Thank you to this week’s sponsor of our Advocacy Update:
March 13, 2026
Happy Crossover, to All Who Celebrate
Today is crossover, the day by which legislation needs to pass out of the committee of jurisdiction. Next week is crossover for legislation that must go through the money committees.
In this update,
- We’ll do a rapid-fire check-in on the status of legislation now that the crossover deadline has passed,
- as well as a check-in on the status of education transformation post-town meeting day.
- Of course, there is even more to unpack in the Laundry List.
But, before we start, let’s just acknowledge that it has been a tumultuous week. A disturbing ICE raid in South Burlington, school buses burning in Williston, a legislator resigning for family duties, and another legislator resigning from committee for misconduct, to make a total of eight legislators who have needed to be replaced this biennium.
We are saddened and disturbed by the events in our community on Wednesday. Vermonters are altogether different, and that is our region’s strength; we are a place where new faces, new ideas, and new ways of doing things are welcomed and embraced.
Our state and our country are stronger because of the diversity of people within our borders. We implore federal agencies to respect our state’s citizens, law enforcement, and undocumented residents. This week’s events in South Burlington are disturbing; however, they are also a reminder that Vermonters look out for one another, are patient with one another, and treat one another with respect.
As we all navigate difficult, uncharted territory, let’s stay true to those qualities and give each other, as well as our local and state governments, grace.
If you have any questions and want to go deeper on any of these issues, please reach out to us.
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 for our region. Sponsored by EastRise Credit Union, our Legislative Breakfasts are opportunities to connect with legislators and those in higher office.
March Focus – The Regional Governance Debate: Is Vermont’s “town-by-town” structure holding us back? At LCC, we believe the biggest obstacle to solving our state’s policy problems is often the town line.
- We are actively testifying and engaging with policymakers on potential non-duplicative regional models that streamline governance without adding bureaucracy.
Want to Join the Conversation? Join us on March 16th for our Legislative Breakfast at Dealer.com. We’ll host a panel of municipal and legislative leaders to discuss the future of regionalism in Vermont.
March Legislative Breakfast
- When: Monday, March 16 | 8:30 am
- Where: Dealer.com | 1 Howard Street, Burlington
January Legislative Breakfast –
- When: Rescheduled to April 20th!
- Where: The Nine | 1205 Airport Parkway, South Burlington
Thank you to our hosts, The Nine and Dealer.com, for their generous support of our Legislative Breakfast Series!
Thank you to our breakfast sponsor
Crossover Check-In
Here is a rapid-fire list of many of the bills moving this week.
Healthcare
- H.577 – made crossover: Creates the Vermont Prescription Drug Discount Card Program, a state-run partnership to save residents up to 80% on generic medications.
- S.197 – made crossover: Moves toward primary care reform by utilizing flat, monthly payments instead of fee-for-service billing.
- H.583 – made crossover: A bill to regulate private equity in healthcare, including banning leveraged buyouts of providers and requiring ownership disclosures.
- H.585 – made crossover: the administration’s healthcare reform proposal that includes public members on the private BlueCross BlueShield board, among other changes to health insurance, including a study of allowing small businesses to form Association Health Plans (AHPs).
- Removed from the bill were two provisions business groups had hoped for: consideration of moving away from “pure” community rating for insurance to allow age-based premium variances.
- S.190 – made crossover: The committee approved a revised reference-based pricing bill that focuses first on reducing costs in qualified health plans and adds a study of how reference-based pricing might later apply to state employee and school employee plans.
Public safety
- S.193 – made crossover: A proposal to create a secure forensic facility for defendants found incompetent to stand trial for violent crimes.
- S.255 – passed the Senate: Establishes a five-year pilot for a regional law enforcement governance council in Windham County.
- H.549 – made crossover: Expands access to state-issued IDs for incarcerated individuals to assist with reintegration upon release.
- H.529 – missed crossover: A bill to expand and modify the state’s pretrial supervision program. There was skepticism over the effectiveness of the program and whether the same goals were better served by the “accountability court” (actually a docket) system.
