Vermont has chosen to spend heavily on climate mitigation, with more than a quarter-billion dollars in state funds committed over just a few years. Meanwhile, as the toll of overdoses continues to outpace weather-related deaths by a factor of nearly 100 to 1, a contrast likely to grow harder for policymakers—and taxpayers—to ignore.
“Governor Salmon led Vermont through some of our nation’s most difficult times, doing his best to stabilize our economy and strengthen trust of government. His efforts on behalf of Vermont are worthy of our gratitude, remembrance, and respect.”
Regional recreation project hits a snag: New Hampshire resists Vermont’s soft stance on homeless encampments while enforcing strict rules that block the fix—new housing.
In the Netherlands, a design group called Why Knot turns knotweed into lightweight, formaldehyde-free building panels. Vermont’s regulatory system is too antiquated to see it as a win-win.
SPEAK VT President Marie Tiemann added that national developments raise questions for Vermont’s Agency of Education: whether it will respect parents’ right to opt out of controversial classroom material, and whether it will protect female athletes under Title IX.
Scott: “I’m going to call balls and strikes. We’re not going to oppose every single issue the federal government brings up, but we will take action and push back when necessary.”
“The bottom line is, this is a federal benefit,” Scott’s press secretary said. “The federal government is legally entitled to this information and has been for much of the last decade.”
The deputy commissioner at DCF noted that Vermont faced the risk of “unspecified sanctions,” which could include withholding of federal funds that cover half of the state’s SNAP program costs.
The state’s Regional Workforce Expansion Pilot program is hiring coordinators to find and train (mostly) young people to join the labor force.
“This case demonstrates the problematic nature of the Global Warming Solutions Act’s expansive private right of action provision,” said Vermont’s Secretary of Natural Resources, Julie Moore, in a written statement to VDC yesterday morning.
Governor Phil Scott today announced that Department of Corrections Commissioner Nick Deml will step down from his role on August 15, with former Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad named to serve as interim commissioner.
Doctors, judges and a race car driver lead the pack among the best paid state workers.
Campaign spotlights housing, taxes, and energy mandates
”It’s amazing how easy it is to feed my kids for free all summer long,” a social media influencer for the free summer meals program said.
For now, the Law remains unequal.
SNAP was created in 1964 to fight hunger by increasing access to calories. But critics argue it has not kept pace with nutrition science. Research shows SNAP participants often consume more calories than non-recipients, but their diets are higher in carbohydrates, sugar, and sodium—raising concerns about diet quality and long-term health outcomes.
Without clear and consistent records of its meetings, Vermonters are left with few details about how significant decisions, such as selecting the anniversary logo, were made. As the 2026 celebrations approach, maintaining transparency and ensuring that future meetings are fully documented will be key to building public confidence in the commission’s work.
How America banned TikTok for data collection while leaving data brokers untouched
These states are calling this freeze unconstitutional, unlawful and an arbitrary decision.
A food-start up bill exempts home based food producers from requiring state food safety permits if they keep their sales under $30,000.
Vermont’s General Assistance (GA) Emergency Housing Program, commonly known as the “hotel/motel program,” remains operational with no termination date, despite confusion among some residents, and cost Vermont taxpayers $33 million dollars last year.
A statute can only stand if it fits within the Constitution. If it doesn’t, it must either be overturned in court, or the Constitution must be amended first. That is the proper process for changing how a government operates.
Vermont’s decision to end telework for roughly 100 employees in its Economic Services Division (ESD) has reignited a broader national debate over remote work in government—and the lack of systems to measure whether it’s working.
Several secretaries of state journeyed as part of a National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) delegation to Taiwan. The trip included meetings with government officials, universities, business and agriculture leaders.
The Vermont Climate Superfund Law aimed at holding oil companies financially responsible for flooding and other damages caused by climate change is facing a flurry of litigation that Gov. Phil Scott anticipated when he declined to endorse the measure last year.
It is no surprise, then, that the Conservation Law Foundation, which is proficient in bringing lawsuits, has taken the state up on its offer.
Stick that in your maple creemee, Governor Hochul!
Notable Vermont companies doing business in China include snowboard maker Burton. China’s winter sports industry has boomed following its hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Vermont lawmakers voted Monday to ban smartphones and other electronic devices used by students during the school day. The goal is to improve academic performance as well as battle a disturbing rise in the rates of depression and anxiety among young people in the state.
