Dear Constituents -

The pace in the Statehouse this week was long, slow, and steady.  Bill after bill lined the calendar, as we sat for hours listening to floor reports and taking votes. A sampling of those bills passed as of 3/25 can be found here: https://vermontbiz.com/news/2026/march/25/speaker-krowinski-provides-overview-bills-passed-house-crossover-deadline?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=enews%20%7C%20House%20bills%20include%20lower%20drug%20costs%20and%20data%20security%3B%20Burlington%20hears%20from%20mayor%20over%20ICE%20raid&utm_campaign=Enews%203%2F25%2F2026&vgo_ee=PT0EYAH7oSBO035WmetdTOhZwccR%2B8cjokLApcdzuOzX%3AG5K42n8t%2B1QysSP%2FIjWrR%2FW546c0C9%2Fa Nearly double that number were passed as of this writing. For more information on specific bills, type the bill letter and number into the bill tracker on the General Assembly website at https://legislature.vermont.gov/

H.951 (the Budget Big Bill) and H.944 (the Transportation bill), as well as H.949 (the Yield bill) were all voted on the House Floor this week.  Each had some concerning provisions that had to be carefully weighed – is the overall bill worth voting for, even though there are sections that are cause for concern? – For me, the Yield Bill was the bill that rose to the top of my concerns; the Governor recommended buying down the property tax rate with the entire $105M surplus (taxpayers’ hard-earned money), but the majority party voted that down to only use 50% of the surplus and keep the remaining 50% for “future use”. Since we can’t bind the decisions of a future Legislature by our actions, who’s to decide what that “future use” is? My other top concern was the Ways & Means amendment to the T-bill that stripped a provision that 50% of the PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) Special Fund, which is raised by municipalities, would go directly back to towns for their town highway budgets.

I successfully reported H.935, an act relating to Emergency Management, on the House Floor on Friday, which enables nonprofits to enter into an MOU with the Div of Emergency Management for the Ready Response Grant Program to swiftly provide shelf-stable food and bottled water on-site during all-hazards events, ensures that individuals with disabilities have a say in planning emergency response, updates fire statutes, and releases previously appropriated funds to the Dept of Public Safety for continued improvements to statewide call-taking and dispatch technology over a period of three years.

Committee time was limited to hearing amendments to our bills and taking limited testimony on the few new bills coming in slowly from the Senate. With Floor time extending into the evening, our daytime was taken up with writing reports and tracking the progress of the bills we’ve reported out of a very busy Government Operations & Military Affairs Committee.

The Rural Caucus continues to be inundated with requests to submit testimony on the impact of Act 181 on rural Vermonters. A scheduled listening session had to be postponed until April 1 due to the extended Floor time last Wednesday.  After a rally on the Statehouse steps where we heard from Vermonters who are impacted by this law, many in the Rural Caucus are more determined than ever to roll back the Road Rule and Tier 3 mapping set into motion in 2024.

As always, please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] or visit my website www.hangoforhouse.com to learn more about the issues that are important to me.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5 (Berkshire)

Dear Constituents –

The week after crossover in the Legislature is one of “hurry up and wait”. The bills that had to pass out of committees by March 13 moved on to money committees this week. Those discussions were difficult, as the reality is that there are far more funding requests than revenue coming into State coffers. The Appropriations committees have an unenviable job to balance that budget while fulfilling their obligation to protect the most vulnerable, create economic opportunity, and return affordability for Vermonters.

Committee members spent their time writing or hearing amendments to their bills, hearing testimony on new bills that have come over from the Senate, writing floor reports, and determining which bills to take up in the second half of the biennium.

On the House Floor, we debated and passed a large number of bills in two weeks.  As previously reported, many committees didn’t pass bills until the end of last week, so they were stacked up for hours to be heard, debated, and voted on the House Floor. For complete information, one can go to the General Assembly website to read the daily House and Senate Journals.

Most of my time for the past two weeks has been spent drafting H.935, a committee bill on Emergency Management, which can be found on the House Government Operations & Military Affairs webpage, that we built over two months, including requests brought to us by various agencies and organizations such as the Department of Public Safety, the VT Division of Emergency Management, the VT Foodbank, the VT Language Justice Project, VT Access Network, and the Urban Search and Rescue teams.

The Rural Caucus has heard an outpouring of concern about the implications of implementing Act 181, which has also been reported in this column and on my website, hangoforhouse.com, where I will be posting regular updates from the Land Use Review Board (LURB) on their activities.  You may also go to https://act250.vermont.gov/home for contact information to make public comment, learn about Act 250 and Act 181 as enacted in VT statute, and hear recordings of their public hearings.

