Attend VRLDA Lobby Day 2025
This year, VRLDA is prioritizing Career and Technical Education (CTE) reform to ensure Vermont’s educational systems meet the future needs of LBM’s workforce.
Join fellow members at the Vermont State House in Montpelier on Thursday, April 17, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Career Technical Education (CTE) Improvements
The legislative education and money committees (Ways & Means, Finance) have been working with the Scott administration to figure out a new way to pay for the education system as a whole. Frankly, I don’t see much progress on that rather large issue at this point, but they do seem to be keeping their promise to make CTE programs an important part of whatever they decide to do. The vehicle for discussion on education finance and governance reforms was just introduced on February 28, H.454. This 194-page bill is being reviewed by many interested parties (including me) and will be taken up in the House Education Committee next week. A first read-through of the bill indicates that they will address how CTE is funded, but not how they will fund or administer it. Finally, on this (for now), it is obvious to most that having so many supervisory unions is unsustainable. There will be a reduction; it just won’t be to five as the governor has proposed. An interesting proposal is to have them align with Tech Center districts (17). That would be significantly fewer than the 52 supervisory unions (and 125 school districts) we have now. It might also make Tech Centers a higher priority than they are now.
Electric Truck Requirements 2026
After much talk and worry about this issue, it appears that most in Montpelier, whether they work for the governor or are legislators (even Democrats), are hoping the Trump administration will make this issue go away. To do that, the EPA would most likely revoke California’s authority to enact electric vehicle rules. Will Donald Trump allow this to happen, given Elon Musk’s huge financial interest in selling electric vehicle credits to other manufacturers—which nets him $750 million per year? Unlike passenger cars, delivery trucks and other larger vehicles are not even close to being able to do the job needed. I recommend members keep their diesel delivery trucks in good mechanical shape and stay out of the purchase market for at least a year to see what happens.
Municipal Overweight Permitting
Same news as last month: Last year, the Department of Motor Vehicles hired a computer system contractor to build their online permitting system. System implementation is still planned for late summer 2025. That system will have the capacity to apply for municipal permits as well as state permits. We will work to have as many towns as possible access this online system.