Attorney General Charity Clark gaslighted individuals challenging her failure to uphold federal laws regarding Title IX, parental rights, and immigration during a community forum held in Essex on Monday, June 2, to discuss The Impact of Federal Actions on Vermont.
Says 2027 start date leaves time for court challenges
Can the Vermont House and Senate agree this week on tuition for independent schools?
If pants literally caught fire when people lied, there would be no back-ends to wipe among the elected officials who participated in this “policy” forum.
Four months in, Vermont’s budget Is balanced—but the real fight might just Be delayed
Per the Joint Fiscal Office 2025 report, Vermont has the sixth highest per capita spending, at $15,426, yet when we look at results: Johnny can’t read, and our roads are crumbling. Let’s slash bloat and restore sanity
Dr. Oscar S. Peterson Jr. believed that nuclear radiation played an important role in the future, in its capacity to extend the lives of his patients, as well as its ability to cause irreparable harm. His work specializing in radiation therapy at the University of Vermont led to an invitation to serve as Vermont’s Radiological Consultant to the Civil Defense Division of the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
Ronald Reagan once quipped that government is like a baby, an endless appetite on one end, and no discipline on the other. No place lives up to – or down to as the case may be — that analogy more so than Vermont.
The driverless engines of State
The 3,000 member National Sheriffs Organization said the list was published without their knowledge and offers little direction on how sheriffs should proceed.
The entire state of Vermont and the cities of Burlington, Montpelier, and Winooski have been labeled as ‘Sanctuary Jurisdictions’ by the department of Homeland Security, and now face federal funding cuts under Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.
A House Education Committee member this morning told VDC that the H.454 Conference Committee is taking seriously Gov. Phil Scott’s concerns about affordability and implementation timeline in the current House/Senate versions of this session’s landmark legislation: transformation of Vermont’s public education financing and governance.
How Russia weaponized America’s hacking tools to burn down the internet, and how Vermont lays vulnerable
This Vermont bill is a response to a January 20 executive order issued by signed by President Donald Trump, mandating that federal agencies, including the State Department, recognize only two sexes (male and female) based on biological sex assigned at birth, effectively eliminating the “X” gender marker option for passports and prohibiting gender marker changes that do not align with birth certificates.
Ten years and over $200 million later, Vermont is right back where it started—struggling to comply with the Clean Water Act, while farmers, taxpayers, and lawmakers all try to catch their breath.
The legislative process is sometimes likened to sausage making, not pretty to watch. That was certainly true last week at the State House with education reform and a major housing bill being considered.
Don’t just do something for the sake of doing something.
In a recently released open letter to Governor Phil Scott, health educator and Vermont Stands Up director Amy Hornblass raises a stark question: why has Vermont’s Department of Health not investigated the state’s persistent surge in excess deaths since the onset of COVID-19 restrictions?
A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.
Department refuses to release even anonymized data about where recipients came from — or if they’re from Vermont at all.
Installation of streetscape amenities along Main Street in Burlington include benches, bike racks, a bus shelter, and granite elevation indicators.
Desperate calls for Scott to delay unrealistic, logistically impossible GWSA requirements with Executive Order.
It comes from the House Committee on Energy and Digital Infrastructure, newly formed this session in part to prioritize digital technology initiatives that had been overshadowed.
Everyone in this country owes our military veterans a debt of gratitude. It’s long past time for the Legislature to pay that debt forward.
Supporters of Act 122 want the Legislature to budget $700,000 to implement the ‘groundbreaking’ law intended to Make Big Oil Pay.’
If there is one constant I have witnessed since becoming a Vermont resident in 1988, it is the Legislature’s assigning State agency tasks to costly, out-of-state consultants.
If there’s any benefit at all, it doesn’t get back to the people paying the bills.
Special interests have issued their marching orders, and the Democrats are obeying.
For the first time, self-employed individuals and workers without employer-provided coverage can voluntarily enroll in the paid leave program, which offers partial income replacement during qualifying family or medical events.
Vermont Employment Growth Incentive program quietly extended without a vote
Over the last two years, “persistently rainy conditions made many forested areas too wet to harvest,” a logging industry rep told legislators.