Employment and the Economy
- H.205 – not moving this year: A long-debated bill to prohibit non-compete agreements; current versions suggest wage thresholds of 300% of minimum wage or ~$90,000 for exemptions.
- H.512 – passed the House: A consumer protection bill that caps ticket resale markups at 110% and prohibits “speculative” ticket sales.
- S.327 – passed the Senate: A bill explored by the Senate Economic Committee to add employee-owned businesses as an enhancement category for the Vermont Economic Growth Incentive (VEGI).
- S.206 – made crossover: a bill establishing a statewide professional licensing system for early childhood educators through the Office of Professional Regulation (OPR).
Housing
- S.325 – made crossover: A bill to delay key Act 181 deadlines for Tier 3 mapping from 2026 to July 1, 2027, and the “road rule” to 2020, to provide “transitional certainty”. Read more about this week’s discussion via VTDigger.
- H.730 – incorporated in S.325: A Rural Caucus bill aimed at slowing Act 181 implementation, requiring written notice to all property owners in Tiers 2 and 3, and adjusting tax valuations based on new regulatory burdens.
- H.775 – made crossover: Known as the “Housing Toolbox,” it creates a Rural Housing Finance Pilot and authorizes municipalities to issue Special Assessment Revenue Bonds for infrastructure like water and sewer.
- S.238 – missed crossover: A proposal to fund nonprofit housing developers through a 2% surcharge on lodging and a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.
- H.772 – passed committee: A bill addressing the power dynamic between landlords and tenants, proposing shorter eviction timelines for nonpayment while adding rent increase caps.
- H.589 – In repose: This bill would create a statute of repose for home builders and contractors, without which their exposure is indefinite liability.
Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure
- H.758: A proposal to ban rodenticides, which has raised concerns among businesses regarding pest control. LCC sent a letter in opposition this week.
- S.211 – passed Senate: A bill that would change vehicle inspections from annual to biennial (every two years) to reduce financial burdens on residents.
- S.183 – made crossover: Refines the definition of home improvement fraud to ensure criminal liability is tied to a “knowing intent to defraud.”
Education
If you expected crossover to mean meaningful headway on education transformation, think again. Legislation of this magnitude is often given an exemption, and the work will continue as long as it has to. We cover more on the latest below
- S.313 – made crossover: The Senate’s version of the Career Technical Education system transformation is still lacking finality, yet serves as a vehicle to keep the conversation alive.
Missing Crossover Doesn’t Mean It’s Over
Don’t forget, this is the Vermont Legislature, where the rules can change and sometimes deadlines are just deadlines to make new deadlines. That means that some legislation can come back in a variety of ways, such as being attached to similar legislation.
- “Extreme” temperatures: a background conversation around legislation to prevent or restrict work due to high or low temperatures did not make crossover; however, it is expected to be added to the miscellaneous labor bill currently coming from the Senate.
- While the impetus for the legislation is ski areas, the legislation will have far-reaching consequences, especially if the temperature ranges are as unreasonable as they were when first introduced.
- Investor housing – The House Committee on General and Housing took last-minute testimony on H.607, a bill attempting to prevent housing owned by entities with more than 10 single-family units and $30 million in assets.
- Noncompetes – the legislation was held back by a lack of compromise between teachers, school boards, and principals on how the bill would apply to them, which was a last-minute development in a bill that, for eight years, has been about business interests. If they can work out a deal, this bill could still move.
Tax and Finance
As a reminder, the “money” committees have their crossover deadline next week. We’ll give you a more in-depth update next week!
- S.220 – passed committee: the Senate Committee on Finance amended the bill to lower the excess spending threshold for school budgets instead of imposing caps on spending.
- The bill was bogged down in a last-minute attempt to add “wealth taxes” to the legislation that failed to get the required votes.
Education Debate Still Stuck – Cost Containment vs. Cost Contagion
If you expected crossover to mean meaningful headway on education transformation, think again. Legislation of this magnitude is often granted an exemption, and the work will continue as long as necessary.
