.154 (designating November as VT Month of the Veteran), which was passed out of my committee with great pride.

The Rural Caucus held a Public Forum in person and via Zoom on Wednesday evening, listening to rural folks from around the State pitch their concerns in two-minute intervals. This is a particularly enlightening exercise, giving us the ability to reach many people in a very short time, and we will add those concerns to our list of legislative priorities.

Please reach out to me at [email protected] and look forward to a Town Meeting Day update at the end of next week.

Stay well, Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

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

Dear Constituents –

This week in the Statehouse, your Representatives and Senators were hard at work in their committees, hearing testimony on new bills that have been introduced and diving into their respective policy areas. In Government Operations & Military Affairs, we heard introductions to bills relating to Legislative Operations and Government Accountability, the Morristown and Barre City Charters, municipal ordinances governing nuisance properties containing salvage and scrap, and municipal ordinances governing the maintenance of properties within downtown districts. The Committee voted to affirm a Special Report of the contested Bennington-1 election, based on extensive research and testimony of other, similar cases throughout history. We also discussed the concepts for a miscellaneous Office of Professional Regulation bill and heard from advocates who were in the Statehouse for 3 Squares VT with requests for funding for food pantries, meal sites, and Meals on Wheels.

On the House Floor, we voted out: H.31 (claim edit standards and prior authorization); H.43 (workforce leadership in Vermont); and H.141 (the Budget Adjustment Act). The BAA proved to be more than just a simple mid-year adjustment to the FY’25 Budget – on the last day of testimony, the Human Services Committee brought a proposal to extend the General Assistance hotel/motel program until June 30. This would cost an additional $1.9M, and it proved to be too much to vote in favor of for 51 members. The legislation passed with 87 members voting for it, and it will go to the Senate for their consideration. The House also voted in favor of accepting the Special Report on the Bennington-1 contested election, 91-42, thereby retaining the seat of the current member whose election and subsequent re-count were certified by the Secretary of State in the days following the election.

The Rural Caucus has been polling members to learn the priorities they are bringing to the table on behalf of their constituents, so we can begin addressing those concerns through support for legislation. Preliminary results show all members ranking rural housing needs/loosening regulations around residential building as a top issue.

Please reach out to me at [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5