Legislative summary - 2025

The 2025 Legislative Session adjourned on Monday, June 16th, after passing H.454, the education transformation bill. Below is a summary of that bill, and other important legislation from the session.

Until the 2026 Session commences on January 6th, I can be reached at dtorre@leg.state.vt.us. Please stay in touch.

EDUCATION

The Education Transformation Bill (H.454) tackles declining enrollment and escalating property taxes through coordinated changes meant to achieve greater scale, sustainable and predictable funding and more equitable access to educational opportunities around the state. The bill lays out a multi-year transformation and includes many contingencies, analyses and votes before major change takes effect. By 2028, Vermont would switch from voter-approved district school budgets to a "block grant" style foundation formula where schools receive a base amount per student. The new funding mechanism would be slowly implemented, with completion in 2033. Before the funding change can occur, the bill calls for the formation of new, larger districts, and suggests an ideal size of 4,000 to 8,000 students per district (only one district—CVU—currently meets these criteria). By December 2025, a special task force will deliver three district maps for legislative consideration and approval in 2026. If passed, the new district lines would become effective on July 1, 2026. Also in the bill: class-size minimums starting in 2026 (with flexibility and waivers); limits to the funding of independent schools; statewide graduation requirements; an update to Vermont's career and technical education system and special education; establishment of new voting wards for new districts, and special elections for new district school board members (2027). See the bill's fiscal note for more details.

TAX AND DEBT RELIEF

To stabilize property taxes, $77.2 million was transferred from the General Fund, combined with a $40 million surplus in the Ed Fund, for one-time property-tax adjustment. We do not expect this next year, and will need to find significant savings in other areas as we transition to the new Education Funding model.

S.51 provides expanded tax credits to low-income households without children, households with children, seniors, retired military and military survivors, and veterans.  The exemption for Social Security income increased by $5,000 when the adjusted gross income for tax filers is $55,000 for individuals, and $70,000 for joint filers.

Led by Treasurer Mike Pieciak, we passed S.27, a bill that will provide up to $100 million in medical debt relief for middle- and working-class Vermonters, while removing medical debt from credit scores. The bill passed on a unanimous bipartisan vote.

HOUSING

S.127 addresses housing and housing development by: allocating money for lower and middle income Vermonters to access financing for house purchases and rentals; offers grants for landlords to bring units up to code; offers support to Vermonters living in mobile homes; protects our labor force by protecting our immigrant population from housing discrimination; creates the Community and Housing Infrastructure Program (CHIP), a tax increment financing program for municipalities and private developers to finance housing infrastructure projects in both rural and urban regions.

Despite its passage by both the House and Senate, H.91, a bill to transition how we support homeless Vermonters (including ending emergency motel vouchers) to a more sustainable program, was vetoed by the Governor.

HEALTH CARE

H. 35 unmerges the individual and small group markets that purchase insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchange. The individual market currently receives federal subsidies to reduce premiums for Vermonters-- expected to expire at the end of the year. The small group market will have lower premiums as a result of this bill.

H. 266 started as a bill to support 340b pharmacies at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Planned Parenthood in dealing with onerous pharmacy-benefit management practices. We learned that the federal 340b program was being used by some hospitals to significantly overcharge patients and commercial insurance to support other programs, and that Vermont is the most expensive state in the country for these costs, charging approximately 600% over the average sales price to commercial insurers. H. 266 puts a cap on prices equal to 130% of the average sales price as determined by Medicare for 2026.

S. 53 requires doula services be paid for by Vermont Medicaid. Doulas support families throughout the prenatal, birthing and postnatal period, and reduce preterm births, low birth weight and postpartum depression leading to healthier families and lower costs.

H.259 prevents workplace violence in hospitals by requiring hospitals to implement an approved security plan. From June 2023 through December 2024, 6 hospitals reported 89 total incidents with injury to staff.

H. 482 allows the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) authority to adjust a hospital’s reimbursement rates and to appoint a hospital observer if there appears to be a material misrepresentation of budget submission.

S. 126— Barring action by Congress, federal subsidies for healthcare will expire on December 31st and drive the annual cost of a Silver family plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont on the Vermont Health Exchange to $ 58,000 per year. This is unaffordable. This bill orders GMCB to use reference-based pricing to set rates; allows the GMCB to review rates of hospital networks; and provides transparency for state agencies to set contracts between providers and payers. It creates a statewide health resource plan and forms a primary-care committee that will contribute to the development of the plan. Lastly, the bill holds AHS accountable for the work and timeline required in ACT 167 around hospital sustainability.

PROTECTING OUR YOUTH

S.69 (also known as the Kids' Code) will require social-media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, to prioritize children’s safety and privacy in their design and operation. This includes mandates like: configuring default privacy settings to the highest level of protection for minors, providing simple tools for account deletion, providing minors with increased control over who they connect with online, and better transparency about data collection and algorithms. 

H.480, a miscellaneous education bill, requires all public and approved independent schools to adopt a policy by the 2026-2027 school year to keep studentsmartphones and other personal devices (like Apple watches) out of classrooms during the school day. Harwood's positive experience with its recent ban was influential in advancing this statewide.

BALANCED BUDGET

In the $9.1 billion FY26 state budget bill (H.493), we allocated nearly $150 million to housing initiatives, including disability, low-to-moderate income, recovery and short-term stabilization housing for Vermonters who are temporarily incapacitated by mental health or substance use, and emergency housing. We also enhanced support for vital health and human service needs. Funding was increased for primary care at Rural Health Centers and Federally Qualified Health Centers. Childcare centers received a 5% boost for infant and toddler care, and social service agencies saw a 2% rate increase. Over $1 million was directed to food and nutrition programs and an additional $1.3 million will support substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery. To address workload challenges and improve public safety, $1.3 million was allocated to the State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, along with $450,000 for Urban Search and Rescue efforts. A more detailed list of budget highlights can be found here.

TRANSPORTATION

Rep. White’s Transportation Committee passed the Transportation Bill, H.488, which includes funding the implementation of a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) for electric vehicles, and a formula that grows the funding of Town Highway/Bridge maintenance for municipalities. Also passed, the Dept. of Motor Vehicles Bill—S.123—which includes the ability for Vermonters to renew their driver’s licenses/id cards at any time, reflective of their chosen gender; adds language clarifying a town’s right to maintain (or not) Legal Trails; allows cyclists to use pedestrian crosswalks; and commissions a study on the affordability of car inspections.

CLIMATE AND ENERGY

Rep. Torre worked on S.50 in her committee, a bill which increases the size of backyard solar projects that qualify for expedited registration from the Public Utility Commission. We increased the maximum size of ground-mounted solar eligible for simpler registration to 25 kW from 15 kW given new technology that produces more energy in the same footprint. Another solar win is the Solar for All program, with funding secured by Sen. Bernie Sanders. Vermont will receive $62.5 million to help low- and moderate-income homeowners and renters participate in the benefits of solar. Meanwhile, the Vermont Climate Action Plan has been updated; see the latest plan on July 1--climatechange.vermont.gov

This summary was co-written with WA-2 representative Candice White.