March 29, 2024

The Fiscal Year 2025 Budget passed the House earlier today. It is frequently said that, “a budget is a reflection of our values.” However, this year’s $8.8 billion budget does not include in its accounting significant spending initiatives that the House has passed in other bills.

• Instead, bills to reduce the Judiciary system court backlog – H.880, to expand Medicaid – H.721, and to fund housing programs – H.829 each have their own named revenue sources, and are not included in the budget bottom line spending number.

• A late amendment on the House Floor by Rep. Anne Donahue (R- Northfield) called into question whether “our values” as reflected in the budget may come at the cost of our values of fiscal transparency.

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• Some of the taxes raised in the aforementioned bills will not begin raising revenues until the following fiscal year, so while adding $25.75 million to the FY 2025 bottom line gives Vermonters more information about FY 2025, it does not give the full picture of taxing and spending being proposed because some of the tax changes will not go into effect until FY 2026.

In this week’s update:

• Major Act 250 bill passes the House 
• What should be done about Vermont’s unsustainable education funding system 
• Court Funding, Fentanyl Penalties, “Raise the Age,” and Safe Injection Facilities 
• Privacy bill would make Vermont a national outlier 
• The Laundry List