The following highlights some of the important legislative work accomplished in the 2025-26 Biennium.

Education

Despite the best drastic efforts of our school districts, education spending is growing faster than non-property tax revenues (sales tax, etc.). Property taxes need to increase to make up the difference. The spending growth cannot be attributed to any one cost, but is a mix of special education, healthcare costs, mental health costs, inflation, and infrastructure needs. In this year’s yield bill, Act 169, the legislature was able to offset tax increases for Vermonters at a time when many are struggling to pay their bills, by making a one-time transfer from the general fund. 

Because of the hard work of school boards across the state to tighten spending, and the legislature’s agreement to use one-time funds, average property tax bills across the state are expected to increase by 3.5% next year. This marks a considerable improvement from the 11.9% increase projected back in December. The law gives older Vermonters, veterans, and low-income property owners greater assistance by increasing the limits for the “circuit breaker” tax credit for the first time since 1997 and providing renters with larger renter credit during an inflationary time when rent increases are outpacing wage increases.  

Last year the legislature passed Act 73, which began the transformation of Vermont’s education governance, delivery, and finance systems to build a system that works better for kids, communities, and taxpayers. This year, the legislature passed Act 170, which takes the next steps in transforming Vermont’s public education system, and the Yield Bill (Act 169), both of which continue the work of making Vermont’s education financing system more sustainable. The legislature designed Act 170 to incorporate more local control over mergers and create a framework for lowering education costs through a shared services model called Cooperative Educational Service Areas (CESAs). 

Act 170 creates seven mandatory statewide CESAs that will achieve efficiencies, regional-service sharing, and cost savings. The formation of a CESA helps member supervisory unions and school districts access specialized programs and technical assistance that individual districts (especially small and rural districts) might otherwise need to purchase at a higher cost. Each of the CESAs must offer services in the following areas: special education, business and administrative services, and union school district creation, consultation, and facilitation. 

The second major element of this law addresses school governance consolidation by funding seven facilitators—one in each CESA region—to start merger study committees. These regional groupings will have to work collaboratively to explore the advantages of school district consolidation. If a study committee concludes that a merger is advisable, the report goes to the Secretary of Education, the State Board of Education, and the voters of the school districts that will form the new union school district. Merger questions will go to local voters in the March 2028 Town Meeting elections. 

Act 170  also includes the next steps in implementing the tax policy created in Act 73. Over the next few years, Act 170 will make our education finance system more equitable, sustainable, and affordable.  It will shift the state from a property tax credit system that has provided relief to fewer and fewer households over the past several years to an exemption system that will support a wider spectrum of household incomes and property values. It will also implement regional assessment districts to ensure that every municipality reappraises properties at least every six years so that property taxes are spread fairly across the state. The law moves to a foundation formula for education funding in which the state uses a standard per-pupil calculation to determine how much funding each school district will receive versus the current system of funding locally passed budgets, guaranteeing resources to students regardless of their zip code. And it also implements a tax on second homes to raise additional revenue for our school system and relieve pressure on homestead and business taxpayers.

In addition to Act 170, this year’s Yield Bill contained provisions to reduce the excess spending threshold. This year’s yield bill incorporates a plan to gradually lower that threshold – to 115.5% next year, 114.5% the following year, etc. – as a way of providing a ramp to the estimated amount districts will receive under the foundation formula (implementation scheduled for FY 2030).

Other components of the law include further detail on school construction aid and a study regarding how to account for pre-K education within our education finance system.

