Fast start to the session

Vermont’s 2025 legislative session is off to a very fast start. This is due in large measure to the clear message Vermonters sent all legislators through the 2024 campaign and the election in November. Seldom have I experienced the Legislature so unified in its top priorities: tackling education financing, affordability of life in Vermont, building more housing of all varieties, health care costs, continuing to reduce climate change and building resiliency, and our homelessness crisis. There are many other issues the Legislature will address, but these top priorities have enabled us to focus quickly.

Another issue that has bubbled up as a growing concern is the challenges Vermont will face with the new administration in Washington, D.C. From maintaining food production to financing transportation and other infrastructure projects to the federally funded environmental clean-up and workforce development — so many aspects of the work we rely on are funded by our federal partners. We are actively exploring ways to protect Vermont and Vermonters from losing federal funding and the intrusion of changing federal values on our agricultural workforce and other vulnerable Vermonters.

I am excited by my new appointment as chair of Senate Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs (SEDHGA) for this biennium. Having served on this committee for eight years as vice-chair, stepping into a new role is a pleasure. This committee’s jurisdiction is broad and well-suited to the legislative interests of our Windsor District. It has jurisdiction over all issues relating to housing, economic development, labor, workforce development, liquor and lottery, cannabis, and consumer protection.

Given the loss of the federal ARPA money, which has funded over $600 million in new housing projects over the last four years, and the need for Vermont to build thousands more units of housing – we’ll be looking to identify an additional dedicated funding source for housing. We’ll be exploring the cost drivers of building new housing and creative, cost-effective off-site construction opportunities. The key to reducing homelessness is creating as much new housing with as much support as we can incentivize. 

Throughout this biennium, we’ll be reviewing the appeals process, working on growing the construction workforce, aligning municipal and state permits, further investing in renovating underused and abandoned properties, building more accessory dwelling units, converting commercial properties, and updating our landlord/tenant laws.

We’ll focus on further supporting Vermont’s small businesses, encouraging our innovative entrepreneurs, and exploring how we can increase access to capital for our businesses, which need key additional investments to grow. And, as we tackle the cost of living in Vermont, we’ll address both sides of that challenge — costs and revenue/wage growth.

The primary consumer protection issue we’ll be revisiting is protecting Vermonters’ data privacy, but we’ll also take on the “right to repair” and review the top concerns identified by our Consumer Assistance Program. I am sure SEDHGA will have several labor issues to address, but I know we’ll have the constitutional amendment, Proposal 3, to review and pass again. 

Proposal 3, the “right to organize,” was passed by both the House and the Senate last biennium and must go through the same passage, unchanged, this biennium before it is passed to Vermont voters in November 2026.

Alison Clarkson is the state senator for the Windsor District. She can be reached at: aclarkson@leg.state.vt.us or by phone at the Statehouse (Tues-Fri) 802-828-2228 or at home (Sat-Mon) 802- 457-4627.