A Weekly State House Recap
by Maggie Lenz and Nick Charyk on behalf of Atlas Government Affairs
False Finish
If there was a metaphor too on-the-nose to ignore, the Vermont State House delivered it. Twice.
On Thursday, May 22, just as the Senate prepared to take up a fragile compromise on education funding, phones buzzed across the building with a fire evacuation alert from Capitol Police. Lawmakers, lobbyists, and staff filed out. It was a false alarm. Fifteen minutes later, everyone returned, and the Senate resumed its search for common ground. No agreement came that day.
One week later, on Friday, May 30, at 10:44 AM, it happened again. Another fire alarm. Another evacuation. Another all-clear. Once again, lawmakers came back to work, hopeful that this would finally be the day the legislature wrapped up H.454 and brought the session to a close. It wasn’t.
Instead, negotiations collapsed. The Senate introduced new provisions late in the process, language the House viewed as both outside the agreed scope and offered in bad faith. After much confusion and consternation, the Senate adjourned at 11 p.m. The House followed about thirty minutes later. Instead of a clean adjournment, both chambers called it a night with no clear resolution or path forward for H. 454, the sweeping education bill.
On Saturday, Governor Phil Scott, Speaker Jill Krowinski, and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth issued a joint statement acknowledging the delay. “We always knew transforming our education system wouldn’t be easy,” it read. “And it’s clear a little more time is needed to get the job done well.”
The subject line of that press release carried its own small but telling mistake: “Statement from Governor Phil Scott, Speaker Joe Krowinski, and Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth.” Joe Krowinski, a heretofore unknown figure in the State House, was likely a typo born of haste as officials scrambled to bring clarity to a confusing moment.
Maybe these types of errors capture the week more accurately than anything else. Earlier in the week, the conference committee violated open meeting law by convening without public notice. It may seem like a small oversight, but it speaks to a process moving too fast.
Even if a deal had been reached Friday night, lawmakers would have had no time to understand its full complexity. They’d be voting on faith and assurances. That is no way to pass major legislation. Not with this level of complexity, and not with this much at stake.
What happens next is unclear. The conference committee will likely meet over the next two weeks. Many conversations will occur, and a compromise may well be reached. Lawmakers have a veto-override session scheduled already in mid-June should they need it. Governor Scott has said that if they still cannot reach a deal by then, he may begin calling them back into session over and over until they do reach an agreement. Whether or not he has the authority to do so depends on who you ask.
Here’s hoping cooler heads prevail, and this next round comes with more time, more clarity, and fewer false alarms. Because maybe the real danger wasn’t that the house was on fire. It was that in the rush to get out of the building, some folks were willing to compromise the quality of their work to pass something. Anything.
We’ll be back with a full 2025 session wrap-up once the dust actually settles and the session truly comes to a close. No more false alarms.
To support vital journalism, access our archives and get unique features like our award-winning profiles, Book of Lists & Business-to-Business Directory, subscribe HERE!