Critical Dates:

• Within 30 days of passage: CESA board member appointments
• Within 45 days of passage: First meeting of the CESA board
• October 1, 2026: Merger study committee facilitators hired 
• October 15, 2026: Study committee assignments and first meeting 
• September 2027: Study committees final reports due
• By March 7, 2028: Voting to form new districts

Act 122  is an act relating to chronic absenteeism of Vermont students. Currently, about 25% of Vermont students are chronically absent. Absenteeism affects not only the individual and their loss of learning and connection to the school community, but also the entire school community, missing large groups of students. Act 122 represents a shift in mindset. Research has shown that punitive measures like fines and court appearances are not effective in getting children back to school. The law outlines state-level strategies that consider the root causes behind absenteeism and the impact of absenteeism on communities rather than individuals. It also establishes definitions that can vary from school to school: namely, what is an excusable absence and what is not excusable. The act calls for a collaborative approach developing a model policy that includes all major stakeholders. It does not completely remove truant officers or the possibility of prosecution for those parents or guardians who refuse to comply with state law; rather, that process is better defined and consistent, and serves more as a last resort.

Act 125 creates immigration protocols in schools. The law’s intent is to secure the rights of every Vermont child to access their education safe from intimidation and fear, regardless of their immigration status. This law empowers our school officials, superintendents, principals, heads of school, and their designees to designate certain areas in the schools as not open to the public. The act establishes an immigration resource guide for schools, informed by the Office of the Attorney General and the Vermont Agency of Education. Under this law, school districts and schools cannot share student information, including immigration status and citizenship, unless they are required to do so by state or federal law. Entry by any law enforcement official into any school now requires a judicial warrant that specifically names a student or school staff member. This act helps safeguard Vermont schools, all children who attend, and the adults who work there. 

Housing

Act 69 expands housing support programs and increases funding for accessible and affordable housing. It also prioritizes assistance for people experiencing homelessness, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. The law creates new programs to support manufactured home repairs and housing infrastructure improvements. It also provides for a statewide tax increment financing tool designed to help Vermont communities unlock housing opportunities by investing in critical public infrastructure. In addition, the law strengthens tenant protections by banning rental application fees and expanding anti-discrimination protections. It also establishes new housing planning initiatives, updates residential safety standards for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and aims to improve housing equity, infrastructure, and development statewide. The bill became law in June 2025.

Act 179 is an innovative housing law designed to stimulate housing development in Vermont through financial tools, pilot programs, and planning reforms. The legislation authorizes municipalities to issue revenue bonds backed by special assessments, supports mobile-home infrastructure and off-site modular home construction, broadens the Vermont Economic Development Authority’s (VEDA) financing authority for certain multi-unit housing developments, and adds new municipal housing-planning requirements. 

Act 155 updates and modernizes laws related to manufactured homes and limited-equity cooperatives. It streamlines the process for transferring ownership of manufactured homes, including their deeds, and ensures that they are treated the same as other types of housing under local zoning laws. The law also addresses limited-equity cooperatives, which are designed to provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents. It requires the Department of Taxes to prepare a report that inventories these cooperatives and evaluates whether they are being treated fairly and consistently. To help preserve long-term affordability, the law prohibits subleasing cooperative units unless a hardship can be demonstrated, which will help prevent profit-making from affordable homes. In addition, all mobile homes are now exempt from sales tax, with transfers subject instead to the property transfer tax. To reflect the fact that these homes are factory-built, permanently installed, and not readily movable, “mobile homes” will instead be referred to as “manufactured homes” and “permanently sited.” This change helps eliminate the common misconception that these homes can be easily or routinely moved once installed. 

Act 143. After years of work trying to address the needs of Vermonters experiencing homelessness, this act overhauls the state’s approach for roughly 4,000 unhoused Vermonters. It creates a tiered system moving households from prevention and diversion through various shelter options to permanent supportive housing, with motels as a last resort. Motel use is capped at 700 rooms nightly in warmer months and 1,000 in winter, with individual households limited to 70 motel days per year in the warmer season. The act also focuses on supportive services, including case management and housing navigation.  Lastly, the Act establishes a state-funded rental assistance program as a bridge to the currently-closed Section 8 federal rental subsidies. 

Health Care

Act 55 (H.266) limits hospitals to charging insurers no more than 120% of the average sales price of certain prescription drugs. This legislation had the immediate effect of reducing Blue Cross Blue Shield premiums. It also reduced health care premium costs for school employee health insurance from an anticipated 12% increase to less than a 7% increase. (In comparison, New Hampshire saw a 23% increase in premiums in the same time period.) The law was a major contributor to the overall cost savings to the Vermont health care system of approximately $230 million. 

