State names new DCF commissioner, sues feds over climate finding

Scott names DCF commissioner

Governor Phil Scott on Friday, March 20 appointment of Sandi Hoffman as commissioner of the Department for Children and Families (DCF). She has served as interim commissioner since September of 2025. 

Hoffman returns to DCF from the Department of Vermont Health Access, where she served as deputy commissioner and previously served as chief of clinical services and director of quality improvement and clinical integrity. Prior to that she worked for the family services division of DCF for 18 years, supporting Vermont families and specializing in early childhood trauma, adolescent development, women’s health, substance use disorder, and mental health and wellbeing. 

Hoffman holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Vermont, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Trinity College and is also a licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADC).

VT challenges end of Obama greenhouse gas ‘endangerment’

Attorney General Charity Clark on March 19 joined a coalition of 24 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 12 cities and counties to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s unlawful attempt to rescind its 2009 Endangerment Finding – the agency’s seminal determination that greenhouse gas pollution from motor vehicles drives climate change and endangers public health and welfare.  

The 2009 Endangerment Finding was the direct result of the landmark 2007 Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which confirmed that the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that endanger public health and welfare. EPA in 2009 determined that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to air pollution that harms public health and welfare. EPA then set federal standards, which have led to significant reductions in motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. 

Now, almost two decades later, EPA has rescinded the Endangerment Finding and repeal all motor vehicle greenhouse gas standards, “blatantly disregarding the law and science,” Clark’s office claims. 

A copy of the petition is available on our website.