Dear Donor –

Thanks to your support, the 2025-2026 Legislative biennium was successful in bringing long-needed moderation to the Legislature. In November 2024, we elected more Republicans to the House and Senate, eliminating the Democrat/Progressive supermajority. Because of those gains, we Republicans were able to hold more leadership positions across committees, which allowed us more control over the narrative. As Vice-Chair of House Government Operations & Military Affairs, Co-Chair of the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus, and Co-Chair of the VT Rural Caucus, I am proud of the work I was a part of. In both years, from the first week of January until the last week of May in Montpelier, we worked hard to bring balance to the bills that came through our committees and advocated for positions in Caucuses that became law, like repealing the Road Rule/Tier 3 mapping and establishing a military pension tax exemption for certain military retirees and survivors.  Collectively with my Republican Caucus colleagues and a non-partisan coalition of colleagues in both the VT NG&VA Caucus and the Rural Caucus, we accomplished these goals. We also succeeded in preventing legislation from being voted out of our committees and sustaining the Governor’s vetoes of legislation that we knew would be harmful to Vermonters. After serving in a super minority for six years before this, these last two years have been eye-opening as to what we could do if we ever had a majority of our own. For that to happen, and even to sustain what we have now, we need your help. We need to elect more moderate candidates who aren’t afraid to stand up for what is reasonable and to work across the aisle to make it happen. That doesn’t happen overnight, and with the seniority members who came in with me now have, we have a unique opportunity to use that power to our advantage and to work with the Governor to accomplish real change in the name of affordability. We saw how adding just 17 members to the House increased the number of leadership positions we held and by building relationships with our Chairs and committee members, how much influence we have.  If we can sustain that in the November elections, or even surpass that number, we can begin to tackle the real issues, instead of having to spend our time undoing the egregious legislation of past bienniums. We desperately need to solve the education crisis, the housing crisis, and the healthcare crisis, and we will work with the Administration to try to do that. Although I don’t have an opponent in this year’s Primary, your support means peace of mind for me to continue the work that I am doing and to build on that work in the future when we do have contested elections.

My website is currently unable to take donations. My mailing address is:

471 Potato Hill Road, Enosburg Falls VT 05450

Thank you and stay well, Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Berkshire)

Dear Constituents –

The week of May 26 in the Statehouse was one of hurry up…and wait…then hurry up and wait all over again. As of this writing, we adjourned at 7pm on the 29th, before hearing speeches from the Governor and House leadership.

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs continued to a final flurry of testimony and take votes on amendments to S.64 (expanding scope of the practice of optometry), S.278 (cannabis), and H.935 (emergency management).

During our time on the House Floor, we debated bills such as S.64, S.313 (transforming Vermont’s CTE system), S.193 (establishing a forensic facility for certain criminal-justice involved persons), H.915 (bottle redemption), S.71 (consumer date privacy and online surveillance), H.542 (suspending testing for PCBs in Vermont schools), and H.931 (miscellaneous changes to education law).

Bills of major importance that were also taken up during the last hours were: H.944 (Transportation Bill), H.951 (Budget), H.955 (Education Transformation), H.949 (Yield Bill), H.933 (miscellaneous tax bill), and an unsuccessful veto override attempt of H.727 (sustainable data centers). We also voted to not take up S.208 (standards for law enforcement identification). Even the annual Adjournment Resolution (JRS 56) demanded a roll call, as Progressives and some Democrats protested leaving without taking up S.208, the “ICE masking bill”.

The hours are long and sometimes unpredictable, but the rewards of public service are many.  It is an honor to serve as your Representative to the Vermont General Assembly. I have served for four terms since I was first appointed, and I humbly ask for your support to return to the Legislature next year to continue this work on your behalf.

During the off-session, I am available by email at [email protected] and will return your message in a timely manner. Please learn more at HangoforHouse.com

Stay well,

Representative Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

The week of May 18 began our 19th week in the Statehouse.  For taxpayers who are counting, Vermont lawmakers are authorized for 18 weeks of service, excluding the week of Town Meeting, when legislators are not receiving any compensation. As we head into overtime, I remind readers that it costs over $300,000 per week to keep the wheels turning in the Statehouse.  As of this writing, none of the “must pass” bills have passed; they are in Committees of Conference. They all involve money, and they are all interrelated with the Education Transformation bill.  In my opinion, the work stalled on these bills early in the session, with committees spinning their wheels and instead taking up other issues that were perhaps “good to address” but not “necessary to pass” because this was the politically easier path. However, the Governor has issued a challenge to the Legislature to produce results that Vermont taxpayers can live with, and it is my hope that the Committees of Conference will do the hard work and take a stand on Education Transformation and its related fiscal impacts.