Act 68 of 2025 enacted reference-based pricing, which is a health insurance model that sets maximum reimbursement limits based on an external benchmark, in this case, Medicare rates charged for the service. For example, the reference might limit the cost of a service to 250% of the amount Medicare charges for the same service. This legislation requires the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) to establish reference-based prices as the maximum amounts Vermont hospitals can accept as payment for certain services. This limit applies to services including those delivered outside a hospital setting, like primary care.  All stakeholders–hospitals, the Department of Financial Regulation (DFR), insurance companies such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and MVP, and the GMCB–agree that it is essential to implement reference-based pricing, which will result in downward pressure on the costs to the Vermont health care system. Legislators determined that Act 68 had an overly ambitious timeline of implementation; the GMCB is still in the rulemaking process and the metrics are still being designed.

Act 68 led to S.190, a bill that would have implemented the beginning of reference-based pricing for the coming year by targeting the savings to important groups: individuals, families, many nonprofits and small businesses on the Qualified Health Care Plan Exchange (QHPs), and school-employee health plans. Unfortunately, the Governor vetoed this bill.

Act 173 continues the process of establishing a program of universal primary care that is accessible and affordable for all Vermonters, to improve population health, reduce costs, and obtain the information necessary to develop a framework for its implementation.

Act 132 relates to Array RX, a non-profit drug-prescription savings card introduced by the State Treasurer that offers low-cost prescription drugs to any person with a Vermont address.  Vermont is the sixth state to join the non-profit consortium. The Array RX card is free to participants; offers generic drugs at about 20% of cost and name-brand at 80% of cost; protects enrollees’ privacy; includes compensation for pharmacists in its pricing; counts toward a member’s existing plan deductibles; and is projected to save Vermonters millions of dollars.

Act 119 allows pharmacists to test (for Covid, for example), and then prescribe (Paxlovid, for example) immediately, rather than requiring the patient to make a doctor’s appointment before receiving a prescription. This legislation allows the pharmacists to prescribe the necessary medication in a timely way, improving outcomes and saving unnecessary system-wide costs.

Act 92 approves and expands the ability of Physician’s Assistants (PAs) and Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioners (APRNs) to be Medical Attending Officers in hospitals without involving an M.D. This avoids long and unnecessary delays in getting timely care, provides for a responsible health care provider under the Patient’s Bill of Rights, conforms with existing practice, and saves costs to the system.

Act 84 expands the scope of practice of psychologists to prescribe medicine, with additional training and certification by the Office of Professional Regulation. This eases the harm of a psychiatrist shortage and allows those suffering from mental illness access to treatment. This expansion is also expected to save costs to the system. 

Act 172 creates a pathway for internationally-trained doctors to become licensed in Vermont. There is a shortage of doctors in Vermont and this law would enable doctors already present in Vermont, and already highly-trained, to practice medicine, mostly in much-needed primary care. 

Act 156 regulates the use of artificial intelligence in mental health services. This legislation ensures that when mental health services are being offered, the clinician (not AI) must make a therapeutic decision and diagnosis, and decide treatment options. AI may only be used as a helpful tool. The law provides enforcement and penalty mechanisms for violations. 

Act 76 authorizes the Vermont Department of Health to recommend immunization schedules that may differ from CDC guidelines, as informed by the Vermont Immunization Advisory Council. The law does not mandate or prohibit vaccination, and Vermonters retain access to immunizations on the schedule at no cost. 

Act 148 modernizes Vermont’s tobacco laws by expanding the definition of “tobacco substitute,” banning deceptive tobacco products (including vapes disguised as everyday items like markers or clothing or embedded in games to target youth), broadening licensing requirements, increasing fees and penalties, decoupling tobacco and liquor licensure, transferring regulation and enforcement of wholesale tobacco companies from the Department of Taxes to the Department of Liquor and Lottery, and replacing criminal penalties for minors with stronger civil penalties on sellers.

