End of session legislative recap
The Statehouse Progressive Caucus 2026 Legislative Review
The 2026 legislative session was one of the longest and most consequential in recent memory and the Statehouse Progressive Caucus was in the middle of it from start to finish. Here's our review of what we fought for, what we won, and where Vermont stands as we head into the election season.
The fight for a more progressive tax system, sustainable education funding, and transportation infrastructure that works for every Vermonter is not finished. We're proud of what this caucus accomplished, and we're already looking ahead to what comes next.
Progressive Victories
This session produced some genuinely historic wins, legislation passed that wouldn't have happened without Progressive leadership.
S.209, led by Senator Tanya Vyhovsky, is one of the most important pieces of legislation of this session. As federal immigration enforcement intensified across Vermont, Senator Vyhovsky championed a bill that prohibits civil immigration arrests in sensitive locations: schools, hospitals, libraries, places of worship, social service organizations, food banks, and shelters. No one should have to choose between seeking medical care and risking deportation. S.209 passed and was signed into law by Governor Phil Scott in June.
Act 101 of 2026 (H.814), led by Representative Brian Cina, makes Vermont the first state in the nation to protect neurological rights by statute. The law establishes state-recognized rights protecting mental privacy and freedom of thought, creates safeguards against unauthorized neurotechnology use, and expands oversight of artificial intelligence across health care, human services, education, public participation, and public finance. Governor Scott signed the bill into law. This is a landmark, and it happened because Brian Cina pushed it across the finish line.
Caucus Priorities
Education: A Compromise, Not a Win
Education dominated the 2026 session. The session's central fight was over H.955, the education transformation bill, and H.949, the Yield Bill, and the story of how they passed is complicated. Both bills were delivered to the Governor on June 12 and was signed into law on June 18.
For most of the session, Governor Scott demanded mandatory school district consolidation as the price of his support. Legislators pushed back and after months of standoff, including closed-door negotiations in the session's final days, Phil Scott relented. The final version of H.955 creates Cooperative Educational Service Areas (CESAs) to regionalize support services and establishes a voluntary school district merger process. It incorporates many of the recommendations of the School District Redistricting Task Force, which Progressives had championed.
But H.955 and H.949 also embed budget caps on school district spending as part of a transition toward a new education finance formula, and that concerns us. In the end, enough had shifted from the original Act 73 framework, and enough of the task force's work was reflected in the final bill, that most Progressives felt they could vote yes rather than risk something worse. Rep. Chloe Tomlinson voted no on the final version of H.955, reflecting her community's real concerns about the impacts on Winooski. Progressives will be watching the implementation of these bills closely.
The Yield Bill, H.949, passed with $101 million in one-time surplus funds applied as a property tax buy-down, holds the average education tax increase to approximately 3.5% this year. This is not a sustainable solution. Relying on surplus funds year after year to paper over structural problems in education funding only delays the harder work. That work lies ahead.
Tax Reform: Progress, Near-Misses, and Work Left to Do
Progressives came into this session with an ambitious tax agenda, and we leave with some progress alongside real frustration. Progressives and Democratic allies demanded – with the support of nearly 80% of Vermont voters – that Vermont’s political leadership increase taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters after a tax break windfall for the 1% in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill Act.” After Representatives Logan, Cole, and Priestley brought floor amendments to the Yield Bill and the Miscellaneous Tax Bill that would have done just that, House leadership agreed that the House Ways & Means Committee would take testimony and vote on a committee bill. The draft bill drew on Rep. Teddy Waszazak's income tax restructuring bill (H.621) and Rep. Logan’s investment income surtax bill (H.794) and would have restructured Vermont's income tax brackets and created a new surtax on investment income. The bill was projected to raise nearly $200 million in new revenue that could have provided relief to Vermonters whose health care costs have skyrocketed due to federal tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. However, the bill didn't get a committee vote because it didn't have the votes, with opposition from all Republicans and Democrat Reps. Carol Ode and Charlie Kimbell. The Progressive Party is a member of the Tax the Rich Coalition, which just formed this year, so this fight is far from over.
Where tax policy was concerned, though, the Legislature did take meaningful action. The biggest win for Vermont came from stopping a loss. The miscellaneous tax bill, H.933, decoupled Vermont's corporate and capital gains laws from the federal "Big Beautiful Bill Act," preventing a projected $33 million revenue loss in the coming fiscal year. H.933 also established new municipal taxing authority for short-term rentals and adjusted Local Option Tax revenue-sharing formulas, with an 80/20 split triggered when the state's PILOT fund surplus exceeds $18 million. H.933 was delivered to the Governor on June 12 and was signed into law on June 18.
Most significantly, embedded in H.955 is a plan to establish a new second home and short-term rental property tax classification. Cities and towns will begin implementing the classifications now, rates will be set next session, and the new tax will take effect for 2028 collection. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring that Vermont's housing market works for Vermonters, not just investors.
Committee Work
The Vermont House Progressive Caucus serves on the House Committees on Environment, Health Care, and Transportation, and Senator Vyhovsky serves on the Senate Committees on Judiciary and Government Operations.