Additionally, in my opinion, much of the issue is that the Legislature has too many bills to consider.  This biennium, there were upwards of 1200 bills introduced across the House and Senate; that is far too many for committees to do their due diligence on the majority of them, and the ones that were taken up often were for a particular political reason, while others, perhaps more practical in nature, wilted on the walls. Each bill is estimated to cost $1000 from start to finish. Vermont currently has no limit on the number or type of bills that are introduced to the General Assembly. Across the country, 21 states restrict the number of bills that are introduced, from 5 per year per member in Colorado to 35 per member per biennium in California, with a caveat in some states that excludes in that number any local or obsolete law bills, or committee bills. I have also read that in a few states, there may be further restrictions on freshman legislator bill introductions and some even requiring bi-partisan sponsors.  This is something that I think a small state like Vermont would benefit from implementing, as I have seen a number of bills that haven’t been properly vetted due to the sheer number of bills, and bills that are so one-sided that they would never be taken up off the wall. It’s an interesting concept worth considering.

On the House Floor, we spent hours hearing amendments to bills sent back to us from the Senate and proposed amendments of our own to bills we were sending to them. These bills can be found by day in each House and Senate Journal on the General Assembly website.

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we passed out ten bills for consideration of the full House, many of those bills we had seen previously that were amended by the Senate and sent back to us. There will be more to follow next week.             

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

This week at the Statehouse started with the second attempt to call up a bill for vote on the House Floor under VT House Rule 51. The bill, H.70, relates to the inclusion of use value appraisal land in the conserved land inventory. In this two-year biennium, H.70 has received minimal attention, despite Rural Caucus members’ advocacy letters to the Speaker and the Chair, and a motion to vote was left on the table in February 2026. This rule was written specifically for situations such as this and would allow a bill to be brought to the House Floor for a debate and vote on the merits of the bill. Unfortunately that motion failed 80-58, and H.70 did not get consideration by the full House, but those of us who spoke up for including this carefully stewarded land in Current Use passionately defended Vermonters who are engaged in working lands professions – farmers and those in the wood products industries. Thank you to all of the rural Vermonters who offered support.

On the House Floor, there were a number of votes on Senate proposals of amendment to bills that we passed earlier this session. Some of those included: S.189 (establishing a process for reducing or eliminating hospital services); H.739 (prohibiting the use and sale of the herbicide paraquat); Proposition 4 (Declaration of rights; government for the people; equality of rights); S.212 (potable water supply and wastewater system connections); S.208 (standards for law enforcement identification); H.648 (banking, insurance, and securities with regards to cryptocurrency fraud protections); and S.243 (distributing funds to the VT Language Justice Project). For more information on these bills, type the bill number into the tracker on the VT General Assembly website and look for the “as passed” version(s).

In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, we continued taking detailed and lengthy testimony on S.64 (amendments to the scope of practice for optometrists); S.278 (cannabis); H.588 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation); and H.957 (Williston charter change).

Elsewhere in the Statehouse, the Rural Caucus remains engaged in the moving parts of legislation across the building, as we wait for the Committee of Conference on S.325 (the “Act 181 repeal” bill) to meet and make their recommendations. Also to be watched are the Committees of Conference on the Budget (H.951), Miscellaneous Tax Bills (H.933), the Yield Bill (H.949), and the Capital Bill (H.952). These CofC’s are listed on the House overview webpage on the General Assembly website and can be viewed like any other committee meeting.

The VT Chamber, in conjunction with the VT National Guard Family Readiness Program and with support from the VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus, conducted a diaper and baby wipes drive at the Statehouse on May 13.  The drive was a huge success, gathering over 2500 diaper and countless containers of wipes, and $3000 for deployed families. It is an honor to serve in Montpelier.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

