Thank you to this week’s sponsor of our Advocacy Update:
May 16, 2025
The budget is headed to the Governor’s desk, with all indications that he’ll sign it, and a long-standing question around electric vehicle mandates was temporarily resolved this week. However, no one feels like we are anywhere near done…
The $300,000 a week (how much it costs to operate the State House) question: When will they go home? That will depend on how fast these two bills, covering issues that were clearly indicated as priorities to voters, get resolved.
As things wrap up, there is more uncertainty than answers, specifically on two significant pieces of legislation.
- The “education transformation” bill is moving in the Senate, however, not without aggravation and an understanding that there is a lot of “placeholder language” that will need to be revisited in a Committee of Conference or in future years.
- The housing bill has been pulled into a quagmire as House members express their discontent and frustration with the changes to the Community Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP) made by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
In this week’s update,
- Consensus reached on the budget
- Punting in a plethora of places, Senate version of the education transformation bill proceeds
- CHIP changes create frustration among House members (Action Request)
- Vermont EV sales mandates lose charge for one year
- More dire healthcare news
- The Laundry List
We strive to make these concise and easy to read. Feedback is not just welcomed, it’s encouraged – [email protected]
Consensus Reached on the Budget
90-second read
Vermont’s FY2026 budget, H.493, passed by a vote of 132–3 in the House with overwhelming bipartisan support, after a Committee of Conference worked to close the gaps between the House and Senate versions while accommodating the Governor’s requests. The $9.01 billion budget now heads to the Governor’s desk.
- The House and Senate brought spending down $21 million in base spending from the Senate’s version to get closer to the Governor’s version.
Top takeaways:
- $77.2 million in property tax relief for homeowners.
- Boosts for child care subsidies and has a $19 million shift in child care funding due to better-than-expected payroll tax revenue and lower program uptake.
- Keeps funding for the Vermont Foodbank and developmental services.
- Prepares for looming federal cuts with surplus and reserve buffers and instructions on how the e-board, Joint Fiscal Committee, and Administration are to handle cuts.
What’s next: Scott is expected to review the full bill soon. His office has already signaled that the compromise is “a positive direction.”
Punting in a Plethora of Places, Senate Version of Education Transformation Bill Proceeds
5-minute read
The Senate Committee on Finance voted out the “education transformation” bill this week with many unanswered questions and an understanding that there would be more work done to answer them as this bill winds its way towards a Committee of Conference.
Here is where things stand on some of the big issues.
There are other big questions that have never been fully addressed in the House, and that have continued not to be addressed by the Senate.
- What do you do about low-spending, low-tax districts that are now going to see higher spending and be subjected to a higher statewide tax rate due to the formula?
- What do you do about the debt that school districts have?
- How does the foundation formula account for the necessary differences in teacher salaries due to regional differences in cost of living?
What’s next? Just because the bill passed out of Finance, it does not mean that the future trajectory of the bill in the Senate is certain. It still needs to make a stop at the Appropriations Committee and go to the floor next week to ever make it to a Committee of Conference.
- Both parties are starting up their talking point on how a potential failure is the other party’s fault…
CHIP Changes Create Frustration Among Members in House
Action Requested | 3-minute read
The House was animated and the halls atwitter this week as members reacted to news of how the Community Housing Infrastructure Program has been changed by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The House Ways and Means Committee framed the changes they made as guardrails on the work done by the policy committees, the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and the House Committee on General and Housing.
- However, by mid-week, those policy committees showed signs that the only guardrails that needed to be set were on what the money committee, House Ways and Means, could do to their work.
We need you to reach out to your legislator to push this across the line – continue reading to see more below!
A joint hearing of policy committees was scheduled, then rescheduled, and eventually held on Thursday to provide the two committees that worked on the policy with a chance to react to what the money committee had done.
Meanwhile, leadership of various caucuses and committees huddled in the halls to float compromises and alternatives, as House leadership does not have the votes to move a House Ways and Means version, and support for the work of the policy committees has solidified.
In the Senate, during a walk-through and preview of what the House had done, Senators expressed dismay and frustration as well, with Senator Kesha Ram-Hinsdale referring to the new version as “another Rube Goldberg tax program.”
As this update is being written, a caucus of the whole is being held in the House to discuss the differences.