Act 141 allocates around $7.6 million received as part of a national settlement to an Opioid Abatement Special Fund.  This fund be used for opioid-related services including outreach, recovery residences, syringe services, peer coaching in corrections, harm reduction, treatment beds, EMS buprenorphine training, and employment services. (Further funding for Burlington’s overdose prevention center will be contingent on it becoming operational and is not included in this act.) In addition, around $640,000 is appropriated for youth prevention programs out of the Substance Misuse Prevention Fund.

Environmental Issues

Act 112 bans the use of paraquat, a highly toxic herbicide linked to Parkinson’s disease, that spreads through wind-borne dispersion. Although over 70 countries outlaw paraquat, Vermont is the first state in the nation to prohibit its use.  

Small Steps for Smarter Solar:  Vermonters’ ability to save money from rooftop solar generation, sustainable heating and cooling options, and cleaner cars faces big headwinds from Trump Administration rollbacks and tariffs. With federal funding for low-income solar and solar-panel tax credits gone, the legislature focused on solar-siting policy and low-cost plug-in solar.  

H.710 would have made it easier and more cost-effective for developers to co-locate solar facilities on the same parcel. Beyond cost savings, this bill also supported smarter land-use decisions. Unfortunately, Governor Scott vetoed this bill. As Vermont political blogger John Walters commented on this veto:

Scott’s veto is remarkably tone-deaf to the moment. Trump’s pointless war with Iran just sent fossil fuel process through the goddamn roof. Isn’t this the time to promote our independence from oil? It’d be good for the planet and a boon to Vermont’s economy. The more energy we generate in-state, the fewer dollars we send to distant suppliers. And the less dependent we are on the swings and roundabouts of the world oil market[, the better].

Along with a growing number of states, the legislature passed Act 149 to regulate the usage of portable plug-in solar panels. Also called “balcony solar,” these plug-in photovoltaic (PIPV) devices are widely used in Europe where they allow apartment residents to offset their electricity usage, especially when paired with batteries. Act 149 clarifies that neither utility nor Public Utilities Commission approval is needed and ensures safe usage of PIPV by requiring that stringent national safety standards (UL-approved) are met. 

Data Centers: Widespread concern about data centers—based on huge electric demand, water usage, and noise—has led to calls for a moratorium on any large data center development in Vermont. But “dispatchable large loads,” which can ramp power usage up and down, can actually expand our electric grid capacity and bring prices down for regular ratepayers. H.727 would have created a strong and forward-looking regulatory framework to ensure that data center development could be allowed in Vermont, but only in ways that benefit Vermont’s ratepayers and grid while protecting our environment.

As laid out in H.727, any data center looking to site in Vermont would have been subject to full Act 250 review, which covers everything from air and water pollution to water supply, noise, traffic, scenic beauty, prime agricultural soils, wildlife habitat, and more. The data center would also have to sign a contract with its electric utility, approved by the Public Utility Commission, to lock in ratepayer benefits, maximize renewable power on-site, and make a substantial annual payment to help utility customers with energy efficiency projects. 

Unfortunately, Governor Scott vetoed H.727. The House attempted an override on the final day of the session, but the roll-call vote of 83-52 fell short of the 2/3 standard needed to succeed. 

Wildlife: Act 90 addresses barriers to posting one’s land from hunting and fishing and to allowing hunting and fishing by permission only. It is intended to reduce conflicts between landowners and hunters. 

Climate resiliency: We have over 1,000 dams across the state, including 77 high-hazard, state-regulated dams. High-hazard dams pose risk to human lives if they were to fail. Act 114 ensures that Vermont’s Division of Emergency Management can support municipalities downstream of high-hazard dams through development of emergency operations plans. The law ensures that emergency responders and municipal and state officials have a coordinated communication, evacuation, and response plan in the highly unlikely but very dangerous scenario of a dam failure or emergency release from a dam. 

