We know that property tax rates are a big problem. The legislature is required by law to raise the revenue necessary to pay for all school budgets voted in across the state. Contrary to the administration’s irresponsible and angst-provoking communications, after hundreds of testimonies and hours with stakeholders and experts, the legislature’s yield bill reduced property tax rates from the average projection of 20% to about 13-14%. Being a statewide average (skewed by a small number of districts) rates in our district were much lower than 13-14%. The costs of living and healthcare are not going to decrease; we will continue to work on lowering the tax burden next year.

Despite a progressive tax system, our state government is not raising enough revenue to provide basic services, which consequently increases the cost of living for low and middle-income taxpayers who can least afford it. This pressure leaves most of us “fighting under the table for scraps”. We can, and intend to change this. The top 1% of Vermont income earners are paying a smaller portion of their income in state taxes than middle-income Vermonters. Corporate profits are also protected and paying less than their fair share.

Good democratic governance is responsive and accountable to the people. Our collective strength and compassion are the most important qualities that will allow us to meet the significant challenges we face. Sen Wellstone: “We all do better when we all do better”. Good governance is key to that. I honor these values and will continue to work to uphold them.

We must address growing income inequality in Vermont. Vermont needs progressive tax reform to reduce property tax rates and return to an economy where the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. Billionaires made 500 billion dollars more during the pandemic while thousands of Vermonters were suddenly without income. In addition to tax reform, I’ll continue to support use of federal infrastructure and climate dollars for green energy jobs and agriculture; affordable housing, increased broadband access, and address disparities in education, housing, transportation, and healthcare.

I have a proven track record of fighting to maintain Vermont’s tradition of worker and union power. By promoting this tradition of respect for workers’ rights including safe working conditions, a voice in the workplace, paid sick leave, and a living wage, I stand with Vermont’s working families.

The success of Act 76, the Child Care Bill, is apparent. More spots are available for kids, more parents can afford childcare and get back to/stay in the workforce, and more early childhood educators/centers can contribute to Vermont’s economy. We need to continue to make Vermont enticing for young families by making sure that they have an affordable place to live, as well as keeping elders safely in their own homes.

There is a proven place for short-term rentals (STRs) in a tourism economy like Vermont’s. Families, retired people, and people with limited income can add income diversity. Also, we must protect Vermont residents, renters, and homeowners/buyers from the “Airbnb effect”. Unregulated STRs have been shown to have a negative impact on long-term renters and homeowners by adding to increases in housing values/costs, outpricing a place to live for the long-term residents of the area, and limiting their ability to raise children and contribute to the local economy. The influx of wealthy 2nd homeowners during the pandemic has added to the problem.

Next steps: Continue to reduce regulatory burdens to all aspects of affordable home building, while continuing to provide state financial support and access to federal funding for affordable housing projects, including application and infrastructure support for local and municipal governments.

Provide state (e.g. licensing, rental registry) and local power (e.g. zoning) to not only regulate short and long-term rentals, but also provide entities with adequate financial and human resource support to design -together - equitable community rental housing plans with voices of short and long term landlords, renters, those impacted by racial, ethnic and economic disparity, and town/city/rural planners at the table.

Continue to invest in trades’ workforce development, starting at age-appropriate student levels.

Kids do best when educators have the resources they need, and when the educators and students are leading discussions about how education happens.

We must reform school funding, at the same time we're doing our best to reduce the cost drivers of property tax rates (cost of living, healthcare, inadequate state support of mental health services in schools, construction, supply chain issues). I introduced legislation to fund education using a more progressive income-based method, completely separate from property taxes, shown to be more stable and fair. I supported the 2024 Commission on the Future of Public Education to ensure “all students are afforded quality educational opportunities and an efficient, sustainable and equitable system…”.

Vermont’s current funding system is complex, and measures passed to date have not been successful in addressing root causes, especially related to increases in cost of living and cost of healthcare. So we must continue to work to lower property tax burdens immediately, at the same time, with the Commission, we’re creating major structural change to protect Vermonters and our education system from the pressures of economic root causes being felt across the country. It is not wise to make such major structural change in a hurry as the governor suggests; instead we must allow for constituent voices to be heard in the process of significant focus with education and education finance experts.

The Commission will provide the following reports: (1) a formal work plan, with maximal public engagement, by 9/15/24; (2) preliminary findings and recommendations by 1/15/24; and (3) final findings and recommendations by 12/1/25.

While protecting the integrity and strength of local districts, we may need to look at state-wide management and resourcing of certain school-based services in order to contain costs, such as mental health services, healthcare/insurance, school construction and maintenance, and more.

