With the beginning of a new legislative biennium, and the inauguration of a new governor, this week is a festive one in Montpelier.
But the festivities will soon pass, and the reality of yet another difficult year for Vermont will soon become apparent to Gov. Peter Shumlin and the Legislature.
There's still a projected deficit of about $150 million for fiscal year 2012, and tax revenues are still anemic. The federal stimulus money that propped up the last three state budgets will end.
While fewer people are out of work in Vermont than in other places around the nation, the state's economy is still a long way from being healthy.
Any big plans by the Democratic majority in Montpelier will be tempered by these realities. Yet there is still pressure to undertake major reforms in health care, school financing, and taxation.
Dr. William Hsiao, who designed Taiwan's health care system, among others, will soon present to the Legislature his report on what Vermont's health care system should look like.
Three approaches to health care - single payer, public option, and a third option to be determined by Hsiao and his staff - will be considered by the Legislature in the upcoming session.
But Hsiao, a professor of economics at the Harvard University School of Public Health, made it clear to everyone that between trying to find a way to pay for it, and getting several waivers from the federal government. it might take at least a decade to achieve real change.
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The Legislature will also receive another report on a another major reform - changing Vermont's tax system.
A three-member tax reform commission created in 2009 is expected to recommend changes, such as expanding the sales tax to include many consumer services, and finding a new way to assess the gasoline tax. Other proposed changes would eliminate deductions on mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable contributions, in exchange for lower overall tax rates.
While the panel claims there will be no net increase in taxes from their proposed changes, it's a safe bet that their proposals will come under immediate attack.
Education funding reform is a perennial issue at the Statehouse, and not much is likely to be done this session.
However, a proposal offered by Windham County Reps. Ann Manwaring and John Moran would require legislators to vote on the statewide property tax rate as a standalone bill, rather than hiding inside the always-massive appropriations bill - a measure that represents some progress in the area of transparency in government.
Other big issues still looming include broadband expansion, a possible Senate re-vote on authorizing the Public Service Board to issue a Certificate of Public Good to Vermont Yankee, and fine-tuning the Challenges for Change blueprint for reorganizing state agencies and the delivery of services.
It's going to be an incredibly challenging first year for Shumlin.
Fortunately, it looks like he has chosen a solid management team that can break away from the timidity and inertia of the past eight years and come up with new approaches to dealing with old problems.