Water quality: Act 174 creates a general permit at the Agency of Natural Resources to streamline permitting for connections to potable community water and to wastewater systems.  The Agency can also delegate permitting authority to municipalities in certain circumstances. 

S.218 addressed the overuse of road salt and the resulting chloride contamination of our surface waters, as well as impacts to drinking water, roadway infrastructure, and vehicles. It would have created best management practices for salt application to roads, sidewalks, and other surfaces, and a voluntary certification program to train commercial salt applicators in best management practices along with limiting liability for certified municipal and commercial salt applicators. However, the Governor vetoed this bill, leaving communities and landowners using more salt than necessary to protect public safety, often out of fear of liability. The Governor’s veto also leaves the state vulnerable to actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as more streams and waterways in the state become polluted with chloride.

Act 158 improves the bottle redemption system in Vermont. It makes bottle redemption options more convenient and efficient; ensures a minimum of three bottle-redemption centers per county and one per municipality over 7,000 people; modernizes the equipment used for redemption collection and sorting; and reduces manual sorting at redemption centers. This law does not expand the kinds of bottles that would be redeemable, nor does it increase the five-cent deposit. The law also includes important improvements to the collection system for household hazardous products.

Consumer Safety and Protection and Privacy

 Act 110 requires manufacturers of baby food and infant formula to test their products for lead, mercury, and other toxic heavy metals. They must also make the results of those tests readily accessible to consumers online and through package labeling. 

Act 65 requires businesses to protect minors from certain harms when processing the minors’ personal data. Under this law, businesses must have the default setting of their digital products at the highest level of privacy when those products are used by a minor. The act prohibits the collection or sharing of a minor’s personal data unless necessary to provide a service to the minor. It also restricts the ability of a covered business to allow someone to monitor the activity or location of a minor on its digital product without providing a conspicuous signal to the minor. Finally, the Attorney General is granted the authority to further define what design practices might lead to compulsive use of a digital product and to provide covered businesses with methods to estimate the age of its users while still maintaining their privacy.

Act 106 prohibits coerced debt, which is secured or unsecured debt incurred by deceiving, defrauding, or manipulating the debtor. The law also provides protections and remedies for victims of coerced debt. It allows Vermont banks to place holds on potentially coercive transactions to ensure that their customers do not get scammed. The act also offers a path for victims of coerced debt to pursue a remedy.

Act 109 enhances consumer protection in the event-ticketing market. It regulates the resale of tickets, improving transparency and preventing predatory and deceptive practices. Entities that resell or facilitate the resale of tickets must clearly identify online that they are a reselling site. The law prohibits these entities from using deceptive advertising practices. It also caps the price of a ticket being resold to no more than 10% above the original ticket price, including taxes and fees. Finally, the act limits the sale of speculative tickets. These practices have endangered the viability and credibility of Vermont-based businesses and cost Vermonters who just want to attend an event money and time.

Transportation Issues

With construction costs up over 60% in the last five years, it is increasingly challenging to fund road and bridge maintenance across the state. 83% of Vermont roads are municipally-managed and 17% are state-managed, yet only 10% of the Agency of Transportation (AOT)’s maintenance budget supports municipal needs. The legislature added an annual inflation adjuster to the funding formula for town highways and structures in the FY 2026 Transportation Bill (T-Bill). This year’s FY 2027 Transportation Bill further augments funding to municipalities by adding $3 million in one-time surplus, and by proposing a new Local Option Municipal Transportation Special Fund. Amidst these challenging finances, AOT budgeted to increase the miles of state highway maintenance projects in FY 2027 by maximizing available federal funds to make up for a below-average paving year in 2026. The 2027 T-Bill also instructs the AOT to consider bonding certain road and bridge projects to further leverage federal dollars and increase critical infrastructure maintenance.