Town Meeting Results: voters approved more than 83% of school budgets to date, with 19 budgets defeated out of 112 voted on so far. Statewide education spending growth was currently tracking at about 4.2%, down from the 5.8% projected in December. Six districts were currently over the excess spending threshold.
Catch up quick: Act 73, which was passed last session, aims to consolidate school districts, enact a foundation formula, create a second homes tax, and transition the property tax credit (income sensitivity) to a homestead exemption, among other things.
- Under the legislation, all of those items listed are contingent on the first, district consolidation, and if the Legislature were thinking about changing that, Governor Phil Scott has said he will not sign any legislation this year until a new district consolidation map is agreed upon.
What has become apparent are two long-standing issues with the transformation process:
- Order of operations
- An unwillingness to address cost containment, paired with inevitable cost contagion.
Order of Operations
Legislators repeatedly face what most of you will recognize as routine project management issues, in which they have trouble addressing one because they find they need another resolved first. This leaves some wondering if that is an intentional feature of the process aimed at preventing change, or just a product of leadership.
- There is a wide array of interconnected issues, including school facility remediation and PCB testing, uneven access to Career Technical Education (CTE), class-size minimums, and more, each of which requires movement on the others.
- This week, this became particularly clear during CTE discussions in the House, as the House Committee on Commerce attempted to continue work on the issue.
Cost Containment: Half a billion increase vs. evident cuts
- The state has an “alligator mouth” problem, which describes a structural revenue crisis where education fund costs grow at ~6% annually while the non-property tax revenues grow at only ~3%.
- Last week, we covered the half a billion in cost growth the state will see.
- Legislators were understandably rattled this week when JFO analysis showed the fiscal impacts of the House Education Chair’s map proposal.
Zoom out: Concerns continue to be raised regarding Vermont’s high per-pupil spending versus below-average academic performance in 4th-grade math and reading, as well as declining graduation rates.
The Laundry List
Hundreds of hours of committee discussion each week culminate in 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.
- Read previous updates: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, and Week 8
- Representative Topper McFaun of Barre Town announced Thursday that he will resign from the House effective April 3 due to family responsibilities. Topper was a ubiquitously liked, long-time member of the Legislature who currently serves on the House Healthcare Committee and will be a substantial loss to the Republican Caucus. Indications are that he has identified a replacement and that the process will move efficiently.
- This will mark seven legislators who have resigned mid-biennium and have been replaced (with an eighth rumored for next week), an astounding and unprecedented number.
- Already, many legislators are announcing their retirements, including high-profile chairs.
- Weekend listening: It’s not every day that we suggest in this update that you listen to a podcast, much less an hour-long podcast; however, the recent interview of Senate Pro Tem Phil Baruth on 802 News with Mark Johnson is worth your time if you are interested in how the State House works, what the future might look like with the coming wave of retirements at the end of this session, and the broader education transformation push the Senator has been at the forefront on.
- Nearly a dozen towns joined over 30 of their peers and added a local options tax on Town Meeting Day, using recently granted authority by the Legislature, which means municipalities no longer need to seek a charter change for such a tax. This trend is not just about ease; it’s also a symptom of the pressure municipalities feel from education property taxes, which keep them from funding their local governments with property taxes.
- Applications for Congressionally Directed Spending (you might remember them as “earmarks”) are due this coming Monday, and LCC has supported two requests. First, LCC supported South Burlington’s request for the Williston Road Airport Access Improvements project on U.S. Route 2. Second, LCC is building on previous requests to the NBRC to renovate and consolidate wastewater treatment facilities in Shelburne.
- A new economic impact study shows that Leahy BTV airport contributes $1.07 billion annually, supporting 5,646 jobs, and generates $62 million in state/local tax revenue to the Vermont economy. The full economic impact report is available here. BTV’s new terminal is set to open very soon!
- On March 5, Governor Scott signed H.790, an act relating to fiscal year 2026 budget adjustments. Read more via VTDigger.
- Also on March 5th, the Governor signed S.28, an act relating to the use of synthetic media in elections.