S.325 at this writing is the only vehicle available for Act 181 reform; while not going so far as calling for repeal of the egregious “Road Rule” or the Tier 3 mapping process, it does call for implementation delays, and for greater outreach to the public on Act 18’s provisions in general.

Please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected] with questions and concerns.  It is an honor to serve in the General Assembly.

Stay well,

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

FROM THE LURB:

Act 250 Tier 3 Followers,

** February/March 2026 Update **

Feel free to forward this update widely!  Additional updates to follow each month.

Stay Tuned… again.

Work on the next version of the draft Tier 3 rules and mapping continues to take longer than anticipated.  I originally planned to get the next draft out to everyone by January/February.  Apologies for the delay.  Frankly, all the input from Vermonters has been extremely helpful, and it’s important to me that the Board hear the feedback and do the best we can to factor it into our work.

I now expect the next draft to be ready by the end of April.  That means more extensive public engagement will shift to May and June.  A final draft and final public hearings will therefore shift into the summer.  Reminder that Tier 3 jurisdiction begins at the end of 2026 (12/31/26), but see below for more on this.

• For Tier 3 questions and comments, you can reach out to me directly by phone (802-480-1885) or send email to [email protected].

• Want to schedule a presentation or conversation with your organization or local board?  I’m at your service, including evening meetings.  I’ve had productive meetings with municipal officials and boards in Cabot, Grafton, Ripton, Reading, and I am planning meetings in Charlotte, Chester, and the larger Windham County region.  Perhaps your Planning Commission, Conservation Commission, or Select Board would like more information?  If so, let me know.

Board Recommends Pushing Start Dates to December 31, 2027

On February 20, the Board testified in front of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.  We recommended pushing the start date of several new provisions included in the Act 181 reforms (passed in 2024):

• Tier 3 Jurisdiction – push one year; move start date from 12/31/26 to 12/31/27

• Criterion 8C, a new review criterion for Act 250 projects – push one year; move start date from 12/31/26 to 12/31/27

• Road Construction Jurisdiction – push 18 months; move start date from 7/1/26 to 12/31/27

We want more time for the necessary rulemaking process, in part to get it right and in part to ensure a robust public engagement process that provides multiple opportunities for feedback.  Just as importantly, Vermonters need more time to learn about and prepare for these substantive statewide land use permitting changes.  Many people I have spoken with have expressed concern that their neighbors and fellow community members are unaware of these Act 250 changes – particularly the expansion of jurisdiction for new road construction and in Tier 3 areas.  The Land Use Review Board wants to raise awareness and welcome more Vermonters to the table to help us implement Act 250 reforms in a meaningful and practical way.  We need more time to make this happen.

We also recommended that the Legislature grant the Board the authority to apply a limited number of Act 250 review criteria for development in Tier 3 areas.  This would help keep the Act 250 review focused on just the criteria relevant to the critical natural resource area that triggered the need for a permit in the first place.  This could reduce the scope and complexity of the application and review in Tier 3 areas.  With the proper authority granted, the Board would engage in a public rulemaking process to determine which of the 10 review criteria (and 32 sub-criteria) to apply in Tier 3 areas.

The Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee appeared to be receptive and is working on a full re-write of bill number S.325 to make a variety of necessary changes to Act 181.  This bill’s intent, as described in draft language, is to “provide technical clarification, transitional certainty, and implementation alignment” to Act 181 without altering its underlying policy goals.  We can’t know for certain that the Board’s recommendations will make it into the bill.  That will become clear if/when the Committee and then the full Senate finalize and vote on the bill.  Hopefully in the next two weeks.  After that, the bill would still require review and approval by the House Environment Committee, the full House, and the Governor.

Road Construction Jurisdiction Guidance Coming Soon

Separate from Tier 3 jurisdiction, the new road construction jurisdiction provision will require an Act 250 permit for the construction of certain new roads and related development. As noted above, the new road construction jurisdiction provision goes into effect on July 1, 2026.  This date is in the middle of Vermont’s road construction season, which is one more reason the Board is recommending pushing this to a winter date – i.e., December 31, 2027.  At recent Board meetings, we’ve been discussing various components of the road construction jurisdiction provision.  We plan to have a guidance document available ahead of the upcoming road construction season – target date is the end of March 2026.

• For Road Construction Jurisdiction questions, reach out to two of my fellow Board members who are working on guidance - Sarah Hadd, [email protected], 802-480-1886; Brooke Dingledine, [email protected], 802-480-1878.