Request for you: Infrastructure is essential to addressing our housing crisis.
- Please email your Representative and ask them to signal their potential “no” vote on the current Ways and Means amendment and “yes” on the version of CHIP that better reflects what the policy committees (House Commerce and House General) originally voted out. You can find them here.
Vermont EV Sales Mandates Out of Charge for a Year
3-minute read
Governor Phil Scott signed an executive order this week directing state regulators to pause enforcement of electric vehicle (EV) sales mandates for cars and trucks, giving auto dealers and manufacturers a temporary reprieve.
- Executive Order 04-25 tells the Agency of Natural Resources to use enforcement discretion, easing pressure on automakers to hit zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) targets under the Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks rules.
- The order bars penalties for missing targets if manufacturers don’t force quotas on local dealers and continue supplying the gas-powered vehicles Vermonters want.
Why it matters: Vermont’s aggressive EV targets, driven in large part by legally binding climate goals, were set to begin affecting vehicle manufacturers as early as 2025. But with infrastructure gaps and lagging truck technology, industry groups pushed back.
Catch up quick: Vermont adopted the ACC and ACT regulations in 2022 to align with California’s clean vehicle standards. These rules require:
- Advanced Clean Cars II: 35% of new cars sold must be EVs or plug-in hybrids in 2025, rising to 100% by 2035.
- Advanced Clean Trucks: 10% of new trucks must be zero-emission in 2025, scaling up to 75% by 2035, depending on vehicle class.
The issues: Even those who support EV adoption and believe it is important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions pointed to how unrealistic these standards are.
- Market readiness: Only 32 compliant trucks are currently in the state.
- Cost barriers: Electric trucks can cost up to 2.5x more than diesel alternatives.
- Infrastructure gaps: Charging infrastructure, especially for trucks, is limited.
- Economic concerns: Dealers say mandates could push sales across state lines, hurting jobs and tax revenue.
What’s next? The pause offers short-term relief, however, long-term questions remain about how Vermont will meet its climate mandates without viable EV infrastructure and market readiness.
More Dire Health Care News, Double Digit Rate Requests
4-minute read
As we covered last week, this will be a high-stakes summer for Vermont health care. This week, MVP and BCBS’s rate requests were announced, ensuring that the ratemaking for the insurers would only dial up the heat.
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont is seeking to raise the cost of its premiums by an average of 23.3% for individual plans and 13.7% for small group plans on the state health insurance exchange next year.
- MVP is seeking average increases of 6.2% for individual plans and 7.5% for small group plans.
Meanwhile, things could get worse, as we await action in D.C. on medicaid cuts and a potential lack of action on expiring Advanced Premium Tax Credits, which could be a game changer if Congress were to extend them.
The House and Senate moved closer to passing legislation this week, which is meant to help the Green Mountain Care Board bring down costs.
- Cuts and Reference-Based Pricing – S.126 – Requires AHS to coordinate 2.5% hospital spending cuts by FY26, while preserving access to essential services, adds feasibility studies for health data integration and implement reference-based pricing, and requires hospitals and ACOs to share contracts with regulators
- Green Mountain Care Board Authority – S.63 – Clarifies that hospital budget reviews aren’t contested cases under administrative law, updates duties in response to the sunset of the All-Payer Model, and imposes new Affordable Care organization certification fees, bill-back percentage, and revises public meeting rules
- Emergency Budget Powers – H.482 – would authorize the GMCB to reduce hospitals’ rates in cases of insurer insolvency
Additionally, the Governor signed healthcare-related legislation into law this week;
- H.13, An act relating to Medicaid payment rates for community-based service providers.
H.96, An act relating to increasing the monetary thresholds for certificates of need.
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.
- Read previous updates: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, Week 13, Week 14, Week 15, and Week 16
- The House gave approval to the final version of an unpaid leave bill this week.
- Governor Scott signed into law S.27, which would use $1 million in funds appropriated to the Treasurer’s Office to buy and erase $100 million in Vermonters’ medical debt through a partnership with a nonprofit.
- Last week, we covered opportunities to engage in land-use regulation drafting. As a reminder, comments on Chittenden County Future Land Use maps are due on Monday!
Hey! You read the whole update. You probably have some thoughts on the content or how we delivered it. Feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].