Here are some additional highlights from our end-of-session report. You can find our full report on our websites shortly--candicewhite4vt.com and daratorrevt.com. Please join us, our senators and Waterbury representatives at a community forum on June 24 at 5 p.m. (location TBD) - more details to come.
Act 73 of 2025 initiated major legislation to transform Vermont’s educational landscape. Continuing this work, H.955 creates seven mandatory statewide Cooperative Education Service Areas (CESAs), intended to offer education services and support on a larger, regional scale.CESAs will be an important tool to achieve immediate efficiencies, regional-service sharing, and cost savings while the voluntary merger process is happening statewide. CESAs will help supervisory unions and school districts access specialized programs and technical assistance that individual districts might otherwise purchase at a higher cost. Each of the CESAs is required to offer: special education, business and administrative services, and union school district creation consultation and facilitation. Establishing statewide CESAs will increase statewide coherence and build capacity.
REGIONAL CESAS
The bill also addresses school consolidation by resourcing seven facilitators—one in each CESA region—to start merger-study committees. These regional groupings will be required to work collaboratively to explore the advantages of school-district consolidation. If a committee concludes that a merger is advisable, a report goes to the Secretary of Education, the State, and the school-district voters of the proposed new district (in the March 2028 Town Meeting elections). The foundation formula, which replaces our current funding mechanism, is scheduled to take effect in FY2030. Other components of the bill include details on school construction aid and a study to account for pre-K education in the education system.
H.930 is an act relating to chronic absenteeism. Currently, about 25% of Vermont students are chronically absent, causing the need for reading interventions in early years, and drop-out rates are seven times higher in high school. This bill aims to address the root causes of absenteeism, outline state-level strategies, and establish clear procedures to help Vermont schools consistently address this issue.
S.227 relates to creating immigration protocols in schools. This law empowers school officials and designees to protect students by defining a school’s non-public areas that require authorization to enter. S.227 establishes an immigration resource guide for schools, maintaining that student information is protected, and that school entry by a law-enforcement official requires a judicial warrant specifically naming a student or staff member.
DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Vermont's spotty cellphone coverage has long been a bad punchline. Siting new cell towers required an Act 250 permit until 2007, when 30 VSA § 248a established an expedited process through the Public Utility Commission. That process has sunset every three years, and the legislature has extended it every three years since. H.527 extends 248a for another three years. It also requires that when a new cell tower is proposed, municipalities must hold duly warned public hearings that are attended by the Department of Public Service
H.710 makes it easier and more cost-effective for developers to co-locate solar facilities on the same parcel, delivering cost savings and supporting smarter land-use. Vermont joins several states in passing S.202, a bill regulating the use of portable, plug-in solar panels. Also called “balcony solar,” these plug-in photovoltaic (PIPV) devices are widely used in Europe, allowing apartment residents to offset their electricity usage, especially when paired with batteries. While neither utility nor Public Utilities Commission approval is needed,the bill ensures safe usage of PIPV by requiring that stringent national safety standards(UL-approved) are met.
H.727 would have created a strong regulatory framework ensuring that data-center development benefits Vermont’s ratepayers and grid, while protecting our environment. Governor Scott vetoed H.727; a House override attempt failed on the final day of the session.
HEALTHCARE
Act 68 (S.126) of 2025 enacted reference-based pricing, requiring the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) to establish reference-based prices (maximum amounts hospitals can charge for certain services). Act 68 led to S.190, a bill that implements the beginning of reference-based pricing next year for two important groups: Vermonters on the Qualified Health Care Plan Exchange (the most vulnerable group due to the elimination of federal subsidies) and school-employee health plans.
S. 189 addresses hospital closure of essential services, setting forth required procedures for when a hospital plans to close an essential service. The legislation comes after several poorly-handled eliminations of hospital-related services (including primary care in Waitsfield).
H.577 is an act relating to Array RX –a non-profit drug-prescription savings card introduced by the state treasurer, offering low-cost prescription drugs to those with a Vermont address. The Array RX card is free to participants, offers generic drugs at about 20% of cost, name-brand at 80%, counts toward a member’s plan deductibles and will save Vermonters money.
S.197 intends to establish universal primary care.
HOUSING
S.328/H.775, an act relating to creating tools for housing production, is a housing bill designed to stimulate housing development in Vermont through financial tools, pilot programs, and planning reforms. The legislation authorizes municipalities to issue revenue bonds backed by special assessments, expand the state treasurer’s credit facility to support mobile-home infrastructure and off-site modular home construction, broadens VEDA financing authority for certain multi-unit housing developments, and adds new municipal housing-planning requirements.
H.757 is an act relating to manufactured homes and limited equity cooperatives. It streamlines the process for transferring ownership of manufactured homes, including their deeds, and ensures they are treated the same as other types of housing under local zoning laws. The bill also addresses limited-equity cooperatives, which are designed to provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents.
H.772, relating to residential rental agreements, eviction procedures, and the creation of the positive-rental-payment credit reporting pilot program, was a first attempt to better balance the rights and responsibilities of both landlords and tenants. The bill passed the House and was defeated in the Senate by a roll-callvote.