The FY 2026 T-Bill funded the planning and implementation of the mileage-based-user-fee (MBUF) program that will charge EV users for road use. Owners of EVs currently do not pay into the gas tax, but do pay a higher registration fee that has been transferred to the Agency of Commerce & Community Development to fund level I and II EV chargers statewide. The FY2027 T-Bill lays out the MBUF launch for January 1, 2027, with payment tied to the annual auto inspection. MBUF revenue will go to the Transportation Fund.

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) grant to install Level III electric chargers was frozen last year, but subsequently reinstated. One charging station in Bradford has been up and running since 2024; another eight locations across the state should be functional by year-end 2026.

The Transportation Alternatives Grant Program currently provides project grants of up to $600,000 in the areas of environmental mitigation, bike/pedestrian improvements, traffic calming, and historic preservation. Given a small surplus in this program (which includes federal funds), the 2027 T-Bill temporarily raises the ceiling on 2027 grants up to $1.2 million, reverting back to $600,000 in 2028.

The FY 2026 DMV Bill (Act 66) allowed for early renewal of Real and non-Real IDs and Non-Driver IDs to support marginalized Vermonters whose gender identity did not match their birth certificates or who may not have citizenship. 1574 Vermonters have already taken advantage of this early-renewal program.

The FY2027 DMV Bill requires the DMV to update its annual inspection manual to prioritize safety issues and provide relief from minor maintenance requirements. The law tightens accountability on trucks illegally passing through Smuggler’s Notch and on snowmobiles using VAST trails without a permit, and clarifies the illegality of individuals intentionally altering a Vermont license plate. Additionally, the law requires the use of a personal flotation device while boating in winter and improves regulations on motorcycle exhaust systems that affect ambient noise.

Miscellaneous

Act 117 supports gender equity in our correctional facilities. Specifically, it recognizes that gender transition is a personal experience that may involve some combination of social, legal, and medical transition. The law also covers safety concerns, addresses inconsistent medical and mental health care for gender transition, and supports a transgender individual’s ability to be recognized with respect and agency throughout the incarceration process.

Act 32 expands employee access to unpaid leave. The act updates Vermont’s Parental and Family Leave Act by expanding access to unpaid leave for those working for employers with 10 or more employees. It adds up to two weeks of unpaid bereavement leave following the death of a family member, and allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid safe leave for employees or family members affected by domestic or sexual violence. The law expands the definition of “family member” to include domestic partners, individuals standing in loco parentis, and those in other non-traditional family relationships. Lastly, the act requires employers to provide comparable job reinstatement when an employee returns from leave. The bill became law in May 2025.

Act 136 allows certified unaccompanied homeless youth (ages 16–17) to consent to medical care, housing, employment, banking, and school enrollment without parental consent; strengthens standards for transportation, restraint, and seclusion of youth in state custody; and prohibits the Department of Children and Families  from using foster youths’ Social Security benefits to offset state costs except in limited circumstances, aligning Vermont with most other states.

Taxing the wealthy.  This year, the House Ways and Means Committee considered legislation to support the critical needs in our state, including healthcare and education, by expanding progressive taxation and raising taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters. 

Income inequality and the wealth gap is one of the most important issues of our time. Over the last months, the Committee  heard countless hours of testimony regarding the very real affordability crisis so many of our constituents are facing: people being priced out of health care plans, seniors on fixed incomes struggling to keep up with unsustainable property tax increases, and working families living paycheck to paycheck and unable to keep up with grocery and fuel price increases. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, including cutting taxes for large corporations. 

Over the final weeks of the session, the House Ways and Means Committee was weighing two proposals:

• lowering taxes for low- and middle-income Vermonters 
• expanding healthcare access and affordability for those who lost their Affordable Care Act subsidies due to the Trump Administration’s actions

Both proposals would be paid for by raising income taxes on the top 1% of income earners in Vermont and levying additional taxes on unearned/investment income. 

These are extremely important policy initiatives that will have long-term consequences on our state revenues and affect the lives of tens of thousands or Vermonters. There are many significant outstanding policy questions, and there wasn’t enough time left in this legislative session to fully flesh them out. The conversation will likely continue in January during the next legislative session.