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Advocacy Update – Week 1 – 2025

Lake Champlain Chamber News and Press Advocacy Update Legislative Updates Advocacy Update – Week 1 – 2025

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January 10, 2025

Welcome back, readers. Each week, we bring you, from our first-hand perspective, a distillation of the policymakers’ activities, the dynamics in the State House, and other factors behind what is happening in the Vermont state capitol. 

We’re returning to a State House with no veto-proof majorities in the House or Senate, as was the case the last four years, and the increased Republican ranks were an omnipresent factor as the session kicked off. 

In this week’s update: 

We strive to make these concise and easy to read. Feedback is not just welcomed, it’s encouraged – [email protected] 5

Space is Filling Up – Register Today for the LCC Legislative Breakfast Series 

Every year, we bring legislators, policymakers, and LCC members together to celebrate business ownership and entrepreneurship and advocate for economic opportunity in our region. Last year, we had a fantastic series highlighting our region’s outsized impacts on the global semiconductor and computing industries; this year, we’re turning our eyes to the skies to exhibit our aviation sector. 

  • Monday, January 27th, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. at BETA Technologies
  • Monday, March 24th, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. Patrick Leahy International Airport – Gate 9 
Register Here
Thank you to our breakfast sponsor

What Happened in the House? 

This week, the House voted to keep their Speaker, more Republicans took leadership positions, and new committees previewed more day-to-day balance than in previous years. 

Catch Up Quick: Ahead of the November election, Rep. Laura Sibilia, an independent, announced she’d be challenging the Speaker of the House for the position. 

  • Over the weekend, VTDigger’s reporting, 21 democrats, progressives, and independents were aligned behind Sabilia, though they were waiting on the Republicans with their 56 members. 
  • Over the weekend, Sibilia told the media, “Our numbers tell us that if the Republicans join their Democratic, independent, and Progressive colleagues who are voting for change, I’m going to win.”

The Cavalry Didn’t Come: The Republicans never materialized for Sibilia, though, and the incumbent Speaker secured 111 to Sibilia’s 35 votes. 

  • This would have been a moment for the Republicans to potentially flex their muscle with their new numbers. 

Between the Lines: why didn’t the Republican leadership not whip their votes to join Sibilia? There are numerous reasons, most prominently; 

  • Republican leadership felt they could work with Krowinski and that she’s learned the lessons they felt she needed to learn from the election, as they told the media. 
  • Republican rank-and-file were not convinced Sibilia was a good choice as she has championed policies unfavorable to them, such as the Clean Heat Standard. 

Doubled Leadership Presence for Republicans: The electoral consequences netted an additional Chair in the House for the Republican Party, totaling two, and filled 11 of the 14 Committees with a Republican vice chair or Chair.

  • Rep. Mike Marcotte (R) retained his Chair in House Commerce and Economic Development 
  • Rep. Matt Walker stepped into the position of Chair in House Transportation 
  • Notably, influential money committees have Republican Vice Chairs, Bill Canfield in Ways and Means and Jim Harrisson in Appropriations. 

Zoom In: For all the focus media and casual observers put on the erosion of the veto-proof majority, those in the golden bubble day-in-day-out know that the real electoral impacts are at the Committee level. 

Zoom Back Out: Most bills are about 99% baked by a few committees before they go for a vote of the whole body, so when a committee has more balance of the two parties, what’s sent to a vote looks dramatically different. 

House Committee Shake-Ups 

New Addition: The House went from 14 to 15 committees as House Energy & Technology was split in two; 

  • The Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure will consider matters relating to energy, utilities, telecommunications, broadband, IT, cybersecurity, and other similar policies.
  • The Committee on Environment will consider matters relating to conservation and development, climate change mitigation, land resources, air, water, fish and wildlife, solid waste management, and other similar policies.
  • Look familiar? Those around as recently as the 2020 to 2022 session might remember a similar configuration. 

Promotions and Chair Changes: 

  • Rep. Robin Scheu moved over one seat from Vice Chair to Chair of Appropriations in the wake of Rep. Diane Lanpher losing her seat in November. 
  • Rep. Matt Birong is in a similar position, as he takes over as Chair of House Government Operations and Military Affairs for Rep. Mike McCarthy, who will not be returning.
  • Rep. Alysaa Black moved from the Vice Chair role to Chair of theCommittee on Healthcare as Rep. Lori Houghton moved on to be House Majority Leader. 
  • Rep. Tom Stevens (D) had his long-held House General and Housing chairmanship swapped for a seat on the Appropriations Committee. 
  • Rep. Marc Mihaly (D) will now Chair the House Committee on General and Housing with Republican Rep. Ashley Bartley as Vice Chair. 

Find a listing of Committees and Committee Members here. 

Senate: Massive Shake-Up in Committees

To say there was a change in the Senate would be an understatement, as nine of the 11 standing committees will have new chairs this biennium. 

Catch Up Quick: The Republicans picked up an astonishing six seats to bring them from seven to 13 members in the November election.  

Why It Matters: The consequences of the election were more profound in the 30 member Senate. 

  • Republicans picked up two more Committee Chairs to build on their one from the previous session, totaling three chairs.
  • Republican Senator Richie Westman will chair the Transportation Committee, Senator Brian Collamare will pick up Government Operations, and Senator Russ Ingalls will chair Agriculture. 

Balance in Committees: As we already explained in the context of the House, it’s not just about the veto vote count – more numbers mean more day-to-day balance around shaping what makes it to a vote by the Senate. 

