BRATTLEBORO-Yes, the holiday season has been celebrated, and now it's time for the season's next big event: the opening of the Vermont Legislature today, Wednesday, Jan. 8.
It is no secret that things will be different this year. For one thing, the Democratic-Progressive supermajorities have been voted out of office, meaning that Republicans can uphold a veto from Gov. Phil Scott.
The GOP has nearly doubled its representation in the 30-member Senate, from seven seats last session to 13. A similar dynamic played out in the House.
Smarting under the 2024 Legislative session's override of his vetoes of at least six bills that are now laws, Scott got into the act in a big way during the election, introducing the word "affordability" into the political process and campaigning hard against his legislative foes.
He and his fellow Republicans managed to bump several Democratic and Progressive legislators out of office, including Progressive David Zuckerman who was ousted from his seat as lieutenant governor by John Rodgers, a former Democrat now turned Republican.
The leadership will also see changes. In the House, independent Laura Sibilia of Dover is mounting a strong campaign to unseat Speaker of the House Jill Krowinski, who has held the job since 2021. The vote will be by secret ballot at the start of the session. [Editor's note: This issue of The Commons went to press on Tuesday, Jan. 7.]
And the president pro tem of the Senate, Phil Baruth, is also facing a Republican challenger: Sen. Randy Brock of Franklin County. Depending on the outcome of the votes, committee assignments may be up in the air.
Public raises concerns
Given that environment, Brattleboro's legislative delegation met with the public at Brooks Memorial Library on Jan. 4 to share their main objectives going into this year's session and to hear what is on the minds of their constituents.
Approximately 25 people came to the discussion, with more dropping in as the morning progressed.
Rep. Mollie Burke, D-Windham-8, who is entering her seventh term in the Legislature, moderated the panel discussion. Burke has spent 12 years on the Transportation Committee and is still passionate about the work she does there.
"How can we cut carbon emissions from the transportation sector at the same time we make transportation more affordable by helping people get into more fuel-efficient cars?" she asked. "We have some programs for that. We have been successful in that."
At the same time, Burke said, resilience is an issue. People with lower incomes are especially affected by transportation issues because there is little public transportation in Vermont.
"Really-low-income people are especially burdened by transportation costs, and we need to to work on that," she said. "And so those are going to be my priorities."
Burke posed the question: "How do we help our small towns, particularly with infrastructure that's damaged by the effects of climate change?"
Her answer: "We are cutting the emissions. But also, how do we address the damage that's already happening?"
She warned of "a big push this year to revise the Global Warming Solutions Act," a law enacted in 2020 to set multiple benchmarks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
"I feel very strongly that we need to stand firm against that movement, because we need to figure out ways to pay for it, and we need to think about the affordability issue," Burke said.
Tax policy at the top of the list
Rep. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Windham-7, has already served six years in the Legislature and is the chair of the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means, the committee that writes tax policy. Her main focus this session, she said, was going to be reducing property taxes.
This is a big issue in Brattleboro, which saw a double-digit rise in its property taxes last year and is facing another one as upcoming budget discussions illustrate.
"Reducing property taxes is going to happen in a wide variety of different ways," Kornheiser said. "We want to make sure that we have schools that are strong, where kids can learn. And have communities that are strong, and places where people care for each other. And that all needs to happen within a restructuring of our property tax system, and so I'm gearing up for that."
Kornheiser also said that she will be "doing some work preparing for the Trump administration, both being ready for that and being able to respond to that as needed. And also to continue our work on housing."
Sen. Wendy Harrison, D-Windham, said she spent most of the last session serving as clerk of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs, where members worked on housing.
"I think we should look at prosperity, not just affordability," Harrison said. "We should look to the long term, and not just making sure that things are less expensive right now, although that's obviously a part of it."
Harrison also served as vice chair of the Senate Committee on Institutions, which puts together the capital budget, which plans for buildings and related projects that will serve the state for at least 20 years. She said she hopes this year to join the Transportation Committee, "which is a passion of mine."
Ian Goodnow, D-Windham-9, is replacing longtime Rep. Tristan Toleno, who chose not to run for re-election. Goodnow said the upcoming year will be about learning how to be an effective legislator.
