Rep. Ashley Bartley and Rep. Carolyn Branangan
Thank you for your continued support and for the opportunity to serve YOU in Montpelier. It is an honor to represent the Franklin-1 legislative district in the Vermont House of Representatives. This year, the Legislative session seems to be off to a slow start. Nearly 2/3rds of the House of Representatives are made up of members who have served one term or less. There’s a lot of time being spent to introduce members to the agencies, important stakeholders, and the legislative process.
But things are starting to pick up. During the campaigns, we heard directly from you that the priorities are education and education funding, affordability, housing, and public safety. Those three priorities are constant conversations we are having Montpelier. This isn’t to say there are not other important important discussions like protecting our farms and our environment, to name a couple. Those discussions are also happening.
We remain — and will always remain — open and wanting to hear from you. Below is our contact information and the committees we serve on.
You can contact us best at:
Carolyn Branagan | cbranagan@leg.state.vt.us
House Committee on Ways and Means, House Sexual harassment Prevention Panel, Advisory Council on Child Poverty and Strengthening Families.
Ashley Bartley | abartley@leg.state.vt.us
House Committee on General and Housing (Vice-Chair), Canvassing Committee, Agricultural Worker Labor and Employment Laws Study Committee, Basic Needs Budget Technical Advisory Committee
Update from Representative Carolyn Branagan
The annual Budget Adjustment Bill is working its way through the General Assembly. That’s the bill that tweaks amounts of money in the state budget for fiscal 2025 from what was approved last spring. This happens every year as legislators make their best estimate on how much will be needed for projects during the year, and then true it up amounts at the halfway point in the year.
This year both House and Senate members agree money is needed for housing the homeless population in hotels, but struggle with setting an amount of money.
Gov. Scott’s budget adjustment proposal for the rest of 2025 would increase state spending from $8.58 billion to $8.73 billion. That’s a $146 million increase in the Budget Adjustment bill, and the Gov does not want to spend more. The state fiscal year starts July 1, 2024 and ends June 30, 2025.
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Many legislative committees continue work on improving the state’s educational system. The Ways and Means Committee has been assigned the job of making sure the fiscal plan is fair and will work.
The timeline looks like this:
2025-26 School Year: Stabilize the system(by controlling the tax increase) & support early transition planning
2026-27 School Year: Transition to new funding formula and provide on-the-ground support
2027-28 School Year: Fully move to new funding and governance system
2028-2029 and Out Years: Rescale school portfolio to achieve quality and financial indicators
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Public Safety is a big concern for residents in Georgia and Fairfax and your state legislators too. Here are public Safety proposals from Gov Scott that are being considered by the House:
Repeal Raise the Age for 19 Year Old Young Adult offenders and Reform our Youthful Offender Procedures to Ensure Accountability.
Amend the youthful offender procedures by keeping youthful offender cases in the Criminal Court as sealed proceedings.
Revise current law on revoking Bail to make it a tool courts and prosecutors will actually use to hold violators to account.
Limit the ability of a Judge to reduce or suspend the sentence of a person convicted of more than one violent crime.
Waiver of Extradition. Authorize law enforcement to return fugitives from justice if they have waived extradition as a condition of release in another state.
Redefine “Recidivism” to more accurately reflect returns to incarceration and create additional measures for successes as well as for violent re-offenses in Vermont.
Repeal the July 1, 2025 prohibition on continued transport of disorderly and violent individuals who are impaired by drugs and/or alcohol to Corrections facilities.
Working to build a system that can deliver a swift and sustained connection to addiction treatment and recovery by re-tooling and reinvigorating existing systems.
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Update from Representative Ashley Bartley
Housing: Shortly, before the Legislative session, I was honored to have been contacted by the Speaker of the House and asked to serve as the Vice-Chair of the House Committee on General & Housing. I’ve made no secret my top priority is the housing crisis and working towards sustainable housing for all. The Chair of the committee is Representative Marc Mihaly, a Democrat. While we both are coming from two different political parties, we work very well with one another.
I do believe we are making progress on the housing crisis. My committee is working diligently on an Omnibus Housing Bill, a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at addressing Vermont’s ongoing housing crisis. This bill is pulling language from Governor Scott’s housing proposal as well as from testimony we have received in committee.
