Good evening,

Earlier this week, I submitted my petitions to the Secretary of State and was certified as an independent candidate for the Vermont House of Representatives in the 2024 General Election. Tonight, I am officially announcing my campaign for re-election to represent the Windham-2 District, which includes the towns of Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton, and Wardsboro.

Throughout my five terms in office, I have been honored to advocate for our region’s shared goals and to represent your myriad interests in Montpelier. Amid the challenges we all face—rising costs, increasing threats from extreme weather, and more—my commitment to bringing your voices to Montpelier remains strong.

Together, we have made significant progress in areas that deeply impact our communities:

• Education: In the 2023/24 biennium, we successfully corrected a 20-year injustice by adjusting Vermont’s school funding formula and pupil weights. This achievement was made possible by your concerns, the belief of your boards and local leaders that we could make a difference, and my commitment to ensuring our voices were heard. However, our education system still faces significant challenges. These include disruptions from ongoing federal court cases, declining enrollments, labor shortages, wage pressures, rising healthcare costs, and a sustained lack of statewide leadership to help our volunteer boards modernize and right-size our public education system. We have major work to do, and I am committed to continuing that fight.
  
• Economic Development and Infrastructure: I have championed policies that enable our communities to participate in a modern economy and adapt to climate change. Initiatives like the creation of Communications Union Districts (CUDs), the Vermont Community Broadband Board, and the Municipal Energy Resilience Program have brought significant investments to our communities. These efforts ensure that we are not left behind as larger communities, states, and nations drive the transition to a globally connected economy. Additionally, I have led efforts for a consensus update to the Renewable Energy Standard and fought for greater transparency of the cost drivers of our educational funding system that impact property taxes. I’ve also worked on permitting reforms that help our utilities more quickly enhance critical infrastructure to better withstand extreme weather. These initiatives highlight my commitment to ensuring that even our smallest and most disadvantaged communities benefit from state-level resources and opportunities.
  
• Human Rights: I am dedicated to protecting human rights of all Vermonters and co-sponsored legislation that allowed all Vermonters to vote to protect bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom. I also sponsored a ban on using the so-called “gay panic” defense. These policies uphold the dignity and respect of every Vermonter, ensuring that our state remains a place where all individuals are treated with fairness and respect.
  
• Climate Change: As we can see from smoke-filled skies from Canadian forest fires, the increase in repeated flooding in communities across Vermont, and the growing number of high wind events across our state, climate change is already affecting us. I am committed to addressing these challenges in Vermont. My focus is on helping Vermonters adapt to changing weather, staying safe, reducing emissions, and keeping pace with global economic and energy transitions. In addition to serving as your Representative, I am also a mother, and I am proud to have helped lead the passage of initiatives like the Global Warming Solutions Act and the Municipal Technical Assistance Program. These programs provide crucial support for communities that might otherwise have been unable to take advantage of federal opportunities like those in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Together, we are taking proactive steps to combat climate change and prepare our communities for the future.

My work in the House is intentionally bipartisan whenever possible, as demonstrated by the tri-partisan Rural Caucus, which I co-chair. By starting from the bottom up and reaching agreement on the problems we need to solve—while maintaining respect for one another—we can accomplish challenging tasks for Vermonters. I led a bipartisan effort to protect nonpartisan candidate access to the ballot and to stop partisan attempts to make it harder for independent candidates to run. And I’ve been an advocate for election reforms like Ranked Choice Voting, which supports more independent and third-party candidates and ensures that elections are won by those with the majority’s support.

Looking ahead to the next biennium, I will urge my legislative colleagues to prioritize the stabilizing of some of our key public institutions—specifically, our education and healthcare systems. These institutions are the foundation of our communities and are essential to our future potential. However, their future operational sustainability is in question, and these institutions have been without needed statewide leadership for quite some time. We need to focus on collaborative and comprehensive reforms to ensure these services remain accessible and affordable for all Vermonters. It’s essential that the Legislature and Governor work methodically, comprehensively, and urgently to address these issues so that every family can rely on quality education and all Vermonters can access healthcare without unreasonable financial burdens.

Our education, healthcare and so many other systems we rely on collect data to improve service, access, and affordability. That data is being leveraged in ways you have not agreed to and, in some cases , is being weaponized against you. The House lost a key fight this year to protect your digital privacy, when the Governor vetoed a tri partisan proposal for increasing protection. Protecting privacy and the malicious and unpermitted use of your private data must be a focus of the 2025 Legislature and the Governor.

Vermonters need us to accelerate our efforts to help small and rural communities adapt to changing weather patterns and ensure that all Vermonters can participate in the ongoing energy transition. These are massive challenges that cannot be ignored or postponed simply because we don’t yet know how to fund the fixes in all of Vermont’s communities. The Legislature and the Governor need to prioritize these issues for Vermonters in the next biennium, and we must make significant progress toward protecting and empowering our communities.

As I run for re-election, I want to emphasize that I do so as an independent candidate. For me, this means I do not accept contributions from Political Action Committees (PACs). Instead, I welcome support from individuals and Vermont businesses who share my priorities for our district and state. Your contributions help me communicate regularly and promote events in our district. Vermonters can monitor who supports my campaign on the Secretary of State’s Campaign Finance system.

To stay connected and informed about my campaign and legislative activities, I invite you to visit my blog at http://www.laurasibiliavt.com. Please reach out to me with questions or concerns. I’m here to listen, and I cannot address issues that aren’t brought to my attention. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at (802) 384-0233 or via email at lsibilia@leg.state.vt.us.

It has truly been an honor to serve as your representative. I look forward to the opportunity to continue advocating for our communities in the Vermont House. Thank you for considering supporting my re-election campaign. Together, we can keep Vermont moving forward.

With gratitude,
Laura Sibilia
Candidate for re-election to the Vermont House of Representatives – Windham-2 District

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