February 28, 2025

Town Meeting 2025

How It All Works

Quick civics refresher. The Legislature takes an (unpaid) break for Town Meeting week. We're eight weeks into a scheduled 18-week session.

By the end of the week after break, bills must be passed out of all committees except Appropriations to be ready for a vote on the floor and to "cross over" from House to Senate and vice versa.

Then bills must pass committees and floor votes in the other body. Differences between the two versions, if any, must be worked out after that.

So as of Town Meeting break, nothing is final. But much is in process—a long process! This report will focus on House initiatives.

Leading Issues

Priorities of the majority Democratic caucus:
Education system structure and funding
Affordable and accessible health care
Housing permitting and financing
Climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation
Accountable, effective, efficient government

Of course we also must balance the budget— $9 billion for fiscal 2026. One-third of that is federal, the dependability of which is highly uncertain.

Let's take that priority list in reverse order, starting with my committee… See my Town Meeting Report.

Last update March 10, 2025
Been busy! Further updates coming…

Education Reform

Vermont’s education system is at a turning point, and as we work to create a sustainable, high-quality future for our schools, your input is essential. Speaker Jill Krowinski’s office has put together a short survey to gather feedback from Vermonters on education reform.

Take a few minutes to share your thoughts on what’s working, what’s not, and what you’d like to see in the future. Your responses will help shape the conversations happening in the State House.

Feel free to share this survey with your friends, neighbors, and community members—every voice matters! If you have any questions or want to connect further, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Join me to discuss the issues!

Saturdays during the remainder of the session:

Breakfast: March 22 & May 3, 8:30 AM
Kitchen Counter Cafe, Railroad St, St J
Lunch: April 12, Noon
Mooselook Diner, Route 2, Concord

Complete House Committee reports here.

Off-Session

This summer and fall, in addition to ongoing legislative work, I will be working with the Caledonia Food Co-op’s Building Committee to design and construct the Co-op store. It’s very long process, the timeline dictated by logistics and the funding and financing we must line up. At this point, we hope to start construction mid-2025 and open in early 2026.

I am also participating in the Building Energy Code Working Group. This follows on from last year’s study committee and includes many of the same stakeholder representatives: outside experts, a Senator, and me as the House member.

The purpose is to strategize ways to increase compliance with Vermont’s energy codes, especially for residential construction. This code has been in effect for 25 years, yet many homeowners and even some builders are not aware of it because there is no systematic administration and no penalty for not following it. As climate disruption bears down and storm damage becomes more frequent and severe, builders, consumers, insurers and mortgage lenders need higher compliance with building standards.

The Working Group meets through the summer and fall.

In the wake of back-to-back disasters, I have joined a tri-partisan group of legislators to focus on how the Legislature can best serve victims and prepare for inevitable future disasters.

Among other ongoing work as a legislator, I participate in the Climate Solutions Caucus and the newly formed Flood Recovery & Resilience Caucus. The climate disruption now underway due to human activity is a defining challenge of our time.

My background is building construction, design and energy-savings analysis.

I am not a climate scientist, but I have been keenly aware of the existential challenge facing us for more than 30 years.

Skyler Perkins is a Vermonter, documentary videographer and a member of the next generation, even more aware of this challenge and how we as a society have failed to confront it.

He is in the process of producing a series explaining how climate disruption, pollution, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss is poisoning the planet’s—and humans’—future.