Ideas currently in the bill that I have advocated for include:
Three year sales tax exemption on all building materials for VHFA and VHCB
Creating a revolving loan fund through the bond bank for infrastructure
Brownfield remediation
Appeals reform. We have heard from almost all state agencies that appeals reform is critical if we want to move the needle on housing in Vermont.
As we move forward, it's crucial to recognize that there is no "silver bullet" to solve our housing challenges. Instead, we have a robust toolbox, and now it’s time to provide the right tools for the job. Recently, committee members asked for short-term solutions to the housing crisis. While the demand for quick fixes is understandable, the honest truth is that the solution to the housing crisis, in the short-term, is money.
The state has already allocated record funding for housing since the pandemic. However, despite this significant investment, the relief has been slower than anticipated. The path forward requires not just more funding but a long-term policy shift that involves changes in infrastructure, appeals processes, and collaboration with current agencies. While these changes will provide much-needed relief, they will not yield immediate results. T
he housing issues we face today didn’t develop overnight, and the solution will not come overnight either.This is why it’s so crucial to act now. We must lay the foundation for development and growth in Vermont, ensuring that we are positioned to support both current and future residents. The actions we take today will shape our state’s future and its ability to meet the housing needs of all Vermonters.
Legislator for Day Program
I have had the honor of bringing two students to Montpelier for my “Legislator for a Day” program. High School Juniors and Seniors can shadow me for a day, learn about the Legislative process, meet key leaders in state government, and receive a tour of the statehouse. If you have a student who may be interested, feel free to reach out to me at abartley@leg.state.vt.us. While I say it’s for High School Junior and Seniors — I’m willing to take anyone interested in how our amazing government operates and hopefully inspire them to get involved in public service.
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Below are four priorities outlined by Governor Phil Scott. We are working closely with the administration on may of these important discussions.
Education Transformation Plan
What’s the Goal? Improve student outcomes while making Vermont’s education system more fair, effective, and financially sustainable.
Key Proposals:
• New funding formula to ensure equal resources for students, regardless of where they live.
• Streamlined governance by consolidating school districts into regional districts to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
• More transparent property tax system with a single statewide education tax rate.
• State oversight to improve quality, including setting minimum and maximum class sizes and standardizing graduation requirements.
Why It Matters: This plan modernizes Vermont’s schools to provide high-quality education while controlling costs.
Public Safety Reform Plan
What’s the Goal? Ensure accountability for offenders, and improve mental health and addiction responses.
Key Proposals:
• Repeal the Raise the Age law so that 19-year-old offenders are prosecuted as adults.
• Tougher bail laws to keep repeat offenders from committing more crimes while awaiting trial.
• Allow law enforcement access to criminal records that are otherwise sealed for employment.
• Limit judicial discretion for repeat violent offenders to prevent lenient sentences.
• Expand pre-trial supervision for repeat offenders and strengthen addiction treatment programs in prisons.
Why It Matters: This plan aims to make Vermont’s communities safer by holding criminals accountable while also providing pathways to rehabilitation.
PATH Housing Plan
What’s the Goal? Increase affordable housing, revitalize neglected communities, and streamline regulations to speed up home construction.
Key Proposals:
• $50 million investment to increase homeownership opportunities and rental housing.
• $9.1 million Infrastructure Fund to help communities build utilities needed for new housing.
• Regulatory reforms to cut red tape and reduce costly appeals that delay housing projects.
• Brownfield cleanup funds to turn abandoned properties into housing developments.
Why It Matters: With rising housing costs, this plan ensures Vermont builds more affordable homes while keeping development fair and efficient.
Affordable Climate Action Plan
What’s the Goal? Ensure Vermont’s climate policies are effective, legally sound, and affordable without raising costs.
Key Proposals:
• Reform the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) to remove the provision encouraging lawsuits and instead focus on net-zero emissions by 2035 instead of rigid reduction targets.
• Rebalance leadership of climate measures with Administration members who implement them.
• Ensure funding for clean energy projects, electric vehicle incentives, and home weatherization without raising new taxes by keeping an incentive instead of a penalty framework.
• Change the Renewable Energy Standard to a Clean Energy Standard, allowing nuclear energy to count, which could save up to $20 million over 10 years.
Why It Matters: This plan prioritizes practical and cost-effective climate action while protecting Vermont’s working lands and economy.
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