This week in the Statehouse was all about S.325, the repeal of many of the provisions of Act 181 that rural Vermonters so clearly spoke in opposition of. S.325 was on the House Floor on Wednesday and Thursday, and we debated into the evening to amend and pass this bill. The amendments to S.325 reflected the desire to keep the spirit of compromise from the Senate alive and to strengthen the provisions of the bill so all small communities across Vermont can engage in housing development if they choose to do so. My colleagues who voted against these amendments yet decry the lack of affordable housing in our state must take a long, hard look at the economic realities that we face: declining enrollment in our schools, lack of employees for the few businesses that remain in rural areas, demise of farms and forest products producers, and migration of young people out of state to find employment and a more affordable way of life that doesn’t involve long commutes to school, work, the grocery store, or to seek medical care. Without adequate housing, there is no remedy for these realities. The amendments (and their outcomes) were as follows: (Failed) Burditt Amendment – to allow Tier 1B towns without appropriate staff to contract for staff;  (Passed) Burtt Amendment #1 – definition change to smart-growth principles that strengthen agriculture and forestry industry use while supporting on-farm housing; (Passed) Burtt Amendment #2 — exempting accessory on-farm businesses from Act 250 review; (Failed) Charlton Amendment — all communities, including small and mid-sized communities, have been given housing targets; it will take much time for those units to be built out, so the ask was to extend the allowable timeframe through the end of 2030;  (Failed) Dobrovich Amendment #1 — extending interim Act 250 exemptions for towns lacking zoning and allowing the approximately 60 communities across the state to go forward with individual projects by a vote of their Selectboard; (Failed) Dobrovich Amendment #2 — attempting to get the same result as the aforementioned amendment with slightly different language to assist towns lacking zoning; (Declared non-germane) Higley Amendment — allowing the use of land enrolled in Current Use (Use Value Appraisal Program) to be counted towards State conservation goals of 30x30 and 50x50 (30% of Vermont’s land to be conserved by 2030 and 50% by 2050) that is required by Act 59 of 2023, yet another bill passed over objections during the time of the supermajority.

S.325 eventually passed with two of the seven proposed amendments, and that would not have been possible without legislators hearing loudly and clearly from the many constituents and Selectboards who reached out with their concerns. Roll calls on most of those amendments and the bill for second reading can be found in the House Journal from May 6 on the Vermont General Assembly website https://legislature.vermont.gov/

It is an honor to serve as your Representative.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents –

Our Statehouse week began with a ceremonial reading of a House Concurrent Resolution congratulating the 2026 Richford Rockets basketball team on their D-IV championship win.  The team and their coaches traveled to Montpelier to be present for the reading, offered by their local Senators and Representatives. It is always a pleasure to receive visits from school groups and their chaperones at the Statehouse. I will take this opportunity to remind readers that the Governor has an open-door coffee hour each Thursday morning at 8am, and the Lt Governor also offers a similar opportunity for the public to engage with administration officials at these scheduled times:  https://ltgov.vermont.gov/coffeewithconstituents. More information on connecting with the Governor’s Office can be found at: https://governor.vermont.gov/contact-us-requests.

Our work on the House Floor reflects the time that we are spending in Committee reviewing bills passed before crossover and amended by the other Chamber. A full listing of each bill passed can be found on the General Assembly website in each day’s House and Senate Journals.

The Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, of which I am Vice-Chair, passed S.298 (VT Voting Rights) and is currently continuing to hear testimony on: S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure), S.278 (cannabis), and the sections of S.323 (miscellaneous agriculture subjects) pertaining to hemp. It’s important to note that if one types a bill number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website, the most recent draft of the bill isn’t what pops up as a result.  It takes some digging to find that on the webpage of the committee that has possession of the bill.  Drafts can vary widely in content from one version to the next, especially as we approach the end of the session.

The Rural Caucus this week heard presentations on a Medicare-related issue affecting Critical Access Hospitals (which NMC is not designated as).  We continue to discuss updates to S.325, which is the vehicle for repeal of Act 181’s Road Rule and Tier 2 and 3 language.  The House Environment Committee is closing in on passing out that bill, so to find the latest version, please see their webpage. There is also a great deal of talk in general about land conservation, particularly with respect to including land in the Current Use Program as part of the calculation.

Communication is a key ingredient in the democratic process, and I welcome your questions and concerns as I continue to represent my constituents in the Statehouse. Please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] and to learn more about my work at www.hangoforhouse.com

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire (Franklin-5)

Dear Constituents –

In the Statehouse this week, committees continue to dive into bills returned to them by the other Chamber, vetting changes and taking testimony on potential amendments on issues that have come to light during the legislative process. In the House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee, on which I serve as Vice Chair, we spent much of our time on the following bills: S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure by OPR); S.298 Vermont Voting Rights (VT Voter Protections), and a few municipal charters.

