PUTNEY — With the new year and the new Legislature, will this be the year, you visit “your” House, the Vermont Statehouse ?
Vermont's Statehouse, a.k.a., the People's House, is unique in that it's one of the few historic statehouses that is also still used as a facility for legislative action.
More unique is that the Vermont Statehouse and the Legislature are as open and accessible as any in the nation.
No metal detectors, no reserved tickets - just open doors.
When you're at the Statehouse, you're welcome to witness floor action in the House or Senate as well as go into any committee room, where you get to see unfold the deliberations and testimony that take an idea and turn it into a law.
Whether you're a casual observer or a stakeholder in passing a piece of legislation, you can have a front-row seat to making our laws.
Or you can watch your own idea take root and grow into a piece of legislation, as the students at the Jericho Elementary School did a few years ago. As they studied global warming, then advocated for - and got passed - the ban on bus idling at schools.
So feel free to come join us, in Montpelier.
Whether you're an individual, school or other group, let us know you're coming, and we'll be sure to make you feel at home, and show you around. And, and experience the Vermont Way, as we do the People's Work in the People's House.
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With the new year, there is new hope that a better working relationship will grow between Gov. Phil Scott and the Legislature.
The governor has sounded a more conciliatory tone than during last session, when he vetoed nine bills and took us to the edge of a state government shutdown over the “better budget battle.”
And Democrats are ready to work together to build an economy that works for all Vermonters, not just a select few, especially in light of how The Trump economy has not helped middle- and working-class families.
It's up to us level the playing field that the Trump inequities have created.
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We'll also be working so that all Vermonters can breathe a little easier when paying all of their monthly bills. They should be able to breathe a little easier knowing that we're taking action on climate chaos and protecting our local schools and local input.
And, for people of color in Vermont, women in (and out of) the workplace, and LGBTQ Vermonters, we want them all to breathe a little easier knowing they will be treated equally.
And, if not, the rest of us will have their backs, as we work to make 2019 a year that truly has justice for all.