House Environment: Fixing Act 181 and Updating Our Recycling System
Representative Logan championed a course correction on Act 181, the 2024 land-use reform law, whose two most contested provisions had generated intense backlash. S.325 passed the full House 142–0, partially repealing Act 181 by repealing rulemaking processes for both the "Road Rule" and the new “Tier 3” critical resource area. These policies were aimed at preserving the ecological health of our forests for generations to come, but the community engagement processes that were meant to precede rulemaking by the Land Use Review Board only succeeded in alarming rural landowners. The repeal wasn't a simple rollback. Representative Logan led the push to create a community engagement process to develop policies that still pursue the same conservation goals, but through a more collaborative and equitable community-led approach. Senate Natural Resources chair Anne Watson, who had earlier favored only a delay, came on board with the full repeal. S.325 was delivered to Governor Scott on June 10 and is waiting for his signature.
After several sessions of deliberation about updating our beverage container recycling program, the Legislature was able to take nearly unanimous action to create a new extended producer responsibility program (EPR). H.915 was signed into law on June 17. Beginning in 2029, manufacturers would be responsible for ensuring that the beverage containers sold into our state are effectively recycled, and that redemption centers receive sufficient support to upgrade their redemption technology. We will continue to require the same deposit amount on certain beverage containers, and will not be expanding the types of beverage containers covered under the program, but we are modernizing our beverage container redemption process that can be expanded in the future.
House Health Care: Making Health Care Work for Vermonters
Health care costs remain one of Vermont's defining crises, and this session the House Health Care Committee moved a meaningful package of reforms, all of which were delivered to the Governor.
S.190 accelerates reference-based hospital pricing for teachers' health benefit plans and ACA marketplace plans, tying what insurers pay hospitals to Medicare benchmarks. This is a "soft opening" for the pricing reforms Progressives have long championed and it targets relief where it's needed most: teachers and Vermonters buying coverage through the marketplace, who are bearing the brunt of premium increases driven in part by the loss of expanded ACA subsidies. Governor Scott previously indicated that he doesn’t support S.190, and he vetoed it on June 16.
S.197 lays the groundwork for a universal primary care system by expanding payment reforms through the Blueprint for Health and setting future spending targets to improve access and affordability statewide. Primary care is the foundation of a functional health system, and this bill invests in that foundation.
H.583 limits private equity and hedge funds to business decisions in Vermont's health care facilities, not clinical ones, and requires new ownership disclosures. The bill was significantly weakened in the Senate from what the House passed. It no longer prohibits private equity from operating in Vermont's health care system outright, as originally intended, but it does establish a precedent that clinical decision-making belongs to clinicians, not investors — and it creates a transparency framework we can build on.
Finally, H.816 prohibits AI systems from independently providing mental health services to the public and requires licensed mental health professionals to supervise and approve any AI-assisted care. Mental health care is too important to outsource to an algorithm.
House Transportation: Toward Sustainable Funding
Vermont's Transportation Fund faces a serious and growing structural gap, one that threatens our ability to draw down federal matching funds for road and bridge projects. This session we began to address it.
H.944, the FY27 Transportation Bill, is on the Governor’s desk as of June 12. The “T-Bill” establishes a Mileage-Based User Fee (MBUF) on electric vehicles starting in 2027, with an expansion to plug-in hybrids planned for 2029. This is an equitable first step: as more Vermonters drive vehicles that don't pay gas taxes, a mileage-based fee ensures everyone contributes to the roads they use.
Public transit also needs a more sustainable footing. We updated Green Mountain Transit's charter to allow GMT to diversify its revenue sources through public-private partnerships, grant fundraising, and sources beyond municipal assessments. More work remains. A dedicated, sustainable source of public transit funding has not yet been identified, and Progressives will continue that fight.
Senate Judiciary: Rights, Safety, and Animal Protection
S.209 (covered above) was the centerpiece of Senate Judiciary's most important work this session was signed into law in June. Several other important bills have been enacted: Act 118 (H.578) strengthens penalties and procedures for animal cruelty offenses; Act 89 (H.626) updates laws and statutes of limitations around voyeurism and sexual extortion; and Act 102 (S.89) expands survivor benefits to more state and municipal workers in dangerous jobs.
Senate Government Operations: AI Transparency and Electoral Integrity
Act 101 (H.814) (covered above) represents the most significant output of the Government Operations committee's work on AI policy this session. H.816 (covered above) also adds important guardrails for AI in mental health care was signed into law on May 18. Act 75 (S.23) requires disclosure on AI-generated political advertising that contains fabricated content, closing a loophole that could otherwise allow bad actors to deceive voters with synthetic media. And finally, Act 70 (H.474), the miscellaneous election law bill strengthens campaign finance reporting requirements, clarifies the recount process, and updates nomination and petition procedures.
Outcomes
S.190 was vetoed by Scott on June 16, S.197 was signed into law, and S.209 was also signed into law by Governor Phil Scott. Health care is a public good and a human right and the crisis of affordability cannot wait. Likewise, federal immigration policy puts Vermonters at risk and requires the State to take immediate action.
In solidarity,
Senator Tanya Vyhovsky
Representative Kate Logan
Representative Brian Cina
Representative Chloe Tomlinson