  • In previous years, some committees wouldn’t have a single Republican, with the best example being the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, which last biennium was comprised of only Democrats and now has two Republicans.  
  • Most profound is Senate Education, a committee that will have a great deal of controversial work and is evenly split between the two parties. 

Click here for a list of committee assignments

Governor’s Inaugural Address Focuses on Housing and Education Spending 

Governor Phil Scott delivered his fifth inaugural address Thursday – let’s jump in. 

Déjà vu: many of the themes were no different from the previous four inaugurals – a lack of affordability, the need for more housing, the need to reverse our aging population demographics, and his perspective on a rural-urban divide mixed with a call for bipartisan collaboration to achieve those ends. 

Déjà new: What was different was enhanced voter mandate as he addressed a body that, as he noted, can not as easily dismiss his proposals, citing the loss of veto-proof majorities as an opportunity for more balanced solutions

The Key Focus: The Governor spent most of his time previewing his coming proposals on housing and education. 

Housing: The appeal was made to “legalize housing” by removing barriers and enabling the construction of affordable, accessible, and abundant housing for all Vermonters noting Vermont needs 8,000 new homes annually over the next five years to meet workforce demands, far exceeding the current 2,300 homes being built each year. The Governor honed in on opportunities in; 

  • Infrastructure: The Governor focused on expanding flood recovery infrastructure and expanding on Tax Increment Finance. 
  • Investments: remarks focused on spurring small-scale investment to revitalize our old housing stock and, thereby, communities through expanding the Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP). 
  • Improvements to previous Act 250 modernization: Act 181, passed last session, did not include rural communities in its growth opportunities, along with numerous other issues he highlighted in his veto letter just seven months ago. 
    • He also highlighted appeals as an area of modernization, explaining that the process is being misused and preventing new housing with delays. 

Education: The Governor promised a multi-year plan to overhaul Vermont education, with more coming in his budget address on the 28th; however, he soft-launched some of the concepts. 

  • New formula: he previewed a “student-centered funding formula,” which is typically another term for a foundation formula, which he pitched as providing better opportunities for kids with costs under control.  
  • Simpler governance: he promised a policy for new governance that would be simpler while delivering more equality across communities.
  • Guardrails: he signaled more guidance and support to administrators to reduce cost pressures. 
  • Elimination of increase this year: The Governor highlighted that if schoolboards can stay to the 5.9% increase projected in the December first letter, his budget would lower that with a goal of eliminating it. 

Have a new year’s resolution? 

A new year means the start of a new session and many ways to engage with our advocacy team. 

With this many opportunities, why not make engaging in policy the easiest resolution possible?

What to Do with the Commission on the Future of Public Education? 

The Commission on the Future of Public Education issued its interim report ahead of the holidays with very little to show, and now everyone is rethinking their existence. 

Catch up quick: Last legislative session, the Legislature put together this commission in response to the massive spike in property taxes the legislature was passing as a way to allow those who work in the education space to deliver an interim report ahead of this session and a larger report ahead of the next. 

Hold Up, Pencils down, the fire alarm was pulled… If a voter backlash to increased education property taxes had not happened, then time would be a luxury afforded to the Commission. Alas, the erosion of the supermajorities means the Legislature will undoubtedly take big swings at this mandate from voters.  

Underwhelming Report: The report, delivered late to the Legislature, outlines the challenges and trends facing Vermont’s education system but offers no actionable recommendations for this session.

  • Because many of the stakeholders at the table advocated restricting the Commission to only those working as superintendents, principals, educators, and on school boards, one would think that they would already have a solid grasp on the issues in the Vermont education space and would be coming to the table with more ironed-out solutions.

Appeal for inclusion? A redundant request

  • The Commission is concerned that the electoral repercussions will mean the Legislature will move on without them, and they appealed to legislators to include them in their legislative process. 
  • However, the existence or not of such a Commission makes no impact on the ability of those on the Commission to participate; 
    • Every commission member is representative of Associations with very active lobbyists, except for the two Chairs of Committees of Jurisdiction and two members of the administration who participate in the legislative process on a day-in-day-out basis. 

What value does the Commission have? Most everyone at the table had a hand in excluding outside perspectives, from stakeholders such as employers and businesses, from having a seat on the Commission.

  • This was an early and frequent criticism because those who do this work know when you control the process, you control the policy outcome;
  • However, these stakeholders could not control the politics, and that has rendered the commission process potentially superfluous. 

What’s Next? Commission members made clear that they don’t want to work in cross-purpose to the Legislature, however, they feel they still have a role to play. 

  • For now, they’ll watch and wait for that purpose to percolate. 

The Laundry List

Hundreds of hours of committee discussion each week culminate into our advocacy update, so not everything makes it into the overall update; however, we often cover what is left on the cutting-room floor here for our most dedicated readers. 

  • Depend on a truck for your business? The Agency of Natural Resources is hosting an online information session on Tuesday, January 28 on the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule, which will take effect for manufacturers in model year 2026. The truck rule is similar to the Advanced Clean Car Regulation. It is not just for 18-wheelers; It includes class 2b trucks (like the Chevy Silverado 2500, Ram 2500, or Ford- F-250). Register online and submit your questions by clicking this link.
  • Treasurer Mike Pieciak said a recent analysis by his office found that the State pension system reforms in Act 114  and the state’s payments since are reversing the decades of unfunded liabilities and are on track to reduce the pensions’ burden on taxpayers by $5.8 billion over the next two decades. Read more via VTDigger. 

Hey! You read the whole update. You probably have some thoughts on the content or how we delivered it. Feel free to reach out with those at [email protected]. 

Category: Advocacy Update