On the House Floor, among the bills that we voted on favorably are: S.89 (expanding survivor benefits to certified  law enforcement officers, certain Department of Corrections employees, classified family services employees in DCF, and classified medical employees of State-operated therapeutic community residences or inpatient psychiatric hospital units); S.157 (recovery residence certification); S.239 (Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Working Group); S.255 (establishing a pilot Law Enforcement Governance Council in Windham County.

This is the time of year when we are starting to get a look at what the other Chamber is doing with important (must-pass) bills like the budget, yield bill, Capital bill, and T bill. The first of those to be hitting the Senate Floor appears to be the budget, aka the Big Bill.  At first glance, Senate Appropriations re-arranged the deck chairs considerably, as there is very limited funding available and many stated needs, which vary widely by Legislator. This is where advocates’ voices make a difference.  Both Appropriations Committees are tasked with taking a set amount of money and trying to shoehorn all of the asks and obligations into that window, which for the foreseeable future, is very narrow. Agencies and organizations were put on notice last Fall that the budget process would be difficult, and it truly has been.  Both money committees have done a commendable job trying to accomplish what they are statutorily required to do, which is balance the budget. Now the action in the building will ramp up, with advocates jockeying for position to speak with committee members, lobbying legislators to speak to their colleagues on their behalf, and crossing their fingers. This bill will likely go to a Committee of Conference, as the two Chambers are not aligned in their priorities.

The Rural Caucus picked up where we left off earlier this session, hearing from education organizations on the H.955 Education Transformation bill. This will be an on-going discussion, alternating next week to healthcare issues, so if any organization wishes to speak to the Caucus, please reach out at [email protected]. Act 181 discussions through the vehicle of S.325 continue to be debated in the House Environment Committee, and all of their committee hearings can be viewed on YouTube by clicking on the link to their webpage on the General Assembly website. 

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire

Dear Constituents –

Our work at the Statehouse this week was dominated by two big themes: Act 181 and Education Transformation.

On Tuesday, the Speaker of the House released a response to the Rural Caucus’ position on Act 181to repeal the Road Rule and Tier 3 mapping.  Vermonters’ voices have been heard, and after an additional day of testimony in the House Environment Committee, the Chair of that committee indicated her support of the same provisions, as well.  It is our expectation that S.325 will go back to the Senate with that repeal language included; however, a vote has not yet been taken as of this writing. Thank you to all of the selectboards and individuals who took the time to reach out to their legislators to assist us in getting to this point.

On Thursday and Friday, the House debated H.955, the Education Transformation bill that doesn’t transform anything. The bill as passed leaves us in much the same place as we were a year ago.  It is much too early to predict how this bill will change in the Senate, but the trajectory in that Chamber is quite different than in the House, with little chance to intersect. The bill will likely go to a Committee of Conference at the end of the session, as the House and the Senate do not appear to be able to work together to pass legislation that is capable of transforming our inequitable and expensive pre-K—12 education system. Once again, Vermonters spoke (in the 2024 elections), and your Franklin County delegation is doing everything possible to ensure that we can afford to deliver an academically excellent and equitable education to our students at a cost we can afford.

The National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus met on Tuesday and heard presentations from: Adjutant General Hank Harder, who gave us an update on our service members who are deployed and how we can support the families waiting for them at home; the US Small Business District Director, who described programs to assist veterans starting small businesses and farms; the Governor’s Veterans Advisory Council to introduce their organization to the Caucus; and an introduction to the Civil Air Patrol in Vermont.

The Rural Caucus heard from the Rural Schools Community Alliance; presenters of some of the rural-school related amendments for the Floor debate; and VT Housing & Finance Agency (VHFA) on their draft rules for the Qualified Application Plan (QAP) that must be filed to be eligible to receive funding to create rental housing. In rural areas, the new draft rules will essentially shut down new housing development, particularly age-appropriate housing for older Vermonters, because of a “siting threshold” that requires all new VHFA construction to be within two miles of services such as a grocery store or a pharmacy.  VHFA realizes that this is not possible for our rural areas, and the Rural Caucus is submitting comments, as you also may do, at [email protected] by APRIL 24.

