Bi-Weekly Policy Round-Up - February 10, 2025

At the speed of molasses, we are still getting new bill proposals from the Vermont Legislature. These potential laws could affect your everyday lives, so please reach out to your legislators (or the bill’s sponsors) to share your support. Our goal is to keep these bills alive by sharing your life experiences and hopes for your future as a Vermonter. Contrary to popular belief, your legislators can hear you and your voice does matter.


The following bills are broken into five categories (mental/physical health, housing, equity/accessibility, employment, & judicial/corrections). 


Please reach out if you have questions or need help locating legislators in your district.


Mental/Physical Health:

S.1 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.1

  • Proposes to provide Medicaid-equivalent coverage to all Vermonters.

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Senator Tanya Vyhovsky tvyhovsky@leg.state.vt.us


S.8 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.8

  • Proposes to expand eligibility for coverage under the Dr. Dynasaur program to all Vermont residents under 26 years of age with incomes at or below 312 percent of the federal poverty level. 

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Senator Anne Watson awatson@leg.state.vt.us


S.53 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.53

  • Proposes to establish a process of voluntary certification for community-based perinatal doulas. It would also require Medicaid coverage for doula services during labor and birth and for the prenatal and postpartum periods.

Who to Contact: Senator Alison Clarkson AClarkson@leg.state.vt.us


Housing 

H. 15 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.15

  • Proposes to provide financial assistance for room and board expenses at residential postsecondary schools in Vermont to residents of the State who qualify. 

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Anne B. Donahue adonahue@leg.state.vt.us


H. 169 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.169

  • Proposes to prohibit a landlord from requesting a Social Security number on a residential rental  application and to accept all forms of government issued identification. 

Who to Contact: Your Legislators and/or Representative Leonora Dodge ldodge@leg.state.vt.us


H. 170 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.170

  • Proposes to (1) limit the enrollment of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College when the vacancy rate of the City of Burlington is below five percent; (2) require University housing to meet municipal housing codes and rental housing health and safety standards… 

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Tiffany Bluemle tbluemle@leg.state.vt.us


Equity/Accessibility:

H.38 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.38

  • Proposes to authorize and provide funding for six additional full-time positions and two additional part  time positions within the Human Rights Commission.

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Kevin "Coach" Christie kchristie@leg.state.vt.us


*BIPARTISAN S.16 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.16

  • Proposes to require that an infant changing station be available in at least one restroom in any public building or place of public accommodation. Who to Contact: Senator Rebecca "Becca" White rwhite@leg.state.vt.us 


S. 56 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.56

  • Proposes to create the Office of New Americans Study Committee to study and report concerning the creation of an independent Office of New Americans. Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Senator Ruth Hardy rhardy@leg.state.vt.us


Employment

H.190 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.190

  • Proposes to repeal the prostitution laws that currently prohibit “indiscriminate sexual intercourse” and consensual engagement in sex work for hire by adults while retaining prohibitions and felony criminal penalties for human trafficking of persons who are compelled through force, fraud, or coercion to engage in sex work.

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Monique Priestley mpriestley@leg.state.vt.us


Judicial/Corrections

H.2 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.2

  • Proposes to increase the minimum age at which a child may be subject to juvenile delinquency proceedings from 10 to 12.

Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Martin LaLonde mlalonde@leg.state.vt.us


H.32 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/H.32

  • Proposes to require the Department of Corrections to enter into memorandums of understanding with opioid treatment programs nearest each correctional facility in the State for the provision of opioid use disorder services. Who to Contact: Your legislators and/or Representative Leonora Dodge ldodge@leg.state.vt.us.


S.9 - https://legislature.vermont.gov/bill/status/2026/S.9

  • Proposes to direct the Court Administrator to make procedures for a plaintiff to obtain an order against sexual assault after regular court hours or on weekends and holidays. 

Who to Contact: Senator Ruth Hardy rhardy@leg.state.vt.us

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Last Plea as a Black Vermonter - A Very Open Letter

Image
I write this note feeling simultaneously heavy-hearted and freed. September 16, 2023 would have been five years that I have lived in this state.   Five years since I left my life in Mississippi thinking NO PLACE could be more racist (tuh). Five years of serving on multiple civic boards that claim they want equity, but build walls in the face of progression. Five years of being called racial slurs with no one to protect me from it and no one to check their white supremacist friends. Five years of confederate flags, don’t tread on me flags, and strategically placed Donald Dump paraphernalia. Five years of watching MANY of my friends and their very young Black children suffer from the same mental anguish I have experienced while existing as a Black person in Vermont. September 16, 2023 should be a time for celebration. Instead, it is a time for reflection as I leave the state to pursue equity work in a place that actually wants it. You may note that within this introduction I have not...
Read more

Policy for The People - March 10, 2025

If you have any stake in Vermont’s education system—whether you're a parent, student, educator, bus driver, counselor, cafeteria staff member, school nurse, EMT, or in any other role—you should pay VERY close attention to the following draft bill (DR25-0937) https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQHbSTU1jXnl5TrLKpE0SUtppQPY4Iwc/view.   What’s the Point: This heavy-handed attempt to standardize education in Vermont proposes to do so by imposing harsh changes to current programs such as “school choice”. These changes largely target low-income and rural Vermonters. Most importantly, this is a very swift attempt to make changes to long-standing programs that have provided equitable education for many decades.   Why it Matters for All Vermonters: The kindergarten through 8th grade “tuitioning system” will be limited for everyone in the 802.   Increased financial and administrative burdens, especially on small districts These “one size fits all” changes do not consider equity for lo...
Read more

It's Been a Year.

* (See: It’s Been a Year by Ashley Cooke) * A Formal Introduction   Actually, it has been 1 year, 4 months, and 21 days (or 509 days total) since I wrote, “My Last Plea as a Black Vermonter” begging all of you (Vermonters, legislators, civil servants, and European descendants in general) to consider Black Vermonters in all aspects of our shared social and economic realms. In that year(ish) I spent the majority of my time in Minneapolis fueling Black-owned nonprofits through grant writing and stretching my wings amongst my community in ways I did not imagine were possible.   Over that year I also received thousands of responses to the first Black Paper. Scattered across Facebook, Twitter (yes...Twitter), Instagram, rebuttal articles, and via email: there was a plethora of commentary to choose from. I read every bit and I want to take the time to highlight the overwhelming amount of support that I received and the desire to support Vermont’s Black community. There was an ...
Read more