Kristi Morris - Representative

Legislative Week in Review
May 22, 2026

Your Vermont Legislature is in overtime, as we approach the end of session. Typically, sessions are finished by mid-May. We still have several key bills in play that have consumed a large number of hours this spring. Educational transformation is by far the leading driver for our time. The “Big Bill” state budget is still in play along with the “Yield Bill.” These bills, and others, are interdependent upon the other. The budget can not be finalized until others are completed. Think of it as a puzzle that needs individual pieces put together before it can be completed. Each piece is interconnected with others to finish the puzzle. Because of the must pass bills, many others were delayed pending available time afforded to work on them. Committees and legislative counsel can only work on a handful of bills at any one time. The good news is, we were able to finish a large number of bills last week and the session is closer to winding down. We expect this week will be the last.

Our legislative leadership has been communicating with the Administration, and Senate, to find common ground for negotiating compromise with the larger bills that remain in play. Many other bills have entered into a Committee of Conference to find compromise between the House and Senate. Several of the CoC bills have found their way back to the floor of each chamber for an up or down vote.

I traveled out of town the past two weekends and was not able to put forth a weekly article. We traveled to Pennsylvania for a grandson’s college graduation and a Shriners function last weekend at Jay Peak resort. The good news with that is, many of the bills remained open over the two weeks with several amendments being offered. To summarize, there has not been a large amount of new information to report to the readers. Last week, we were in a mode of hurry up and wait, with floor action mixed with several recesses to enable various committees to take testimony on offered amendments. We experienced several days with floor sessions going into the early evening before we could adjourn for the day. This is typical and usual at the end of each biennium, as legislators strive to have their opinions heard on specific points within a particular bill.

As this biennium ends, the next step is to plan for the 2026 primary and general elections. I have submitted my signature petition and paperwork and announced my intentions to run again as your Representative in Montpelier in the next biennium. With specific bills, it is my belief to first cause no harm to Vermonters with legislation. We have many topics that effect Vermonters. Education costs, healthcare costs, housing and infrastructure replacement that all impact property taxes. I collaborated with many other legislators and committees to offer my opinion on various bills. As drafted, I found it hard to support several, but after amendments soften the impact, I found them more toward my liking in support of my constituents and I was able to vote in support. Each session, bills can contain good ideas. However, they require work to compromise, negotiate and collaborate to find an agreeable result. I know disagreements exist, but it is my opinion that Vermonter’s are better off this year than they were last year through the efforts of the 2026 legislature. Remember, it will be a year or two before bills take effect, and most legislators agree that no bill is perfect. There is strength in a 150-member House, two separate chambers and Administration. Collaboration and compromise of differing opinions can make for a better bill, but perfection is a perception by the individual.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home by calling 802-885-2949. My legislative email is [email protected] or my personal email is [email protected]

Representative Kristi Morris

Legislative Week in Review
May 1, 2026

Last week my Environment Committee voted out the S.325 amendment to repeal the “Road Rule” and “Tier 3” sections of Act 181. It passed on a unanimous vote of 11 – 0. Likewise, the Ways & Means Committee passed it out on a 10 – 0 – 1 vote. It will be on the House floor this week. It is expected to pass in response to the large number of Vermont land owners who messaged asking for the repeal. The original bill stood up the Land Use Review Board (LURB), which was then charged with creating the rules to define the road rule and Tier 3 areas. The rules have not been created yet and S.325 will repeal that requirement. Unfortunately, the LURB created and released a premature draft map of their interpretation of the area to be included. It is my opinion that this is what caused the conflict with Vermont land owners concerned they would lose freedom to develop their properties.

Some have called for the repeal of Act 181 in its entirety. If the entire Act is repealed, development permits would revert back to the current Act 250 laws. We have heard, and taken much testimony that Act 250 has caused angst for some developers, and coupled with other permits, can cause delays and expense for development. Also, without the LURB, we would return to the single member Natural Resource Board having just the Director. Additionally, the District Coordinators, and District Commissions, would return to their interpretation of Act 250 criteria. We have heard many complaints about current Act 250 decisions. Act 181 stands up the five member LURB and charges them with educating and coordinating with the districts to provide like and consistent approaches to permit decisions throughout Vermont. Act 181 would remove the duplicate permitting requirement from the process should municipalities have zoning bylaws and staff to administer the permits. The so-called Tier 1 area designations will likely disappear and governing municipalities will issue development permits providing they have adequate staffing. The goal is to reduce costs for development and enable housing to be built more easily in areas where water and wastewater infrastructure is available.

The Educational Transformation Bill H.955 will pass out of the Senate with amendments. This bill will come back to the House and likely will have a Committee of Conference assigned to negotiate a compromise between the House and Senate. The Governor continues to threaten to not sign the budget, “The Big Bill”, should education transformation not meet his expectations. Coupled with the “Yield Bill”, that pays for education, all three will likely see CoC’s. We have been advised that a compromise means neither chamber will end up with what they passed out. As previously reported, there is not a wide range of support for H.955. It passed out of the House on a vote of 79 -62. The Senate version does allocate the entire $105M reserves to buy down property taxes. The House version split the reserves into two years to help stabilize property taxes. Like last year, I supported returning all the reserves back to the taxpayers to reduce property taxes.

The Governor is also advocating for forced mergers of school districts. H.955 makes consolidation voluntary by each community. This puts the consolidation efforts directly on the wishes of each community. Mergers are advertised as a prerequisite to reducing the cost of education. Though this is a possibility, there are some that believe any savings will only be temporary if we do not address the cost drivers of education. Additionally, school construction will need to be considered and would add to the overall cost.

Springfields school budget revote is happening this Tuesday, May 5th. I hope voters came out in large numbers to provide Springfield with a larger number of voter opinions. Thanks to all those that made the effort to vote and thank you to all voting yes.

Thanks to all who came out in support of Green Up Day. I can only hope everyone will recognize, and applaud the efforts and refrain from disposing of trash on our roadsides, trails, parking lots and other areas outside of trash containers. It takes very little effort to retain trash inside your vehicles until arriving home or an area that has receptacles.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached at home by calling 802-885-2949. My legislative email is [email protected] or my personal email is [email protected]

Representative Kristi Morris