• The pandemic has laid bare the gaps in public and private systems that many of us have known existed and are fighting to repair. I was proud to lead with my House Health Care committee in the creation of the first major pandemic response legislation that addressed these gaps, including making sure that people who lost their jobs would still have access to health care. But we have much more to do until health care is accessible to all without being a condition related to employment.

• Vermont must have a healthcare system that is financed publicly with strong transparent government regulation that allows for ample public engagement. Every Vermonter should feel that they have a voice when it comes to their health. Big insurance companies are an unnecessary expense and profit by denying access to necessary care. Healthcare providers in partnership with their patients should determine what care is needed.

• Americans are being taken advantage of by drug companies and we cannot afford to be overpaying for prescriptions that other countries are getting for half the price. We must stand together to demand strong laws protecting the public from the impact of healthcare and pharmaceutical corporate greed. We’ve seen the effects of this on a local level as we continue to lose local pharmacies to large, national chains. I wrote and passed 2 bills holding Pharmacy Benefit Managers accountable, and ensuring that drug discounts make it to Vermont pockets, not the PBMs.

•We have all known someone impacted by addiction and too many of us have lost loved ones to overdoses. Vermonters struggling with addiction are suffering from a disease. We need to expand access to healthcare services instead of expending resources on mandatory minimums for nonviolent crimes.

• When we support quality mental health services, we help create healthy and productive communities and support individual independence. I am proud to have championed increased funding to our peer and community mental health services.

I will continue to prioritize bold action addressing the climate emergency. Our environmental commons, watersheds, and ecosystems are all connected and directly impacted by the impacts of climate change. And they are what we all love so much about Vermont. Forest, agricultural land, air, and water health all contribute to the reduction and sequestration of greenhouse gases, as well as help us strengthen our resilience to storms, heat, and drought. Our tools include a combination of resource and conservation mapping, protection of biodiversity and wildlife corridors, zoning changes, empowering municipalities to create local solutions, income-sensitive weatherization and transportation supports, investing in regenerative agriculture, and more. We must strategically analyze where we are currently spending money, and pivot as quickly as possible to creating new jobs, a renewable energy infrastructure, and a green economy. In doing so, we will protect those most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of the climate crisis.

I support Vermont's Climate Action Plan as long as it continues to be a living document updated at least every 4 years, any strategies from the plan continue to be subject to approval of the legislature with significant public and stakeholder input (e.g., as has occurred with the latest Renewable Energy Standard bill and Network Geothermal bill of which I introduced the original version), and the voices of youth and marginalized people are truly supported and empowered in the process.

The devastating impacts of the climate emergency are painfully evident. We have created strong policy with a focus on protecting those who can least afford the impacts of climate change, as well as the tools and strategies we need to survive. Because of the unprecedented investment by the Biden administration and bipartisanship at the federal level, we have significant financial support to make a just transition for those who want to participate. Those who don’t want to participate will still be afforded these protections, including economic, while they can maintain the status quo for their heating and transportation choices (at least while fossil fuels are available and viable).

• For too long, white Vermonters have thought of ourselves as untouched by racism; it’s taken several high profile and despicable actions for us to really understand how vicious racism is right here in Vermont. The age of denying that we have an issue is over. It’s time to take steps to ensure that ALL Vermonters can access the benefits our state has to offer regardless of race.

• First, we must each have the courage to understand how deeply systemic racism is embedded in our habits and thinking. For centuries, the people most devastated by the impacts of white supremacy and systemic racism have been sharing their stories, their pain, their struggle. They have given us the information we need on a silver platter. And we have not listened. My skin color in our culture has made it possible for me to not be aware that racism exists because I am not a victim of it. Our silence and denial make us willing participants in a system that continues to oppress millions of people, and yes - including, perhaps especially, in a state like Vermont. Until we each are willing to do anti-racism work, nothing will change. The Legislature itself must do this deep and continuous reckoning. It is difficult, and it is painful.

• The establishment of a Racial Equity Advisory Panel in 2018 was a triumph, overcoming some resistance from the Scott administration -- but we must do more. Currently, House Leadership and the Social Equity Caucus are providing very focused spaces and trainings for representatives and are doing work to make sure that Vermonters of color can hold their legislators accountable.

• I commit to doing the work to confront my own complicity with racist behaviors and systems in Vermont. I will continue to ask to be held accountable and will continue to ensure the centering of Black, Brown, and Indigenous lives, and the lives of People of Color.