2025 Legislative Session

Welcome to my annual summary of highlights from the legislative session. The 2025 Legislative Session came to a close in mid-June after a grueling extended session dedicated to passing K-12 education transformation legislation.

Below I provide links to highlights of the session. I have not covered all of the 78 bills and 5 town charters we passed this session, nor have I detailed most of the provisions of many complex bills, such as the Big Bill – the FY26 State Budget, now Act 27. You can read a summary of highlights from the FY26 State Budget and here’s a summary of legislative highlights from Vermont Public. You can find links to all of the bills passed by both the House and Senate on the legislative website, along with summaries, testimony, analysis, amendments, and voting information for each bill.

Here are some of my highlights:

Unfortunately, some of the work we did this session, particularly in health care and education, is at risk due to the destructive federal budget bill championed by Trump and passed last week by the Republican Congress. The bill includes brutal cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). These programs serve thousands of Vermonters, many of them children and senior citizens, keeping them healthy and fed through an incredibly effective state-federal partnership. An estimated 45,000 Vermonters will lose their health insurance as a result of Trump’s bill that will also blast holes in Vermont’s state budget while providing tax cuts to wealthy individuals and large corporations.

The Medicaid cuts are expected to be especially harmful to rural hospitals, slamming the hospitals that serve Vermonters and under-cutting our efforts to reduce health care costs. Read this outline of what’s in the Trump-Republican bill, which describes the cuts to critical programs, including Medicaid, food assistance, green energy, and higher education, and tax breaks largely for wealthy Americans. Congresswoman Becca Balint has called it a “cruel, cruel bill” and I agree. It will mean that even more Vermonters will suffer from homelessness, food insecurity, and a lack of health care. The Vermont Legislature will have to pick up the pieces during our next session, particularly because our small state is heavily dependent on federal funding. There will be even more work needed to address Vermont’s many challenges after the impact of Trump policies set in.

Agriculture & Environment

A focus this session was updating Vermont’s Clean Water Initiative so that Vermont’s environment, especially our waterways, are protected. while also ensuring Vermonters can navigate the rules. We also addressed agriculture water quality, the right-to-farm, and avian flu.

Education and Youth

Education reform was a major theme this session, and we also took action to protect kids from excessive cell phone use by prohibiting cell phone use in schools and regulating big tech companies that design social media platforms used by kids. We also expanded access to CTE and community college.

Taxation

My bi-partisan income tax reduction bill will lower taxes for thousands of Vermonters. Plus, major legislation advanced education property tax reform measures.

Health Care

Health care costs have soared over the past several years and Vermonters are definitely feeling the impact. We made progress limiting the price of life-saving medications, reining in hospital costs, improving financial oversight of the state’s largest health care organization, and supporting reproductive health care.

Housing and Homelessness

We passed a major housing development bill that will help finance infrastructure for housing. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed progress on addressing homelessness, leaving thousands of Vermonters out on the streets.