"It's going to be about learning the trade and effectively representing our community," Goodnow said. "It's going to be a difficult session. Beginning with the discussions about leadership in both the chambers, and moving forward from there. So we're going to have to hit the ground running. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm really honored to have this opportunity."
Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, served on both the Judiciary and Education committees in the last biennium. He said he recently began practicing as a defense attorney and anticipates that will affect how he works in the Senate.
"So I work with the Public Defender's office, and I also do a little bit of private work on the side involving business law and immigration law," Hashim said. "My hope is to take a lot of that experience and try to, frankly, just make our judiciary system work a little bit better. I'll most likely be the chair of Senate Judiciary this upcoming session."
Hashim said he is especially interested in the Legislature enacting small changes that might help resolve the backlog of cases in the judiciary.
"That also involves addressing employment, which tends to connect to housing," he said. "I feel like housing is one of those central things that we hear about that is interconnected to a lot of the challenges that we're facing.
"I'm also hoping to leave a lot of space to address what may come from the upcoming Trump administration. I think that how we address that will largely fall in Judiciary, and so we will be playing a bit of a defensive role. And so I'm leaving some space for that as well."
Members of the audience also had issues they cared about.
Nancy Braus wanted legislators to push for sidewalks and bike lanes on Putney Road to protect pedestrians, many of whom are without any form of transportation, she said. Several members of the nonprofit organization Third Act Vermont wanted action on climate change, including protection of the Affordable Heat Act.
Some voters were concerned about quality of life and preserving the natural environment. Others were concerned about protecting our new American population. Still others were concerned about laws governing the landlord/tenant relationship.
Working together to solve homelessness crisis
And, as homelessness is a pressing Brattleboro issue, it was mentioned by several of the attendees.
The legislators were happy to talk about some of the work they have already done on the housing crisis, such as revamping Act 250 to allow more parking and two-family homes in downtown centers.
Kornheiser mentioned her bill to tax the upper 1% of income earners.
"Last year, the House passed a comprehensive 10-year plan to end homelessness that was funded by a tax on the top 1% of income earners," she said. "That bill was not able to make it through the Senate because they felt that regulatory reform was sort of the first step and didn't want to do too many things at once."
She called that concern "very valid."
"We often try to do too many things at once, and we still need to figure out what comes next, because we are at a place where we have a government that outsources most of its services," Kornheiser continued. "But the folks who do that outsourced service are not able to do more than they're doing right now, and so we're at a little bit of a standstill."
People have died while living outdoors because the state, which kept homeless people in motels during the COVID-19 pandemic, hasn't moved quickly enough on the homelessness issue since the motel program was radically cut, Kornheiser pointed out.
"There are a lot of people living in really difficult circumstances in Brattleboro," Kornheiser said. "And there are a lot of really difficult behaviors that might be related to that. There are a lot of kids that are suffering because of that, and it's not good for any of us."
The new members of the Legislature, especially the Republicans, will have to collaborate on solving this problem, Kornheiser said.
"We will have the collaboration that we have been sort of attempting to do for a long time," Kornheiser said. "When that collaboration doesn't work, it's not clear what's going to happen next, because no one can really override anyone. There's no way to override a veto."
So, she continued, "I am concerned that folks can't compromise to find a solution to problems that are very acute in Brattleboro, but frankly are not very acute in Dummerston or Woodstock, or in other areas of the state where they don't have the kind of downtown centers that struggle when people are struggling."
This is a problem that the Legislature alone cannot fix, she said.
"We need significantly more transitional housing, and the path to paying for that transitional housing and the path to staffing that transitional housing, given the structures that we have right now in our government, are not entirely clear," Kornheiser said.
She added that the new makeup of the Legislature would not be a problem for the Brattleboro delegation, which welcomes collaboration.
"I am excited to have more colleagues in the building who are excited to jump in and take responsibility for the really tough problems in front of us," she said. "I'm hopeful that the governor will now feel all the empowerment he needs to actually step up and help solve problems which can only be solved with a strong administrative apparatus."
Kornheiser also said that "our committee structure has always been deeply collaborative. My first committee chair was a Republican. I learned, I think, more from him than I have from anyone else in the Legislature."
"Within the committee room, there's really a deep, deep focus on collaboration, with everyone pitching in," she said.
This News item by Joyce Marcel was written for The Commons.