Representative Alice Emmons

Legislative Report. April 26, 2026

The legislature is now entering the month of May which is the time we will be adjourning this year’s legislative session. The plan is to adjourn around the middle of May, which means we have a little over three more weeks. We are in the home stretch and this is when a lot of work gets done in a very short timeframe. The topic that is now getting attention in the halls of the State House is whether or not the Governor will veto the legislation that sets the state budget which begins on July 1st. The Governor has repeated quite often that if the school consolidation plan the legislature passes is not what he wants, he will also veto the state budget legislation. The Governor would like to consolidate our current school districts into larger districts. Currently we have 119 school districts across the state and the Administration has proposed a much smaller number of districts. They have proposed as few as five school districts statewide. There is not support of that plan in the legislature and the Governor has indicated he would veto the state budget legislation if we did not pass his plan for school consolidation.

This past week that veto threat has raised a lot of questions if we do not have a state budget come July 1st of this year. Per the Vermont constitution, without an enacted budget the State of Vermont is not authorized to spend any funds from the State Treasury, including Federal funds. In essence the state government would shut down. We were given a summary of what that could mean for the state. State government may have some limited ability to make payments to state employees, vendors, contractors, schools, grant recipients, and other entities but it is impossible to say what payments, if any, would be made. It was stated by the legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office that it is difficult to overstate the seriousness of a shutdown. They indicated the impacts would be all encompassing and potentially extreme.

There is no known precedent here in Vermont for a State government shutdown. We have little guidance on how a limited government would function. We would be entering uncharted territory that could lead to significant legal and fiscal issues. There are unknown consequences for the state’s workforce and the delivery of state services. It is unclear which state employees would continue to work during a shutdown and how they would be paid. It is also certain that programs and services could be affected and those range from Medicaid payments to education payments to summer road projects across the state. A shutdown could affect many more State government functions and services such as protection and public safety, human services programs, and transportation projects. Additional, a government shutdown could negatively impact our Vermont bond rating which could lead to a higher cost of borrowing for the state as well as for municipalities.

As stated this is uncharted territory. Hopefully we will know more in the next couple of weeks if the veto threat will be carried out or not. As always please feel free to reach out to me with your thoughts. During the week I can be reached in Montpelier by email at [email protected] or by phone at 802-828-2228.