My email is [email protected]

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango

Dear Constituents –

The week in the Statehouse was highlighted by more Act 181 reform efforts. The Rural Caucus widely circulated a sign-on letter to the Speaker of the House and the Chair of the House Environment Committee to repeal Tier 3 mapping requirements and the Road Rule, with the hope that the Committee Chair will allow repeal to be written into S325 (currently calling for delays only). The alternative to that process will be to offer floor amendments when the vote of the House is taken. The Senate failed in their attempts to do this, but with 57 legislators signed on, and more asking to sign after the deadline had passed, it is possible that amendments would pass in the House. The Governor and the Lt Governor both support these amendments and have expressed appreciation for the efforts of the Rural Caucus.

Most committees are diving into bills sent to them from the Senate, although Ways & Means is focused on the Education Transformation bill (H955) and an education funding formula. Many have said that we do not have a funding problem but a spending problem, and that holds true when one looks at any federal, state, or local government budget. For various reasons, everyone’s budget has increased faster than their income (or revenue) because expenses are rising and services provided have expanded, and that is an unsustainable trajectory.

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee continues to take testimony on S.206 (Early Childhood Educator licensure) a few town charter changes, S.298 (a VT Voting Rights bill), and S.255 (a pilot policing project in Windham County). We also had a refresher session the adult-use recreational cannabis market and tax structure to prepare for S278, which is a miscellaneous cannabis bill sent to us from the Senate.

The House Floor was quiet compared to the past few weeks and welcome that we had more time in committee to dive into these issues.

As noted above, the Rural Caucus met, drafted a letter, and solicited signatures on Act 181 reform. We also heard from the Land Use Review Board and SkiVT about specific rules around ski areas and golf courses in proposed Tier 3 areas.

It is an honor to serve in the Legislature. I value the work I am doing on behalf of Vermonters and hope to continue as your Representative in 2027-28. To learn more about that work, please visit www.hangoforhouse.com. I can be reached at [email protected].

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

Dear Constituents -

The week of April 1 in the Statehouse was much quieter now that the crossover deadline has passed. Both the annual budget and biennial capital budget passed.

The biggest news not worth celebrating is that the House Education Committee passed out the “Education Transformation Bill” (H.955) on Thursday that isn’t a transformation at all. The bill tasks school districts, with the guidance of paid facilitators, to look at how to combine services within Cooperative Education Service Areas. A great idea, but we already enacted legislation allowing school districts to do that! At the moment, there are far too many unknowns to be enthusiastic about this bill, the voluntary implementation deadlines stretch too far in the future to provide any real relief to struggling taxpayers, and there are too many steps between now and “transformation”, whatever your district votes that it should look like. VT is not much farther ahead than a year ago…

The House Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee began to take testimony on bills from our Senate counterparts: S.232 (relating to public Libraries and the Dept of Libraries); S.298 (VT Voting Rights Act); S.255 (establishing a pilot Law Enforcement Governance Council in Windham County); S.206 (licensure of Early Childhood Educators).

The Rural Caucus held its previously postponed Rural Listening Session on Wednesday evening.  We heard from 45 Rural Vermonters in-person or online and nearly 30 others provided written testimony. To learn more about the Rural Caucus, visit https://www.vtruralcaucus.com/

Because of the importance and sheer number of individuals who have spoken out on the impact of Act 181, the following is a brief explanation of one troubling provision of that law, and a link to provide public comment on future guidance:

Act 181 of 2024 created a new jurisdictional trigger for Act 250. Beginning July 1, 2026 “the construction of a road or roads and any associated driveways” will trigger the need for an Act 250 permit with few exceptions, when the length of any single road is greater than 800 feet, or the length of all roads and any associated driveways in combination is greater than 2,000 feet. See 10 V.S.A. §6001(3)(A)(xii). Exceptions are provided for municipal, state, utility, farm, and forestry roads and driveways.

 Act 181 also provides that the Land Use Review Board (“Board”) may adopt rules to help guide implementation. The Board has requested that the Legislature delay the effective date to allow for the public outreach and consultation required by rule making. Given the uncertainty of whether or not this delay will be granted and the upcoming July 1st effective date, the Board is working instead to develop guidance. Guidance under development is intended to help clarify exemptions, define what qualifies as pre-existing road, and give definition to the difference between a road and a driveway.

 Draft Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance is now available here: https://act250.vermont.gov/document/road-construction-jurisdiction-guidance-draft-3-25-26 The Land Use Review Board is holding a 30-day public comment period from March 30 through April 30, 2026 on the draft Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance document:   Comments may be submitted via email to:  [email protected] 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve Franklin-5.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Berkshire