Information Online

Tier 3 Rulemaking and Report | Act 250

https://act250.vermont.gov/tier-3-rulemaking-and-report

Road Construction Jurisdiction | Act 250

https://act250.vermont.gov/road-construction-jurisdiction

Wondering what this is all about…

What is Act 250?

Enacted in 1970, Act 250 aims to balance environmental protection with sustainable development. It regulates large development and subdivision projects based on environmental, economic, and public welfare criteria. The law helps maintain Vermont's historic settlement pattern of compact villages and urban centers, separated by rural countryside, while allowing for responsible growth. Act 250 plays a crucial role in fostering distinctive communities and preserving Vermont's unique sense of place.

What are Tier 3 areas?

Historically, Act 250 jurisdiction has been based on the size of the development or subdivision, with a focus on larger projects.  Act 181 of 2024 implements location-based jurisdiction reform by identifying three different areas.  Tier 1 areas are planned for growth in and around village and downtown centers, where Act 250 jurisdiction would be reduced or eliminated entirely in favor of municipal-level permitting and other State permitting (e.g., ANR, Division of Fire Safety, etc.).  Tier 3 areas are critical natural resources, where Act 250 jurisdiction would be increased to cover more types of development than today.  Tier 2 areas are the rest of the state, where Act 250 jurisdiction would remain largely as we know it today, but with additional jurisdiction for projects building more than 800 feet of new roads.

Act 181 tasks the Land Use Review Board (LURB) with rulemaking to identify what critical natural resources will be included in the Tier 3 definition, and when Act 250 jurisdiction will be triggered for development in Tier 3 areas. The Legislature outlined certain types of resources that must be considered, but left the final decision to the LURB rulemaking process. That’s where we need help from stakeholders, experts, and the public!  It’s a policy discussion and a mapping exercise all wrapped up in a rulemaking process.

--------------------------------------------------------

Alex Weinhagen | Board Member

Land Use Review Board

10 Baldwin Street

Montpelier, VT 05633-3201

[email protected]

802-480-1885
https://act250.vermont.gov

Emails and other written or recorded information produced or acquired in the course of public agency business are public records and may be subject to public examination under Vermont’s Public Records Act.

Dear Constituents –

The week of crossover in VT is behind us, and bills passed will go on to the other Chamber or to a money committee if they affect the revenue of the State, where they are required to be voted out by March 20 in order to stay alive. Big money bills (T-bill, the budget, the yield bill, and the Capital bill) are exempt from crossover deadlines. Apparently, the Education bills will also be granted exemption, as those committees continue to discuss everything but the elephant in the room, which is district maps.(I’ve heard there is another one coming soon…)

The House floor saw a flurry of action where we heard hours of bill reports and took many floor votes. A few of the bills that passed the House from the Committee on Government Operations & Military Affairs and on the Floor are: H686 (expanding identification of certain lobbying advertisements), H.588 (professions and occupations regulated by the Office of Professional Regulation), H762 (County and Regional Governance Study Committee), H841 (Animal Welfare procedures). Many more passed our committee but remain in the queue for Ways & Means or Appropriations. You can find these bills and their committee votes by visiting our webpage and clicking on “Bills Out of Committee”.

Committees heard amendments to bills coming to the Floor, and HGOMA heard our share. Even when a committee votes out a bill unanimously, it is most likely that someone will want something changed along the way. We spent the majority of our committee time working on a committee bill for Emergency Management and Disaster Response, DR 26-0550. As of this writing, it had not yet been introduced and assigned a bill number.  This bill had several sections and addresses technical rescues, emergency food and water distribution, wildland fires, emergency response involving individuals with disabilities, community media use in emergency situations, and public safety communications.

The Rural Caucus continued to hear updates on S325 that addresses some aspects of delay or reform of Act 181, the 2024 land use law that went into effect after the supermajority overrode the Governor’s veto. Breaking news: Senate Natural Resources & Energy voted out S.325 with a substantial delay to the Road Rule and more support for public outreach on these issues.

To submit public comment to the governing body, the Land Use review Board (LURB): [email protected].

The Rural Caucus will be hosting an event to listen to the concerns of rural Vermonters on Wednesday, March 25th from 5:30-7:00 pm in Room 10 of the State House and online via Zoom. More information is linked here and available on the resources page of vtruralcaucus.com .

The VT National Guard & Veterans Affairs Caucus heard from NE Delta Dental about a free veterans dental care program that they run in partnership with local dental clinics and the VTNG Family Programs.  Please call 1-888-607-8773 for more information if you are a veteran needing dental care.

It is an honor to serve as your Representative.

Stay well,

Rep Lisa Hango, Franklin-5

[email protected]

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