-With the start of the 2025-26 legislative biennium at the State House in Montpelier came the reshuffling of committee assignments in the House and Senate.
Windham County's two incumbent Democratic senators, Wendy Harrison of Brattleboro and Nader Hashim of Dummerston, will be in charge of committees in that chamber this biennium.
Harrison will lead the Institutions Committee, replacing Russ Ingalls, R-Essex, who led the committee in the last biennium. Ingalls will now lead the Agriculture Committee.
Hashim will chair the Judiciary Committee. He takes over for longtime Bennington Sen. Dick Sears, who died last June.
Harrison will also serve on the Transportation Committee, while Hashim will also serve on the Education Committee.
Seth Bongartz, a Democrat from Bennington, will chair the Education Committee. He will also serve on the Natural Resources and Energy Committee.
The other Bennington County senator, Democrat Rob Plunkett, will serve on the Agriculture Committee and will be vice-chair of the Institutions Committee.
The Windham County towns of Londonderry, Stratton, and Wilmington are included in the Bennington Senate district.
House assignments
Several incumbent local House members kept their committee assignments. Emilie Kornheiser, D-Brattleboro, continues as chair of the Ways and Means Committee, while Mollie Burke, D-Brattleboro, returns to the Transportation Committee and Leslie Goldman, D-Rockingham, is back on the Health Care Committee.
Two other local members have switched committees. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, will serve on the Appropriations Committee. He was on the Government Operations and Military Affairs Committee in the last biennium.
Michelle Bos-Lun, D-Westminster, is on the Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry Committee. She served on the Institutions and Corrections Committee in the last biennium.
Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Jill Krowinski for the House speakership, will now be on the newly created Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee, which will take up legislation related to "energy, utilities, telecommunications, broadband, information technology, cybersecurity, and other similar policies," according to a resolution the House approved on Jan. 8.
Newcomer Chris Morrow, I-Weston, will also serve on the committee.
Sibilia was previously vice-chair of the now-disbanded environment and energy committee. That committee has been reconfigured as the House Environment Committee.
Emily Long, D-Newfane, has stepped away from her role as the House Majority Whip and will return to the Education Committee, where she had served before she joined the House leadership team. In the last biennium, she was on the Rules Committee.
New House members representing Windham County towns also got their assignments.
Ian Goodnow, D-Brattleboro, is on the Judiciary Committee, while Emily Carris Duncan, D-Whitingham, is on the Commerce and Economic Development Committee.
Zon Eastes, D-Guilford, is on the Human Services Committee, and Thomas Charlton, R-Chester, is on the General and Housing Committee.
With additional reporting by Shaun Robinson and Paul Heintz of VTDigger.org.
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.