Administration wants lawmakers to decrease spending and timeline for implementation before signing education reform bill
The only way to end this long train of abuses and usurpations is for more voters to become aware of the fact that their state legislators’ policies harm, not help them; and to recruit and elect new leadership that respects the sacred family institution and supports legislation that fortifies parental rights.
It’s enough to drive you to drink.
The EPA says 600 nanograms is safe. Vermont closes classrooms at 100. What do they know that the rest of the country doesn’t?
The report, by the free-enterprise Common Sense Institute, also called into question most of the state’s “housing first” approach, saying it “may not be the best approach to addressing this challenge.”
Vermont grows programs without data or limits
Tate is a former Republican two-term representative from Killington in the Vermont House from 2015 to 2017. During his second term, he resigned his seat to serve overseas in the Navy.
Or will the policy expand to cover school board elections and more?
Farmers say it helps secure their bottom line, and officials in and outside the Legislature say it’s vital to curbing hunger.
Lawmakers and officials agree it isn’t ideal to imprison Vermonters out of state, but they say bringing them back would put in-state prisons dangerously over capacity.
Multiple private donors, including Marilyn Blackwell and George Burrill, stepped forward with generous contributions to underwrite the program through October.
The state board that makes and enforces policing policies today emphasized and clarified when Vermont police may and may not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Senate leaders call for governor to stop allowing feds to house detainees in VT prisons
“In 2024, claims were up more than 15% from the previous year as part of an unprecedented and sustained three-year cost surge,” the report states. The report does not speculate as to why there was a sudden uptick starting three years ago.
At the State House, you might refer to last Friday as “Moving Day” when the session’s big issue of education reform passed the House and is now moving to the Senate.
Around 100 of the 700 3-acre sites in Vermont are subdivisions, but the state doesn’t know exactly how many people live on those parcels.
Voters want tax relief, but Dem plan spends MORE.
Lawmakers can’t open $ million-plus spigot to pay for hopeless lawsuit.
The bill would guarantee employees can take two weeks of unpaid time off from work after the death of a family member.
For years, Montpelier’s answer to any problem has been more spending—paid for by Vermonters already stretched to the breaking point. Gov. Scott rejects that.
“Reform” is propping up a failing system, not fixing it.
The revisited hidden costs of Vermont’s Plastic Bag Ban, and how this hurts Vermont’s environment.
The bill specifically includes language on cloud seeding because as Representative Gregg Burt (R-Cabot) stated, Vermont doesn’t need more rain.
Until balance is restored, the Capitol may still be in Montpelier — but increasingly, Vermont’s future is being written somewhere else.
Rep. Beth Quimby, R-Lyndon, suggested that where there are many special needs students in a classroom, there can sometimes be help.
Education spending is at a breaking point for many Vermont real estate taxpayers. And the Legislature just passes the buck yet again.
As Vermont’s hospitals struggle financially, a bill by the House Healthcare Committee would have the state oversee financial records.
A key component is a $13,200 block grant-per-student proposal that could require big adjustments for high spending schools.
Depending on one’s perspective we might look at various issues as making progress or going in the wrong direction.
“I would like to see a public apology from Vermont Senate and House Democrats for mischaracterizing our event as an attack on the transgender community,” Rene McGuinness said.
Governor Phil Scott’s office today announced a range of appointments made in the last two quarters of 2024. Beginning April 1, appointments will be announced on a quarterly basis.
Governor Phil Scott’s proposed $8.6 billion budget prioritizes housing, public safety, and education, but leaves some critical obligations underfunded.
if we don’t know where to start when we want to fix something that is broken in our communities then we become easy to divide, and the problems persist.
The work is very difficult and at times overwhelming, but it is what every elected official signed up for when they asked Vermonters for their vote.
Two House bills would bar service providers from deceptive business practices and require them to offer cheap broadband plans.
Lawmakers claim that they are making prostitution “not illegal” while pretending they are also protecting sex workers from human trafficking.
Participants can vote, obtain a driver’s license, get married, register births, and receive their mail without fear that those publicly available records will put them at risk.
Vermonters expected quick action in 2025 to wipe Act 18 (the Clean Heat Standard law) from the books. That has not happened.
Senate, House GOP leaders pledge tax reform, Clean Heat repeal
Rutland’s Sarah Tetzlaff touched on some of the disadvantages of going too small.
