Dear Editor,
As the world spins ever more wildly around us, it is increasingly important to try to slow down, get outside, and take care of ourselves and each other.
Here are a few of the major topics in Montpelier.
Education
On education reform, the governor laid down his lines in the sand for what needs to be accomplished this session – district lines, a foundation formula, and a timeline. He has been making this clear behind the scenes for weeks, but now that it is public, the political dynamics change. The House Education Committee has been taking a go-slow approach, recommending a task force to study district boundary lines, and focusing on class size minimums to drive proper scale. The Senate is rolling full steam ahead with district maps and other elements more aligned with the governor’s wishes. This is going to make for a very interesting end of session as these different approaches collide. The Senate draft bill is much more aligned with our district’s focus on preserving tuitioning.
Money
It was money week in the House. We passed the budget for fiscal year 2026, the Yield Bill, which sets property tax rates based on local school budgets – the House bill establishes a 1.1% increase on average, local rates will vary – and the capital budget, which determines what capital projects across the government get funded, and how to pay for them (cash or bond). All these bills will be modified by the Senate, and might be vetoed by the governor, so nothing is set yet.
As I mentioned last week, I am opposed to the Democratic approach on the Yield Bill. At issue is whether we save some of the $77 million set aside for property tax relief, or spend it all this year. The Ways and Means Committee decided to spend it all, largely for political reasons, and because the governor has clearly stated his preference to do so. It is bad fiscal policy – next year we will be facing a very large tax increase, and we are unlikely to have a surplus to work with as we did this year. The federal cuts might be large and destabilizing – 36% of Vermont’s budget comes from the federal government. None of the projected savings from the education reform process will be realized for a few years, and our health care system is in deep crisis and will need attention in the coming years. That said, it seems like the House, Senate, governor, and both parties are on board with this approach, so I am an outlier. Politics wins over policy on this one.
For details on the budget, please visit ljfo.vermont.gov/custom_reports/reports/BigBill/v1/FY 2026 Big Bill House Web Report 2025-03-26.html. It has a search function and all the details.
The federal wrecking ball
This week the administration cut $7 million for our health department, cut FEMA jobs in Vermont, and continued to freeze various funding sources while they review them. This is enormously disruptive to the functioning of state government, and to our ability to plan well for the near future.
As you might know, Vermont legislators do not have staff (or offices, health insurance, or reasonable pay). Fortunately, we have access to the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO), which provides financial analysis services for the legislature. The JFO has started a web page to gather resources to help Vermonters understand the potential impacts of DOGE’s efforts.
The big worry here is Medicaid. The Medicaid budget in Vermont is close to $1 billion. If federal cuts on the level being discussed in Washington come to pass, the impact on Vermont will be unprecedented. Our entire rainy-day fund has about $100 million in it.
General comments
All that being said, there are many good bills coming out of the House around housing (H.479), reforming our system for support of the unhoused (H.91), flood-related resilience efforts (H.397), and much more. All these bills will make their way to the senate for consideration.
For the energy nerds out there, my Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure heard testimony this week from Green Mountain Power about their battery storage program. Taken all together, the batteries installed in people’s homes now amount to GMP’s largest source of power – 70 megawatts. This adds much-needed management flexibility and robustness to the grid.
As a reminder, the General Assembly has a good website. You can look up bills by name or number, find legislators, see calendars and agendas, and get links to the YouTube recordings of all committee hearings and floor debates at legislature.vermont.gov
Enjoy your weekend and keep in touch,
Rep. Chris Morrow
Windham-Windsor-Bennington District